The Denver Post does lamb

Maybe I'm spoiled, but as a kid I grew up eating lamb (not pork) chops. So I take advantage of any chance I have to eat lamb, whether it's at a restaurant or when lamb is on sale at the grocery store.

Last week's Denver Post food section featured award winning lamb recipes from the Colorado Lamb Cookoff in Vail. Second place went to dinner chef Chris MacGillivray, Grouse Mountain Grill in Beaver Creek, for his salt-crusted leg of lamb with mint-garlic relish. His inspiration was simplicity. He said, "It's all about bringing out the natural flavor of the lamb - the bright flavors of garlic, lemon and onion, and some shoestring potatoes tossed with curry."

Indeed the recipe is simple enough for your average home cook to try it. That's exactly what I'll be doing today for Easter dinner along with Giada De Laurentiis Lentil Soup. (Lamb shoulder was also much cheaper than lamb chops. That's why I'm not making Giada's chop recipe.)

I also won't be making the mint-garlic relish or shoestring potatoes (we're having asparagus spears instead). I have a real objection to Americans always insisting that lamb needs mint sauce. Lamb done well (i.e., rare and juicy not well done and dried out) only needs a little salt and pepper. I also have a bottle of Tastefully Simple's merlot sauce, which may be an interesting on lamb as it's rather sweet.

I'm also looking forward to trying a salt crust. I saw this done on Iron Chef, and thought the technique was really cool.

Second place: Grouse Mountain Grill Salt-Crusted Leg of Lamb with Mint-Garlic Relish

Chef Chris MacGillivray is from Santa Fe and has been cooking professionally since he was 17, starting at the Inn at the Loretto and working his way up in New York City and now in Vail. His recipe serves 6-8.

Ingredients:

1. 5-6-pounds leg of lamb, boned, rolled and tied
2. 2 pounds kosher salt
3. 4 egg whites

Relish:

1. 1/2 cup diced tomato
2. 1/2 cup diced red onion
3. 1/4 cup chopped mint
4. 5-6 cloves garlic, chopped (2 tablespoons)
5. Juice of 1 lemon
6. 1 tablespoon olive oil
7. Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Mix salt, egg whites and enough water to make a pastelike consistency. Place lamb in a roasting pan and cover completely with salt crust mixture, cook 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until a thermometer reads 120 degrees.
3. Let rest for 30 minutes while it continues to cook in the crust.
4. Meanwhile, make relish: Mix all ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. When lamb is done, break open salt crust and shave lamb with a slicing knife.
6. Serve with relish and garnish with shoestring potatoes or watercress, and a drizzle of nice olive oil.

Wine ideas: Whether it's the gamey flavor of lamb or the mint sauce that so often comes with it, there's something about lamb that just asks for syrah. When grown in Australia, it's called shiraz, and the grape often picks up a minty note; in France, its homeland, it tends more toward scents of thyme, rosemary and bacon fat. Look for wines from Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Cornas to try the French style.

For all the award winning lamb recipes, go to the Denver Post food section.

(Photo of salt-crusted leg of lamb with mint-garlic relish courtesty of the Denver Post and Glenn Asakawa.)

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