Spoon & Shutter

The main course - Ted's fabulous stuffed leg of lamb

The finale - Susan's lemon meringue cake

From Susan: The highlight of our weekend was dinner last night with the Nicotra family – Fortunato, Shelly and their two charming children. Fortunato is the executive chef at Felidia, Lidia Bastianich’s flagship restaurant in NYC and Shelly also works with Lidia as producer of her popular PBS show – “Lidia’s Italy”.  We met them three years ago when we featured them in an the November, 2007 issue of (201) and since then have been fortunate to spend some wonderful times with them during rare breaks in their very busy schedules! And, as regular readers will know, Ted recently did a series of portraits of Lidia in her home kitchen, at Felidia and with her restaurant chefs.

Radish canapes

Our menu was a tribute to spring: Ted’s amazing leg of lamb (the man loves to eat lamb so cooks it beautifully!) stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta and toasted pine nuts; roasted potatoes; grilled asparagus; a salad of endive, baby arugula, shaved fennel and orange segments with lemon-olive oil dressing; and lemon meringue cake (a Nigella Lawson recipe that always looks gorgeous and is very easy to make). To start, I made canapes of sorts – slices of baguette spread with soft butter, thinly sliced radishes and pink salt, garnished with a just-sprouted chive (from a wintered-over clump in a pot on the back deck!) Of course Fortunato showed up with his own, much more interesting contributions – filet mignon carpaccio that had somehow been dried and then brushed with olive oil, so the texture was like tender steak, with an intense concentration of flavor. He also had slices of duck breast that had been treated the same way; he experiments a lot with cured/dried/smoked meats and the results are always incredibly delicious! Another treat was something he called “Italian junk food” – rice-flour penne pasta that he had cooked, then let dry for two days before quickly frying – an addictive, crunchy snack!

Stuffed leg of lamb ready for the oven

Ted Axelrod’s Stuffed Leg of Lamb

A whole (4-5 lb), bone-in leg of lamb, butterflied, either by you or the butcher – save the bone (you can use a boneless leg, but these are usually smaller)

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, coarsely chopped

3 tbsp. toasted pine nuts

3 tbsp. fresh rosemary

Place butterflied lamb fat-side down on work surface. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Distribute olives, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts as evenly as possible over the meat, then add 2 tbsp. rosemary.

Starting at a short side, roll as tightly as possible and tie in several places with butcher’s twine. Sprinkle the top with salt, pepper and additional rosemary.

Lightly oil a roasting pan and place the tied lamb in the pan, with the saved bone alongside, but not touching. Roast at 375 for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a meat thermometer reads 130-135. Let rest 10 minutes while you make a sauce. Remove bone from pan and discard. Set over medium heat; stir in 1/4 – 1/2 cup water and 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, cook and stir until slightly thickened. Stir in 1 tbsp. butter and remove from heat. Slice lamb and serve with sauce.

Slice of lemon meringue heaven!

Lemon Meringue Cake

1 stick plus 1 tbsp. very soft butter

4 eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tsp. sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

zest of 1 lemon

4 tsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tsp. milk

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. lemon curd

Preheat the oven to 400. Line two 8-inch cake pans (I used 9-inch) with parchment paper and butter the paper.

In a food processor, mix the butter, egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and lemon zest. Process until smooth, then add lemon juice and milk and process again to blend. Spread batter evenly in the prepared pans.

In an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar until peaks form, then slowly add 1 cup sugar, beating until mixture stands in peaks when beaters are lifted. Spread meringue evenly on top of batter in pans – smooth one flat and use a spatula or the back of a spoon to create little peaks on the other one. Sprinkle the peaked meringue with the 1 tsp. sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Remove cakes to a wire rack and let cool completely in pans.

Up to an hour before serving, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Place layer with the flat top meringue-side down on serving plate. Spread with lemon curd, then cream. Top with second layer, cake-side down. Keep in a cool place, but do not refrigerate, before serving.

Adapted from “Feast”, by Nigella Lawson

The layers just out of the oven

Spreading with lemon curd

Slathering on the cream!