Leiden Hausen: Mini Road Trip to the beeeeeaaacccccchhhhhh!!!!!

So this day was stinking HOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTT!!!!! We all decided to go to the beach @ approx. 6pm, yes! You don't have googly eyes, you read this right - 5pm I shit you not.
So we all pile intoin my sister L____'s toyota camry & head off into the sunset (literally it was the sunset, I'm not just being poetic here - 5pm people, who goes to the beach @ 6pm - WE DO!!!)

Forunately it was daylight savings so the day (or what was left of it) was still young - ish.

Before we left I have to make a point that part of the reason why we left late was due to me cooking for the first time, an authentic Lebenese lamb recipe which was orally passed down to me from A__.

On the menu that day was foule - a simple bean & tomato vegetarian dish which I made for L_____ who couldn't stop stuffing her face with it. Eaten with fresh Lebenese bread & I also made Refried beans, admittedly I half cheated by using some of the old el paso canned variety & than adding my own fresh ingrediants to try to liven it up a bit.

Bad move.
It still tasted highly processed & L_______ tended to ignore this dish so that was an indicator right there, if I had time on my side I would of made from scratch but there were lots on the menu that day.

I prepared sweet breads (thymus gland) that I had baked in the oven with the same spice mix I used to rub the lamb shoulder.

This was the lamb & it was divine...I half cooked long grain rice & once cooled I added, chopped apricots, slivered almonds, spice mix & seasoning. A___ had already gotten his butcher to open up a cavity where I could stuff the rice mixture into. I overstuffed the lamb just to be sure & than I followed his instructions, cook low & slow. I put it in the oven just before midday & took it out around 5pm. The meat was practically falling off the bone.

The lamb shoulder was a massive one, weighing about 17lb's (approx 7-8kgs) or so.

Before I shoved it inside the oven, I filled the bottom of the pan with water around half way up the pan & than covered with foil, for the last 30-45mins I removed the foil so the outside skin could crisp up.

You just had to be there to enjoy it!

One of the main things to remember when trying to crisp any skin up on a beast, is to rub liberally with coarse salt, it draws a lot of moisture from the skin & that means extra crispy! mmmmmm!! We ate salsa, rice & foule with this meal & than ate panipopo again for dessert. After a few more complaints about the heat, we decided to go swimming at the beach.