Mary had a little lamb, and I ate it

About a month ago I decided to take full advantage of the generosity that is the jews and throw a dinner party on the dollar of the Birthright federation. A free trip to the motherland is followed up with monthly Shabbat dinners that are paid for if you sign up in advance. It is good to be one of the chosen people.

I invited a few close friends and decided to go all out and buy a leg of lamb as the 'piece de resistance'. Wonton graciously offered to throw together some of the eggplant trifles she had learned how to make in Italia, and I decided to kick the meal off with some butternut squash soup.






The soup is a family classic. Always been a favorite of mine and fairly simple to make. The most time consuming part is baking the squash to the desired level of softness, but this can be avoided by microwaving I learned. Even though microwaving isn't my favorite way to cook, it can save a lot of time. Cut the squash in half and place in a glass dish with some water and put it in the oven for about 45minutes or wrap in seran wrap and cook in the microwave for about 10 minutes. The soup is best when you have a cuisinart at your disposal and can grind it up nice and thin, but I improvised and used a hand blender since I had no choice. Once the squash is cooked to a nice squish, mash it/blend it up and then add cream, a little chicken stalk, salt, pepper, cayenne, and I like to throw in some sherry for a little extra kick.

Next course was the oh so lovely lamb leg. I decided to improvise and rubbed her down with some cinamon, rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic and red wine. I then cut up some onions and prunes and placed them around the leg along with some more fresh spices and garlic. I popped her in the oven for about an hour and a half at 375 and lets just say, damn Mary, that is one tasty friend.



So I would like to give thanks to the wealthy jews out there who made this diner possible and to Duncan Hines for supplying us with a classic yellow cake with dark chocolate frosting for desert. Shabbat Shalom!