June 22nd, 2012
evaatprosserfarm

In the mood for lamb

Nobody does lamb quite like Lola, but with a little help, you will probably do a pretty darn good job…

Lola’s Cumin Scented Lamb; Makes 8 to 10 Servings

One 6 to 8 pound bone-in leg of lamb

6 tablespoons cumin seed, toasted and ground in a spice grinder or electric coffee bean grinder

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

¼ bunch rosemary, chopped

10 whole garlic cloves

Kosher salt or fleur de sel

Tzadziki (see recipe)

Trim and bone the lamb, removing the hip bones and leaving the shank bone in place.   After the hip bone is removed, you can open up the lamb. In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of the cumin, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, the rosemary and garlic cloves.  Sprinkle this mixture evenly all over the inside of the lamb.  Roll up the flaps of lamb and tie with butcher string.  In a small bowl, combine the remaining cumin, salt, and pepper.  Rub this mixture evenly over the outside of the lamb.   If time permits, season the lamb a day ahead and refrigerate.

Roast the lamb slowly on a charcoal grill over indirect heat for about 2½ hours, to an internal temperature of about 125°for medium rare.  Or you can place the lamb over a rack in a roasting pan and roast in a preheated 325° F oven for about 2 to 2½ hours.  Remove the lamb and allow to rest in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes, then carve.  Serve the sliced lamb with a sprinkle of salt and tzadziki.

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@TomDouglasCo

About Prosser Farm
In 2006, Tom Douglas and his wife and business partner, Jackie Cross, bought a house with a little acreage in Prosser, Washington, in the lower Yakima Valley. The farm is 2½ hours east of Seattle, right smack in the middle of Washington wine country—and conveniently right next door to their pals and Chinook Winery winemakers, Kay and Clay.

At the time of the purchase, the chefs in Tom and Jackie’s joints were already using everything local they could get their hands on--whole pigs and lambs, handmade cheeses, foraged mushrooms, and Washington wines—but the new Prosser Farm would represent a commitment to narrowing the gap between the land, its producers, and the restaurants, all the while continuing to educate their chefs about the effort dedicated to creating the best, from seed to table.

Today, Jackie runs the roost as Farmer-in-Chief, with indispensable help from her Dad, Jim, who built all the raised beds, and her Dad’s wife, Sharon, who works the farm daily with a team of dedicated support staff, including a stellar team of women from the Prosser area who are now returning for their third season. The farm is managed by the ever-creative and zealous Dev Patel—a chef who continues to wow us with both his dedication to the careful selection of tomato varietals in the field and the clearest tomato water on the table.

After a few years struggling with the new farm’s learning curve, the first big year of production was in 2010. On average, 2,400 pounds of produce a week during growing season is trucked in from the farm for distribution to all the Tom Douglas Restaurants. Mellow green garlic, perfect beet greens, baby rainbow chard leaves, beautiful crisp heads of lolla rossa, and lush bunches of spicy red and white radishes are generally the first to show up in our restaurant kitchens. Later in the season, the Seattle-bound truck is filled with sweet apricots, ripe heirloom tomatoes, and a small mountain of spicy peppers and eggplants, irrigated by the Cascade Mountains’ snow-melt and ripened in the hot Eastern Washington sunshine.

Dev and Jackie work closely with the chefs when choosing which crops to plant each year, learning every season more and more about what produce works best for which menu. From the late spring until early fall, the fruits and vegetables from Prosser appear everywhere on our menus--from the tomatoes in Lola’s Greek salad to the roasted peppers on Serious Pie’s pizza to the chard in Dezi’s Meatless Monday creations at palace Kitchen. Many of our chefs have started canning and preserving in order to keep Prosser Farm produce on their winter menus.

It is our goal at Prosser Farm to continue to learn, to continue to grow, and to deliver deliciousness, served with graciousness, from our fields to your plate. Let’s eat!

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