It all started very innocently, with a trip to a Turkish restaurant with our friend Aytug. It's a nice little family place in Brookline, in fact it's even called - Brookline Family Restaurant. The menu is more adventurous and more authentic at the same time (those two things are not oxymoronic in Boston) then your typical turkish kebab joint. And so we started a game of one-upmanship, where Aytug would tell us about unique Turkish dishes he had tried at home and while traveling around his country and we would chime in with our culinary recollections of Turkey. One thing led to another and we were MAKING a stuffed quarter lamb!!!
Could we get it??? Where would me make it??? In what vessel???
It took a couple of phone calls and we found a butcher, who with only a few days lead could get us a quarter of a lamb (ribs and shoulder). Natasha, one of our dining companions that night, graciously offered her oven, her kitchen, practically her whole house for this sacrificial roasting. Lastly, we were able to borrow a huge roasting pan from the campus cafeteria.
This album documents the full day of cooking the lamb. From carving, to seasoning, to stuffing and stitching, to cooking, and of course finally - eating!!!
WARNING!!! - There will be blood.
P.S.: We did have a bit of a dilemma that morning. When Alek and Aytug arrived at the butcher shop, they were given A WHOLE HALF A LAMB, 28 lbs from shoulder to hip... They took it. And we had not a quarter of a lamp to carve, season, stuff and saw, cook, and finally, eat, but TWO QUARTERS!!! And I'm proud to say - We Did It! With the help of friends and neighbors we somehow managed!
