Fatty Friday Issue #7: Holiday Edition or My Excuse to Eat Lamb All Weekend

Enter the holiday weekend and, with it, the excuse to eat like you are planning a long-term relationship with elastic waistbands. Easter doesn't signify a religious event for me so much as it means good food and lots of it.

To begin, my dude and I went for some Egyptian in my nabe on Friday night.  Mombar on Steinway Street between 25th and 28th Avenues is a unique spot not only for the amazing food but also for the friendly and, almost-literally, hands-on service.  We started with some feteer, a form of pastry, sort of a half-breed between pizza and croissant dough, and a dipping sauce called za'atar.  Yum...

From there we moved on to a plate of mixed mezze: hummus, babaganoush and ful.  Most folks are familiar with the two former spreads, but ful was new to me.  It is a fragrant, savory paste made from fava beans.  

Yay!

Then, we inhaled an entree of aromatic lamb tagine with meat so delicate it almost melted in my mouth.  I forgot to take a photo because my brain shut down while I was eating.  Just trust me: it was good and would be worth the trek to Queens from Manhattan or wherever you live.

Next on the train to new pantsville was a spectacular batch of pancakes we whipped up for Saturday brunch.  Since you gots to have bacon with pancakes, I saved the fat for frying the batter.  At the same time, I sauteed pears in thick, soft french butter and brown sugar which we then added to a rich pancake batter (in addition to milk I added about two tablespoons of heavy cream).  Some of the combinations we tried (and loved!) were pear/blueberry and pear/dark chocolate.  The bacon fat infused every pancake with a sweet/salty flavor that highlighted the pear, blueberry and chocolate.  Droool...

 

Yes, it was a bougie afternoon.

Then, Easter Sunday brought more meat than even this lady could handle.  In Cobble Hill I inhaled a lamb asado, which was tender and smokey--all-around luscious--and various other delectable sides, including marinated cucumbers, an impressive array of cheeses (the gouda is haunting my dreams) and a strawberry rhubarb pie that made my toes curl a little.  From there we went on to Little Neck for more lamb, my mother's ham (with a pineapple-dried cherry glaze) and an impressive dish of grilled radicchio and endive in aged balsamic vinaigrette.    

It was a lot of food, but somebody had to eat it, you know?  So, I took one - no, several - for the team this weekend.  And you know what?  I'd do it again. :)