Don’t be sheepish – Easter is a good time to give lamb a try
featured March 15, 2008 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
If you’re seeking something special to serve for Easter dinner, lamb impresses with its rich flavor and potential for dramatic presentation.
While ham is the dominant Easter dinner centerpiece, some families, especially those of central and eastern European heritage, always have preferred lamb.
In Greece, for example, whole lambs are roasted on the spit for Easter and simply marinated with lemon, garlic, oregano, olive oil and salt.
Lamb hasn’t made more headway in the American Easter entrée parade for several reasons, including cost and flavor. But this may be the year to give lamb a try if you’re feeling adventurous and are willing to pay more for the experience.
“There are people out there who don’t like lamb,” said personal chef Britta Kramer, who personally loves it. One reason, she said, may be because they’ve tried only Australian or New Zealand lamb, which is less expensive than domestic lamb but has a “wilder” flavor and smell, and may not be as tender as American lamb.
Kramer suggests buying local lamb and noted that several small farms in Wisconsin specialize in lamb. (Check out www.farmfreshatlas.org for southeast Wisconsin farms and their specialties.)
“If you like a great steak, you’ll love lamb,” said Kramer, owner of Private Palate, LLC (www.privatepalate.com) in Wauwatosa. “It’s the same flavor you get from beef tenderloin. It’s mild. And when you make it at home, you get a lot more for your money.”
Cost is probably the biggest reason more people don’t choose lamb for Easter.
The ultimate splurge for a party of four is a crown roast – two Frenched racks of lamb curved and tied together to resemble a crown. A rack of domestic lamb costs roughly $33 a pound, and a typical crown consists of two racks, with about 16 not-very-meaty ribs. Racks and crowns often are served Frenched, with a few inches of meat from the bone end removed for a showier presentation.
Kramer, who said she eats lamb every other week, opts for one of the least expensive cuts – the chop – unless it’s a special occasion. Her favorite way to prepare everyday lamb chops is simply seasoned with garlic slivers, herbes de Provence and a little Dijon mustard, then roasted in a 500-degree oven for five minutes.
After five minutes, you turn off the oven, keep the oven door closed and let it sit another 25 minutes, she explained. “They turn out a perfect medium-rare every time.”
Leg is the most popular lamb cut for Easter, according to Megan Wortman, marketing director for the American Lamb Board.
The leg’s size can be daunting.
“People look at an eight-pound Fred Flintstone cut of meat and think, ‘How long do I cook it, and what do I do with it?’” Wortman said.
But an eight-pound leg of domestic lamb can serve 10 people with enough meat remaining for leftovers such as salads, sandwiches and pasta. (The American Lamb Board has a recipe for lamb “sliders” combining warmed leftover leg of lamb meat with goat cheese, nestled on a warm dinner roll with a few pieces of spinach or arugula.)
You also can find smaller legs in stores, Kramer noted. She prefers cooking two smaller legs for the same amount of meat.
For an inexperienced cook, Wortman said, cost may be the deal breaker.
“It can be expensive, depending on the cut, so if you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a high-risk meat.”
When choosing lamb at the meat counter, look for bright pinkish to red meat with a smooth texture, which indicates freshness, the American Lamb Board recommends.
Domestic lamb is more expensive than lamb from Australia or New Zealand for several reasons, including higher demand, milder flavor and meatier racks.
Australian and New Zealand lambs are smaller than the domestically raised animals.
Grasch Foods in Brookfield sells only domestic lamb, said Jeff Zuern, meat department manager.
The high-end grocery typically sells twice as many legs as racks, he said.
Legs are available bone-in ($6.59 per pound), but the more popular choice is boneless ($7.59 per pound), Zuern said.
Grasch also offers the leg butterflied for grilling ($8.99 per pound) or stuffed with beef round steak (also $8.99 per pound) for enhanced flavor.
“It’s like cooking beef roast,” Zuern said. “You bring it up to room temperature and you leave it a little pink in the center; roast it at 325 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes per pound.”
Racks at Grasch sell for $32.99 per pound, and a typical rack weighs just over a pound with eight ribs, Zuern said. Racks formed into a crown roast do not cost more per pound.
While Grasch does not require it, advance orders are appreciated for all cuts of lamb, Zuern said.
Grasch gets its domestic lamb from Strauss Inc. of nearby Franklin.
Colorado is the largest U.S. lamb producer, according to Jim Eidman, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Strauss, which processes and distributes both lamb and veal. Strauss also gets lamb from Australia and New Zealand.
Eidman recommends serving both ham and lamb for Easter dinner to give guests a choice of entrées.
Besides Grasch, Strauss also provides lamb to The Fresh Market and Sendik’s stores, locally.
Boneless leg is the most popular cut for Easter roasting, Eidman said. “And when you’re done serving it for Easter, you can slice it for use on sandwiches or dice it for stew or soup. There are a lot of options for lamb leg roast.”
If you’re reluctant to try out lamb on your Easter guests, you might want to sample it first in a restaurant.
Yanni’s restaurant, at 540 E. Mason St., offers a mustard-and-herb-encrusted rack of lamb (4 to 6 ribs) with potato terrine and a champagne mint sauce for $37 on its regular menu.
A less-pricey option is a $15 lamb chop appetizer – three French-cut Strauss lamb chops served grilled on pita bread with spicy yogurt sauce.
The best-selling appetizer is half price during happy hour, 4 to 7 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
The restaurant’s owner happens to be Greek.
-Karen Herzog
Dinner on demand
Personal chefs precook homemade, healthy meals for those on the go
featured November 20, 2007 in Wauwatosa NOW
The smell of bacon permeates the kitchen as the grease pops in a large black pan on the stove.
Pam Gibbs goes from stirring a peanut-curry chicken salad, atop a counter filled with spices and partially prepared appetizers, to taking baked wonton cups from the white oven at the ding of an alarm.
Her white chef jacket remains remarkably unstained as she simultaneously prepares seven appetizers for a client’s cocktail party the following night.
Gibbs, owner of Plum Delicious Dining, is among a growing number of personal chefs in the United States, and one of three in Wauwatosa.
“I love doing it,” Gibbs said. “I do it for the fun.”
Too busy to cook
According to the American Personal Chef Association, as of June 2005 there were about 9,000 personal chefs in the United States serving about 72,000 clients. The industry predicts that by 2010, there will be nearly 25,000 chefs serving custom-designed meals to 300,000 clients.
The use of personal chefs has been popular on the East and West coasts for years but has just started to take off in the Midwest.
“Here it’s growing more and more because the lifestyles are more demanding,” said Phillip Peppler, owner of Chef on the Run. “It’s for people like you and me that don’t have time.”
Personal chefs shop for groceries, go to the client’s home and prepare several entrees at one time, package and store the meals in the refrigerator or freezer and then provide the clients with heating instructions.
The cost of the service depends on the meal plan and number of servings and entrees, but in this area generally costs no less than $16.50 per meal per person.
The chefs are able to meet the needs of many lifestyles, from single, young professionals to busy families. They also can provide catering services to large parties.
“What I really enjoy about the business is every day is different,” said Britta Kramer, owner of Private Palate.
Customers’ needs vary
Aimee Ukasick has been a client of Chef on the Run for more than two years.
Ukasick said she turned to a personal chef because she is a horrible cook, but more importantly because of her dietary restrictions, which include no sugar, dairy or wheat.
“That was a big thing,” she said. “It just made it so much easier. It’s the best thing I have done in the past couple of years.
“The only way I would stop is if I married a cook or chef.”
Plum Delicious’ Gibbs said the majority of her clients hire her because they don’t have time to cook.
“People just don’t (eat as a family) anymore and it makes me crazy, and when we do it’s not healthy,” she said. “That was really a driving, motivating factor for me.”
Bruce Peterka was working about 60 hours a week when he hired Gibbs in June.
“I was just so busy that there was no way I could make the meals for the family,” he said. “There is no way we felt like preparing food, and we really don’t like doing the whole fast food thing.”
Now, at least three times per week, Peterka and his wife are able to sit down to a nice dinner without having to cook for 40 minutes.
“We come home and the house smells like dinner,” Peterka said.
Appetite for business
The three personal chefs’ reasons for beginning their businesses are as diverse as their clients’ menus. While none of them were cooks previously, they all shared an interest in food.
Kramer became a personal chef after working with world-renowned chefs and vintners at Festival del Sole, a classical music and culinary arts festival in Napa Valley, Calif., in 2006.
“It opened my eyes to the idea of a personal chef,” she said.
Peppler said he looked into becoming a personal chef in 2001 when one of his friends was considering it.
“I saw there is a huge need for it,” Peppler said.
Gibbs got her first taste of being a personal chef after preparing a month’s worth of meals for her friends after they had their babies.
“I think because it’s still a growing industry, there are tons of opportunities out there,” she said.
-Lori Weiss
Go for the gourd
Squash is fall’s fashionable crop
featured October 7, 2007 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
They’re pretty or ugly. Petite or hefty. Smooth or bumpy.
Of course, we’re talking about winter squash, the shapely beauties of fall with nutty to sweet personalities, and sunny yellow to brilliant orange dispositions.
Britta Kramer of Wauwatosa remembers the moment she fell in love with winter squash. She was backpacking through Europe and stopped to visit her brother in Austria.
For dinner one night, her brother’s host family served squash soup topped with garlic croutons, sprinkled with roasted pumpkin seeds and finished with a drizzle of toasted pumpkin seed oil.
She loved the smooth texture and sweet flavor.
“I became a big fan,” said Kramer, now 28 and a personal chef with her own business, Private Palate.
Her favorite squash is the nutty butternut.
“I like how light and sweet it is, especially in lasagna, bread or soufflé,” she said.
Squash is a versatile fall star. You can stuff it, microwave it, boil it or bake it; cube it, mash it or puree it.
Kramer is even thinking about working squash into her favorite dessert: crème brulee.
In more than one way, winter squash is a keeper. Stored in a cool, dark and dry spot in the basement or garage, it’ll stay fresh for months.
- Karen Herzog
