Monday, May 17, 2010

Barbecued Lamb with Wine, Cilantro, and Soy Sauce

Succulent slices of barbecued lamb

Summer means many things to me: fireworks at 10:30 pm; long, long nights and early mornings; the most beautiful blue sky and cool Puget Sound; hiking; the all-too-short season of those delicious Rainier cherries, pluots, and heirloom tomatoes; and grilling - in particular, a giant hunk of lamb. This is probably my favorite grill recipe ever, and I'm such a sucker for lamb.

If you're only familiar with grey lamb smeared with mint jelly, forget about all of that! This has the great marinated flavor of red wine, plus the savory flavor of soy sauce, and that fresh herbal flavor of cilantro that I love so much, and nicely charred end bits. If you get a boneless leg of lamb, one end will be smaller than the other, so you're sure to have a level of doneness to suit anyone, and you're almost guaranteed leftovers.