Survive the Apocalypse in Style

When the nukes wipe out the cities or the zombies begin to ravage all heavily populated areas, the most important aspect of modern civilization will go quickly. Climate control, ladies and gents, is arguably the most crucial development of modernity. Through our ability to manipulate the environment we ward off 105 degree summers and 5 degree winters. Obviously, we'll start using fire for the winters, but the summers will still attack us relentlessly. We'll suffer through it, but our food will have some problems. Once we've tired of fighting turf wars over control of the canned foods aisle, we'll have to re-learn to preserve our own food.

As it turns out, commercially canned food kinda blows anyway. Predictably, it tastes like somebody put bad food in a metal can and sealed it for ages. At right, you can see samples from a Sunday afternoon spent making pickles and jams. These jars are sealed and pasteurized, just like the commercial stuff. The difference is that they taste better, look cooler, and the skills involved are transferable to life in Bartertown. My most recent addition to the pantry was a killer puttanesca sauce made with home-grown roma tomatoes simmered for a day in a cast-iron pot. Suddenly pasta with sauce from a jar doesn't seem as lame.

Try canning jars from Rocco Bormioli or Le Parfait. They last forever, and they look pretty impressive in your kitchen.

A Greek Lamb in Morocco

Greek Lamb recipes are pretty basic, though I bet that most Greek grandmas have a secret ingredient that they don't share with anyone but their sworn-to-secrecy family members. Typically you see garlic, oregano, lemon, salt, and perhaps a few other herbs and spices. Morocco also has a serious history with lamb, but with a much spicier tone. I'm trying to combine the fresh, lemon-herb character of Greek recipes with a hint of the exotic Moroccan tradition.








I used:

• 1 Leg of Lamb (5 lb. leg, purchased from my local halal butcher, butchered right in front of me, then trimmed at home)
• 4 large cloves of garlic, sliced in half
• 1 shallot
• 1 handful of fresh oregano
• 1/4 preserved lemon peel
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• pepper to taste
  
• coarse sel gris (kosher salt will do in a pinch)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp olive oil (I'm using L'Olivier from France.)
  

Trim the lamb. The meat at the end of the shank (narrow end) will be too tough, so trim it off around the bone, leaving the bone protruding. If your butcher leaves the backmeat and bones on like mine does, go ahead and cut those off leaving just the leg. Trim around the joint with a sharp knife until the hip bone releases. Then trim off any loose pieces.

Cut slits into the meat and insert the garlic cloves.

Coat the leg with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt so that there's a nice, even coating. Do the same with the pepper and coriander. Finely dice (brunoise cut) the shallot and the preserved lemon, and sprinkle it over.

Put under a broiler for 2 minutes (no longer).

Remove from the broiler, and spread the oregano over the top and splash it with the lemon juice and a little olive oil.


Roast covered in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes per pound or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat away from a bone reads at least 140 degrees for medium. Well done is 160.