October 8, 2012 Dinner - Grilled Leg of Lamb, Roasted Delicata Squash and steamed Baby Yellow Squashes and Broccoli

I had purchased a boneless leg of Australian Lamb at Costco last Saturday ($4.99) and put it in a plastic freezer bag with about ½ cup of red wine and ¼ cup of olive oil and a handful of rosemary and about six smashed cloves of garlic and put into the fridge to marinate. 

Monday Suzette spent the day at home and we decided to grill the lamb and roast the two delicata squashes we had purchased at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and steam the broccoli I bought at Pro’s Market on Saturday with the six or seven baby yellow squashes we had also purchased at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday.

So we split in half lengthwise the two delicate squashes and I chopped up 1/2 of an apple and about ½ of an onion and Suzette removed the seeds in the center of the squashes yielding a deep depression that she stuffed with the apples, onions, pinon nuts and about 1 Tbsp. of butter in each in a pyrex baking dish with some water in the bottom to let it steam a bit and not dry out.

After the squashes were roasting in the oven, Suzette put the lamb onto the grill and glazed it with the cranberry/mint syrup/glaze we made last week while I cut the flowerets off the broccoli and cut the stems and ends off the baby yellow squashes and started them steaming in the steamer to steam for about 10 or 12 minutes.   After the lamb had cooked for about thirty minutes and the delicatas had roasted for about 45 minutes, we were ready to eat.  We sliced the lamb and it was still red in the center, so we microwaved some of it, which was a mistake because that forced the liquid in the meat out of it and it turned relatively tough, not too tough to eat but it lost its lovely moist texture.  We should have put the lamb back on the grill for a few more minutes but we were hungry and thought we could short circuit the process and we had a lot of lamb that was cooked to rare so we had enough lamb that was cooked properly that we could eat.  So we each filled our plates with slices of lamb, a stuffed delicate, and several baby squashes and broccoli flowerets.

I opened a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo that I had also purchased on Saturday at Costco ($9.99); Vina Eguía from Bodegas Equía in Elciego, Spain, which is the small village on the Erbo River in the Rioja region (Denominación de Origen Calificada) we visited last year where the world famous Riscal Winery with its Frank Gehrey designed hotel and spa and conference center is located.  This bottle of Eguía Reserva 2007 was aged in oak for 24 months and then in the bottle, which meets the requirements for reserva.  It did have a pleasant complexity and smoothness.  I do not think it was as great as Riscal Reserva but according to the sign at Costco it had garnered a 92 rating and was half the price of Riscal Reserva.  It was lovely with the lamb and we ate a chocolate or two after dinner with sips of it and they were great also.

I love tempranillo and a good reserva has both the earthiness of tempranillo and the finish and complexity of a great wine, so for $9.99 it was a good bargain.   The five years of age were sufficient to show its finish, but I guess it could benefit from a year of two more.  I might buy several more bottles just to see.

Bon Appètit