So what’s this? It’s Costolette d’agnello in crosta di rosmarino saltate con scalogno e patate al forno from the Osteria Enrico VIII in Brescia. It was good. In fact, it was great. It was also unusual, in a way.
You see, what’s extraordinary about this dish is the form the lamb takes. It’s what we would call a “rack of lamb” in the US. Three ribs have been gently and artistically severed from the whole rack. This is not usually the case. Not in northern Tuscany anyway.
Here, especially in springtime, I can got loads of lamb at the market. But, the problem is, they hack it up. It’s not like they used a proper knife. It’s as if they crammed some razor blades into the business end of a baseball bat and went at the lamb carcass like like a demented roofer on crack.
What you end up with is oddly shaped bits of lamb muscle formed into gristly little pin cushions gently embracing obscenely sharp shards of bone. Your tongue can emerge from battling these bony wads looking like an overused practice organ at a body piercing demonstration.
So…this was nice for a change.