Pacifico Pulled Pork Tacos

This is Carolina barbeque meets Mexico City street food. In short, me gusta!


The ingredient list looks long, and it is. If you're not a compulsive spice hoarder like me, you can certainly feel free to leave a few of these out, unless you feel like stocking your spice cabinet. This would also be just fine if you don't happen to have Pacifico lying around - any other beer (or chicken stock, or beef broth, or water) would work just fine. And if you can't find the curious cut of meat called a "pork picnic?" You guessed it - not to worry. Any old cheap cut of pork (or beef) would work beautifully.


In fact, even after eating about a quarter of our pork picnic, I'd be hard-pressed to tell you exactly what it is - but at $4 for 2-3 lbs., you can bet it was a part of the pig you would not want to eat unless you'd cooked it all day. All I know is, I fished out what was unmistakably a ball joint bone from the Crockpot, so I'm guessing it was either a shoulder cut or a hind-quarters cut. Regardless of where on the little porky guy it came from, it was downright delicious after a juicy all-night bath and about 10 hours in the slow cooker.


Despite its formidable ingredient list, this dish is definitely worth making! It was inspired by a post on Smitten Kitchen which originally used beef brisket. I've made a similar dish with beef before, and it was great. At this point in the post, I sound like a broken record, so I'll wrap it up and take you to the directions. I hope you like this as much as Ross and I did!


Wait, wait, one more thing! Sorry about the grainy photos - none of our cameras had charged batteries, so I resorted to snapping pics of this on my iPhone - it was too good not to document! Better photos next time, promise :-)

INGREDIENTS

1 large pork...piece (mine was called, as mentioned earlier, a "pork picnic" - basically a big hunk of cheap meat; mine was about 3 lbs. before being cooked - a lot of it cooks off, and you'll need to discard some fat both before and after cooking)
3 T. olive oil
1 bottle Pacifico beer
1 14.5-oz. can "Mexican" diced tomatoes and all juices
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 T. cumin
1-2 T. hot Mexican chili powder
1 T. paprika
1 cinnamon stick
juice of 2 limes
2 bay leaves
several heaping spoonfuls brown sugar
a few dashes cayenne pepper
1/2 T. ground coriander
salt and black pepper

corn tortillas
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper
1 onion, julienned
2 poblano peppers, julienned
fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of one lime
sour cream (I used light)

one 28-oz can Mexican-spiced black beans, drained
one can Mxican-spiced tomatoes and all juices
fresh chopped cilantro

MORE NOTES ON SWAPS: If you want to skip the poblano/onion topping and sour cream-lime sauce, be my guest. This would ve fine topped with any taco fixin's you like...and under tons of melty, gooey cheese...? [CUT TO EXTREME CLOSE UP OF ME DROOLING.] If you like flour tortillas, use those. If you want to skip the taco building altogether and stand over the crockpot and eat the damn pork with a spoon, I wouldn't blame you.

STEP ONE:

The night before you want to eat this (or the morning of), trim the pork of any big pieces of obvious fat, and heat the oil in a pan and brown the pork on both sides, seasoning liberally with salt and pepper, until browned.

STEP TWO:

Meanwhile, in your Crockpot's interior pot (the one that can be removed, not the electrical part), add the beer, tomatoes, lime juice, all spices, onion, garlic, and brown sugar. When the pork is browned, transfer it to the liquid. Turn off the heat in the browning pan and pour in the vinegar, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Pour this into the Crockpot too. Cover and refrigerate until the morning.

STEP THREE:

Place the inner pot into the Crockpot and turn on low. Cook for 8-10 hours. Remove the pork from the pot and place on a plate or cutting board. With two forks, shred the meat, discarding any too-fatty bits. Meanwhile, strain the cooking liquid over a pot. Boil until reduced by half. Return the shredded pork and about 1 cup of the reduced liquid to the pot and mix together (you can also skip this step entirely - or, you can use an immersion blender to puree the wilted veggies and juices together - whatever you prefer).

STEP FOUR:

In a pan, heat the other 1 T. oil. Cook the poblano peppers and onions until softened, seasoning with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together the fresh chopped cilantro, juice of one lime, and a few big spoonfuls of sour cream. Set aside, refigerated.

STEP FIVE:

Place the beans and tomatoes in a pot. Boil until much of the tomato juices have steamed off and the mixture has thickened. Stir in the fresh cilantro. Serve in individual cups or small bowls. Serve the shredded pork in the tortillas, top with the poblano/onion mixture and sour cream-lime sauce. Serve with the beans & tomato. Enjoy!

A Lesson in Simplicity. And Cleanliness.

Have you ever heard the term "cooking clean"? I'm not sure exactly what it means, but I assume it means cooking with whole, pure, healthful ingredients. And it might even mean wiping the counter down when tomato sauce gets an attitude and splatters your white cooktop.


While I like to "cook clean," in at least one sense of the phrase, no one has every accused me of being a clean freak when it comes to, say, my apartment. I consider myself more of a binge cleaner; I throw things on the floor between Monday and Friday (the pile of clothes and towels that accumulates Ross and I have lovingly dubbed the "Traveling Tumbleweed of Textiles," due to our habit of shifting it from the bed to the couch and back to the bed, depending on where we're parked at the time).


Normally, this works out just fine. I wake up on Saturday mornings, grab a coffee and some bagels, and commence the 2-hour cleaning spree that leaves our tiny abode sparkling and pleasant - for a couple of days. When it doesn't work out, however, is when our maintenance man makes an unannounced drop-in. I came home from work today to find my trash can, cat litter box, and granny grocery cart moved to my "dining room" from their usual place in the useless nook blocking the door to the creepy back staircase that we never use (you following?). That nook is also where the previous tenant stored her unused window screens, which I had never bothered to put back in the windows (I know, I know, I'm ridiculously lazy). The screen had been moved from the nook to the window. Alrighty then.


What I didn't notice until a random stop into the bathroom is that the maintenance guy (apparently) had come by not to replace our screens, but to deliver a shiny new bathroom sink console! Behold:


I was really excited to have a little something new for this old house, until I took a look around the place (now with fresh eyes) and realized that it was totally trashed. I could just see it: Tony the Maintenance Guy comes in the back, moves the stinky garbage and cat litter out of the way, and is greeted by the sight of dishes and bits of parsley in the kitchen, half-drunk bottles of wine in the dining room, and - the horror - underwear on the bathroom floor. Needless to say, I was mortified. I'm tempted to invent a leaky pipe or faulty lock just so I can bring Tony back and show him what the place looks like when it's nice and tidy!


Anyway that was a very, very long way of introducing a sauce so simple, so pure, and so delicious that - I can't believe I'm about to say this - you just have to taste to believe. I could not make myself believe that a sauce with only three ingredients could be so delicious. I'm having an existential crisis about everything else I've ever cooked! Have I been over-ingredient-ing this whole time?!?


Without any more chatter, I'll let you in on The Sauce That Set The Blogosphere Ablaze. I urge you to set aside your doubts and commence making this sauce as soon as humanly possible. It's truly marvelous.


INGREDIENTS:

SAUCE
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (you could also use whole) and all juices
1 medium yellow onion
5 T. butter (I used salted butter)
you can add salt to taste, but mine didn't need any
whole wheat spaghetti (or any pasta you like)

FISH
1 tilapia filet, fresh
juice of one lemon
1 T. olive oil
salt
red pepper flakes
capers
fresh chopped parsley

SALAD
fresh chopped Romaine lettuce
1/4 of the onion you stewed in the tomato sauce, sliced
some cooking juice and capers from the cooked fish
grated parmesan cheese
a little more olive oil


STEP ONE:

Place the tomatoes, onion, and butter in a pot and simmer for about 45 minutes, until the tomatoes have broken down. At this point, strain out the onion. (I left a little of the onion in, then pureed it all with an immersion blender - you can skip this, but it made it super creamy and smooth.)

STEP TWO:

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350. Put the raw fish in a baking dish. Top it with the lemon juice, oil, salt, red pepper flakes, and capers. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until opaque and flaky. Boil some pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.


STEP THREE:

Place the lettuce in a bowl. When you fish out the onion from the sauce, chop a little bit of it into pieces and put it on the salad. When the fish is done, spoon a little of the lemon/oil/caper cooking juices from the pan on top of the salad. Top with a little drizzle of olive oil and some fresh parmesan cheese. Serve the sauce and pasta by the fish and enjoy with the salad!

Russian Pot Roast with Sour Cream-Dill Sauce

Here we are again with another dish of questionable national origins (remember my "Spanish" dish from last night?). I deemed this "Russian" pot roast because the combination of red meat, egg noodles, cabbage, and sour cream says Russian to me.


Regardless of its origins, this was a simple, satisfying dish. I don't do a lot of things on this blog that I would describe as "family friendly" (enjoying strange, spicy, and ethnic foods on a daily basis is one of the many perks of being child-free), but I think this is something kids would like - provided you leave the "green stuff" (dill) out of the sour cream topping. In fact, the cabbage is so unrecognizable after cooking with meat all day, no child of average intelligence would be able to pinpoint a single vegetable in this meal!


This meal really stoked my frugal side - the side of me that hates to throw anything away. I had an almost-completely-full jar of red cabbage kraut in the fridge from my reuben tartines a few days ago, and frankly, what was I going to do with that? Then came the sherry wine from my foray into Spanish cuisine, and - being the only wine I've ever not wanted to drink - it needed to be used for cooking. And then there was the sour cream, which, if not integrated into a specific meal, would surely get inhaled by me in a tortilla-chip-wielding, late-night attack.


So you see that I had no choice but to make this exact dish, and it all - miraculously - worked. It was really good! Savory, tangy, subtly sweet, and ridiculously low-maintenance. All I did was throw everything into the crockpot, boil some noodles, and mix up a quick sour cream sauce. If you don't have an overage of sherry (and why would you?), you could substitute regular white wine, or red wine, or just beef stock with a few dashes of vinegar. Hell, you could even use water, although you'd have to do a little more work to punch up the flavor. But if you're at all a fan of sauerkraut (sauerkraut people are, truly, my kind of people), make this dish ASAP! NOTE: red-meat-loving boyfriends will also swoon.


INGREDIENTS

1 very lean top round roast, about 1 and 1/4 lbs.
vegetable oil
salt and pepper
about a cup (or more) jarred pickled red cabbage (this is like sauerkraut, only purple, found on the same shelf)
3/4 bottle sherry wine (not cooking sherry)
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt and pepper
cooked egg noodles
1/2-3/4 c. lowfat sour cream
juice of 1/2 a lemon
handful fresh dill, chopped


STEP 1:

Get a pan screaming hot. Drizzle in some vegetable oil. Brown the meat, seasoning with salt and pepper, on both sides. The browner the better.

STEP 2:

In your slow cooker, put the sherry, onion, red cabbage, and lemon juice. Add a little salt and pepper. When the meat is done browning, nestle it in the crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

STEP 3:

Uncover the meat. Set a strainer over a pot and strain the meat and cabbage over the pot, catching the liquid in the pot. Return the meat and cabbage to the Crockpot and turn off the heat. Cover it. Bring the cooking liquid to a boil and cook until reduced by half. Taste and adjust seasoning. Meanwhile, boil the egg noodles.

STEP 4:

Return the cooking liquid to the Crockpot with the meat and cabbage. With two forks, tear the meat apart and mix together with the cabbage (mine was actually so tender that I just took a spoon to it, and it came apart very easily).

STEP 5:

Mix the sour cream, dill, and lemon juice with a little salt and pepper. Serve the meat, cabbage, and cooking liquid over hot buttered egg noodles. Top with the sour cream sauce. Enjoy!

Spanish (?) Fried Chickpeas & Roasted Beets

There are a few ingredients that even I have been afraid to use. Well, not afraid, exactly, but...there are just some things that don't stay at the top of my overcrowded mind. I pretty much used all of those ingredients in this dish.


One of those ingredients is sherry. Now, there is cooking sherry, and there is drinking sherry. I used Spanish sherry wine, which I'd never even tasted until popping the cork on the bottle I used tonight. Frankly, it's not something I'd ever drink. I find that amber-colored alcohols are not to my liking. But for cooking, it's divine. Cooking sherry, however, is something else entirely - nothing you'd ever want to drink, to be sure. I had also been hesitant - for no logical reason at all - to cook with beet greens. Having never met a green I didn't like (I used to gnaw on grass as a child), I have no idea why I was so dubious. Turns out, beet greens are delicious! And the best part? They come attached to beets (also delicious!).


Everyone has a moment when they, well, get over the hump with a certain food. Most often, getting over the hump just happens over time, and goes largely unnoticed until one day, you find yourself "mmm"-ing over something you used to shun (cilantro, sushi, and rye bread are all things I used to dislike, and now regularly enjoy). Occasionally, the transition happens in one unforgettable moment - like it did when I realized I liked beets. Not the cloyingly sweet jarred beets of my childhood, but real, actual, beets.


This moment happened at Deleece, a great restaurant on the north side of the city. I ordered a beet and goat cheese salad (cheese is the ship that has delivered many a hesitant food pilgrim to the New World of ingredient love). The beets were roasted, the moment was perfect - and that was it for me. Beets and I have been inseparable ever since - at restaurants, that is. At home, nary a beet crossed my doorstep. Till tonight. Simply roasting them with olive oil and salt and pepper (the most basic root-vegetable-roasting method) made them absolute perfection.


Truth be told, I can't take credit for this recipe. It's a Mark Bittman recipe, from the New York Times. His was a bit different - he used Spanish chorizo, which I find nearly impossible to obtain in Chicago (the fattier, uncased, raw Mexican version of chorizo is all the rage here, but I don't like it, so whenever a recipe calls for chorizo I sub in andouille sausage). After watching an episode of No Reservations about Spain, a friend telling me I'd love Barcelona, and stumbling upon this recipe, I decided it was fate that I create this Spanish-inspired dish. Bittman also used only chickpeas, and did not include garlic, red pepper, flakes, or paprika. He also used spinach rather than beet greens. Despite my capricious swaps, the dish turned out nicely. I like that it's cheap, easy, and balanced. The perfect mealtime storm!

INGREDIENTS

3-4 medium fresh beets, cubed
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
olive oil
salt and pepper

1/4 cup olive oil
1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted very dry
1 can white beans, drained, rinsed, and patted very dry
2 links turkey andouille sausage (or Spanish chorizo, or pork andouille, or kielbasa...you get the idea)
a few slices salami*
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes
dash of paprika
1 bunch fresh beet greens, washed, tough stems trimmed off, and cut into smallish pieces
1/4 c. - 1/2 c. sherry (I used a Spanish sherry found at Whole Foods for a reasonable $11; I also used the remainder of the bottle in a recipe you'll see here very soon - waste not, want not!)
2 cloves garlic
1 cup freshly made (or store-bought) bread crumbs**
more olive oil

*This is not necessary, but I had some salami I wanted to use up. It was good in there, though. You could use any deli sausage.

**Not having a food processor, I have never been able to make my own breadcrumbs. Until my epiphany: I can simply use my spice/coffee grinder as a mini-food processor! I toasted some stale-ish Italian bread, tore it into pieces, and placed it in the spice grinder, with incredible success. Voila! Fresh breadcrumbs. If you have neither processing equipment nor the inclination to make your own breadcrumbs, use store-bought Panko breadcrumbs. The world will continue turning.

STEP 1:

Preheat the oven to 375. Toss the beet cubes, carrots, and onion in olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for about an hour, turning a few times, until tender but not mushy.

STEP 2:

Meanwhile, in a large oven-safe pan or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the chickpeas, beans and sausage, stirring until it's all in more or less a single layer in the pan. Add some salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and paprika. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring infrequently, until the sausage has released some fat and the chickpeas are lightly browned and crisp. Remove sausage and bean mixture from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving any remaining oil in the pan, still over medium-high heat.

STEP 3:

Add the beet greens and sherry to the pan, and cook until wilted, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until cooked to your liking (cook longer for softer greens, less for crisper greens). Add the chickpeas/beans/sausage back to the pan and stir to combine. Top with the bread crumbs, a little salt and pepper, and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Heat under the broiler until lightly browned. Serve alongside the roasted veggies. Enjoy!

Braised Thai Drumsticks

Chicken Drumsticks: A Haiku

Tender and juicy
So very affordable
Always overlooked


People turn up their noses at dark meat - especially when it's still on the bone. But most of what you're paying for when you shell out $9 for three boneless, skinless, chicken breasts is the labor of the bone and skin removal. And I think dark meat is just so much more flavorful! To be sure, not everyone agrees, but for those of you who appreciate dark meat in all its succulent glory, cooking with chicken drumsticks is a great way to stretch your dinner dollar at the, ahem, end of the month.


I got 6 organic, free range chicken drumsticks for about $2.75 at Trader Joe's, and this meal all in all (counting the meatless leftovers I packed for my lunch tomorrow) made about 4 servings. Drumsticks, besides being an economical choice, are also perfect for a quick braise. When you braise them (as opposed to, say, frying them), you can always be sure they'll be fully cooked - if you've ever bitten into a drumstick that's been fried golden brown on the outside but is raw on the inside, you can understand my paranoia.


The easy, yet exotic, flavors of this easy intro-to-Thai braise might just make you white-meat-only people out there reconsider your poultry preferences. And if you just can't walk away from your precious breast meat, be my guest - chicken breasts would work great in this dish too. So screw takeout! Make a fantastic Thai-inspired dish at home. You can do it :-)

INGREDIENTS

6 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
2-3 T. grapeseed or vegetable oil
1 red bell pepper, in chunks
1/2 large white onion, in chunks
2 large Roma tomatoes, in chunks
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 serrano pepper with all seeds (optional)
1/2 c. chicken broth
pinch of salt
1 head broccoli, in florets
2 T. Sriracha hot sauce (or less, to taste)
2 heaping T. natural (unsweetened) peanut butter
1 T. honey
2 heaping T. brown sugar
juice of one lime
big pinch of salt
1 can light coconut milk
brown rice for serving
fresh chopped cilantro for serving


STEP ONE:

In a large pot with tight-fitting lid or a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken on all sides. Remove from pan and reduce heat to medium. Set chicken aside. Preheat oven to 375.

STEP TWO:

In a large bowl, whisk together the Sriracha, peanut butter, lime juice, salt, honey, and brown sugar. Whisk in the coconut milk.

STEP THREE:

Add the bell peppers, onions, serrano pepper and tomatoes to the oil still in the pan from the chicken - be careful, it will splatter something fierce. Throw in a little salt and stir around, scraping any chicken bits from the bottom of the pan. After a few minutes, add the chicken broth and garlic. Bring to a boil and cook for a couple minutes.

STEP FOUR:

Stir the peanut butter-coconut milk mixture into the veggies in the pan. Add the broccoli. Bring to a simmer, then nestle the chicken down into the sauce and veggie mixture. Cover the pot, turn off the heat, and transfer the whole thing to the oven. Meanwhile, cook the rice in a rice cooker or on the stove.

STEP FIVE:

Remove the chicken from the oven and serve with the sauce and veggies over rice. Top with cilantro and a few lime wedges, if desired. Enjoy!

J'taime Tartines!

Here, friends, is another lesson in working with what you've got. In this case, what I had was bread. A LOT of bread. And what I didn't have was patience.


Ross had picked up a gigantic loaf of Italian bread at the store one day (I love when he goes grocery shopping - the only thing he's guaranteed to come back with is beer, and the rest is inevitably a grab-bag of delicious surprises). The past, oh, month for me can basically be summed up in one appropriately four-letter word: WORK. I've been pulling long hours at the office and had no time to buy food, let alone cook it. These gorgeous little open-faced sandwiches mark my (perhaps temporary) return to the world of the living.


At any rate, a mountain of Italian bread and a whole evening of free time on my hands, I decided to make tartines. Tartines are, as I mentioned, simply open-faced sandwiches. They're (according to Ina Garten) a Parisian cafe staple, and I love them because they seem less lunch-y than a full-on sandwich, yet lighter than a typical dinnertime meal. The beauty of them is that you can top them with literally anything you want. I've made peanut butter-pear-cheddar versions, topped them with prosciutto and piled lemony arugula on top...you name it. The bread is your canvas, limited only by your cravings.


Of the three I made, my personal favorite was the ham and Gouda - but then again I'm a sucker for anything smoky. Ross liked the Reuben-style tartines. These would be fantastic for a party, or anytime, really. The best part is that they're no-fuss, super fast, and really economical. I hope you experiment with some fabulous toppings of your own!

INGREDIENTS

3 very large slices good quality Italian bread
corned beef, sliced thinly
salami, sliced thinly
maple-glazed ham, sliced thinly
Swiss cheese, sliced thinly
smoked Gouda, sliced thinly
mayo
Red cabbage kraut

[Thousand Island:]
mayo
ketchup
sweet pickle relish

Grapes and Salad for serving (optional)



STEP ONE:

Heat oven to 375 with a baking stone or baking sheet inside it. When hot, place the bread slices on the baking sheet and allow to crisp a bit (for about 5-10 minutes).

STEP TWO:

Remove bread from oven and top with meats and cheeses. My combos were:

- [Reuben:] Thousand Island, corned beef, red cabbage kraut, and Swiss
- Mayo, ham, and Gouda
- Salami and Swiss

STEP THREE:

Place back in the oven and cook until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven, slice into smaller pieces, and serve. Enjoy!

OMG Lamb (and Cumin-Roasted Carrots & Potatoes)

Since Sunday, I've been repeating a particular mantra: "All I want to do is go home and cook that f***ing lamb!"


Why the foul-mouthed theatrics? Well, first there was The Epic Oven Fail of 2010 (Adam, remember how much I adore you). I bought a 6 lb. ($40) leg (LEG!) of lamb from Whole Foods on Sunday morning, psyched to (as I had promised) roast it in Adam's oven and serve it for the Superbowl festivities he was hosting. At 2 PM the day of the big game, Adam texted me saying his oven was suffering from an electrical failure, rendering it locked (LOCKED!), and thus unable to roast said lamb (or to cook his delicious stuffed pizza, trucked in from Indiana).

Needless to say, we all survived. The Saints were victorious, and the patron saint of snack foods, St. Guacamole, saved the day.

Then came Monday. I rarely curse (on this blog, I mean), but Monday was an undeniable shitshow from the very beginning. Said shitshow continued well into the evening (until midnight, to be precise), as my Digitas team toiled into the night creating brilliant online advertising that will one day be avoided by all of you in a fit of irritation.

I digress.

Back to the lamb. As you can see, for the past 48 hours, my lonely leg of lamb, having made the arduous trek from New Zealand to the Whole Foods in Boystown, was left to marinate in the fridge for a full 48 hours in a blanket of the delectable Tunisian chile paste, harissa. It had been sitting in salt and harissa for two days. And that, my friends, is not a curse - it is a blessing of the most savory, meaty variety.

Because that lamb, I swear to God, was the most delicious meat I have ever put into my mouth. Most. Delicious. Meat. Ever.
You all KNOW how I feel about meat: lukewarm, at best! But this was no ordinary meat. It was the best. Ever.

So, in conclusion, I advise all of you to buy an absurdly large and expensive leg of lamb, rub something all over it, and then become too busy to cook it for two days. In the end, you will thank me. Seriously.


INGREDIENTS

6-lb. leg of lamb, bone-in (fresh)
lots of harissa paste (I used about a half a jar)
lots of kosher salt (don't be shy, salt it up, it's a whole damn lamb's leg for god's sake)
1/3 c. olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
lots of freshly chopped cilantro
lots of freshly chopped parsley
3 medium carrots, in large chunks
7-8 baby yukon gold potatoes, halved
1 red onion, in large dice
drizzle olive oil
2 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste

STEP ONE:

Place the raw lamb leg in a large baking dish (I used a 9 X 12 casserole dish, and the lamb bone hung out the side - I also had to turn the dish sideways when I put it in the oven - the hilarity of living in a shoebox), fat-side up. Make shallow slices in the top of it, diagonally going both ways (making an allover X pattern). Rub with salt, then harissa. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for 1-2 days. In an airtight container, combine olive oil, garlic, cilantro, and parsley. Shake. Refrigerate that also.

STEP TWO:

Preheat the oven to 450. Toss the carrots, onion, and potatoes in the olive oil with salt, pepper, and cumin in a baking dish. Set aside.

STEP THREE:

Take lamb out of fridge. Remove plastic or foil. Rub the harissa into the lamb again (not new harissa, just the same harissa - jsut give it a rub). Pour the oil-garlic-herb mixture over the top. Place the lamb in oven and roast at 450 for about 30 minutes.

STEP FOUR:

Turn the heat down to 350 and place the potato/onion/carrots into the oven with the lamb. Roast the veggies and lamb for another hour. After an hour, take the meat's temperature. The lamb needs to reach an internal temp of 145 (make sure the meat thermometer does not touch the bone). If the lamb is up to temp, remove it from the oven and cover it with aluminum foil. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Let the veggies keep roasting till the lamb is done resting.

STEP FIVE:

Slice the lamb. Serve it with the vegetables. Enjoy!