My brothers came up for some good ole’ American 4th of July holiday-ing and we had an insanely good time creating our family meal.
We are also total dorks.
I embrace my open, unorganized and empty-ish cabinets, lack of makeup, lame Blues Brothers impersonation and very strange son.
Just keepin’ it real, y’all.
We decided to go to the local farmer’s market and see what we could find and plan our menu around it. We took home some great strawberries and voila! Strawberry Rhubarb pie was on the menu.
But the big pick?
Lamb sausage.
Specifically Apple and Lamb sausage and Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Sausage.
They were the foundation of our meal and we ended up cranking out Lamb Sausage and Angus Sliders 3-Ways with Lime Chili Fruit and Jicama Summer Salad.
While we used Angus beef to make sliders as well because we were all a little hesitant about how a lamb sausage slider would work out (especially with the beet and apple relish I fought to add because in my head it sounded divine) it was AMAZING. In fact, the slider with the beet relish was Jonathan’s favorite and he HATES beets. Score!
(You can get the recipes for all the goodness today on Where Women Cook. :) )
GARLIC AND ROSEMARY LAMBURGER SLIDERS WITH SPICY MINT PEA RELISH AND TZATZIKI SAUCE
BLUE CHEESE CRUMBLED ANGUS SLIDERS WITH BATTERED ONION STRINGS
LAMB AND APPLE SAUSAGE SLIDERS WITH FETA AND SWEET AND SOUR APPLE BEET RELISH
LIME CHILI FRUIT AND JICAMA SUMMER SALAD
It was seriously yummly. Next food day we are going to take on bottling our own fruit and making jam and homemade ice cream. Just give me a month or two to recover from this weekend first.
SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR THE 4th?
Whatever it is I hope you have a totally happy and patriotic holiday!
And I also hope that you make room for some Neil Diamond in your life this weekend.
He is totally the dude I cheat on Air Supply with.
Just so you know.
SING IT AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS, PEOPLE! (You KNOW you totally want to. :) )
We’re going to have turkey burgers (mixed with mesquite seasoning and cheddar cheese), an Asian-inspired cole slaw made with cabbage, bean sprouts, sunflower seeds, rice wine vinegar and other stuff, and a cucumber salad.
Now, that sounds yummy. Especially the coleslaw. (I am a fan of vinegar slaws, not mayonnaise based.)
OOooooooh. Lau lamb? It’s our favorite. We buy nearly all our meat from them. Can’t go wrong! (and I, uh, may have bought 10 pints of strawberries…)
RECIPE. Like, now! :) Seriously, try their lamb sausage. I cannot begin to tell you have divine it is!!!
Loralee, REALLY WANTED to tweet you good wishes while you were gone, or e-mail you, or leave comments on your last blog post. I didn’t – on purpose – figuring that you really did want a clean break for a little while – and needed it – and deserved it.
YOU. WERE. MISSED.
Your heart was missed – and is needed in the space. I’m glad – really glad – that the time off was good for you. It makes me smile. Smiles are good. God bless you and each and every one of yours Loralee!
Awe, thanks, you! xo
We are going to spend the day and evening hanging out in the city where my dad works. They graciously gave him the day off because he would have to be on his feet all day dealing with the crowds and with one knee that was just replaced and one that needs to be replaced like yesterday that would have been worse than murder. So he wants to take our girls and give them the grand tour. So sunny So Cal here we come!
Oh, that was good of them! I hope you have fun with your family!!
((beats head on desk))
Wondering how a beet & apple relish would go with lamb?????? And you a food writer!
That is a classic combination! Beets and lamb go together like, like, like…..peanut and butter. Like ham and sandwich. Like cherry and pie. Like oral and (THWAP! don’t say it Joe! BAD BOY!)
Can you believe I’ve only cooked lamb TWICE? And I KNEW beets would be awesome! My brother was the doubter but I persisted!!! :)
I hadn’t done much with it until about 20 years ago. For the most part its too expensive.
Here is roughly what we do for our parish food fair. We use about 30 legs.
Take boned and trimmed legs, salt and pepper them, and marinate them in olive oil, lots of garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, lemon juice, red wine, and onion. Let sit for a day or so. No more than two, otherwise it starts getting mushy. Roll and tie them. Sear off. Place in roasting pan, cover with the onions from the marinade, and add some of the marinade to the pan. Roast at 350 to an internal temp of 130 to 135. Remove form pan, tent with foil, allow to rest.
Strain the pan juices and skim off the fat, deglaze the pan with the juices. Reduce to 1/2 to 1/3 volume.
(note – we usually do this a few days in advance. We cook to 125, then refrigerate. Then, the day before the fair we slice the meat. On the day of the fair we bring the juices to a simmer and put the sliced meat into it to bring it up to temp. This gives a medium rare to medium meat. Serve with Greek Salad, pilaf, and bread. Or just bread and meat. People often pick up the lamb plate and then hit the Russian booth for a bowl of borscht.
Wow, that food sounds amazing. Will you cater my next party? :)
We had our family BBQ today. Fireworks are not allowed here, so we just had a swim party. Had a great day at my Aunt and Uncle’s pool. Just going to have a relaxing day tomorrow before my husband has to return to work.
SO many places don’t allow fireworks. I guess my city is different…we just passed a law allowing fireworks that shoot 150 ft into the air.
(And thanks for the compliments on the food. It was yum!)
That looks delicious. And, Neil Diamond…..mmmmm
A must read for today: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
I’ve read it several times and almost cried when I saw it in DC. Thanks for the link, Joe!
This year is a bust for us.
When I was little, 4th of July was always a big deal. We went to see the fireworks EVERY YEAR, usually meeting up with several friend-families to sit with. The fireworks were often a day or two early, which left us open on the actual day; we always went to my grandparents’ house and had burgers, then did snappers (pop-its?), snakes, and sparklers. Grandpa often bought a pack of little fireworks (like the cone “fountain” ones) to finish off the night.
Personal fireworks (even sparklers) aren’t allowed in our city. Of the few friend-families we have around here, most of them had other plans out of town. We had a tree blow down two weeks ago, and we are working through the final push to get the branches dragged from our front yard to the back alley where the city guys will come pick it up. I am making my father-in-law’s birthday gift (a cool calendar from Picaboo – we have gift certs so the gift is free other than my time)… it has to get done today so it arrives in time for his birthday; that’s probably 1-2 more hours of work. We can’t all fit in the car (6 in the family when my stepdaughters are here for summer, 4-seater car with two car seats), so we couldn’t go to the parade, and won’t make it to the fireworks. We’re flat broke after about 3-4 mo of unemployment, so even if I wanted to take the two big girls and the 3yo to one of the city celebrations in the area, we couldn’t afford to get ride tickets/fair food/face painting/etc.
The nice thing is, my husband starts a job tomorrow, so things are looking up. And we WILL have burgers for dinner (not as fancy as yours… I’m drooling!), so yay! But I’m sitting here plugging away at this project wishing for “the olden days”.
Oh, I hurt for you. I LOVE the 4th. We always had fun as kids but I make a bigger deal of it than when I was growing up. We usually have several parties and outings and next to Christmas it just might be my favorite holiday.
I am stuck at home working while my family is out playing. (Lots and lots and lots of deadlines and work to do) and so I understand the ‘stuck’ thing. (And I have been broke so I also relate. It is NO fun.)
But I am so glad that your husband is starting a job tomorrow!
I truly hope all goes well for you. xo
Wow – I am impressed – no plain out of the freezer cheap hamburger patties like most of us.
Wow, you really know how to party. Seeing as I’m Canadian, and therefore, NOT celebrating July the 4th, I’ll comment on what I did on the first. We had an amazing block party! Yes, first one I’ve ever been to and we’re already planning next years do. Let me tell ya, the sausage, burgers and salads were aplenty. Yours sound even yummier though.
Oh, welcome back. I was sad to see you go. It was one of your posts that I figured out that I knew your brother. I was your sister in law’s roommate when they started dating and then married. Your blog is now bookmarked for reading.
You’ve said a LOT of shocking things on here, and never have I been as tempted to stop reading your blog until this post. Neil Diamond??? I’m throwing up in my mouth as I type this. I forgot we had this great chasm in our friendship. IT pains my heart to continue…..*sniff*…. *gag*…..*weep*….
Ok, like total YUM-ness!!! You guys did GREAT! High five girl!!! {Next time, invite me! ~wink~wink~ }
I am incredibly impressed with how fancy you eat. I’m in awe of myself when I grill a plain cheeseburger!