DAY Recipe

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Toss carrots with oil and salt and pepper to taste in a shallow (1-inch-deep) baking pan. Roast in middle of oven, stirring once, until barely tender, about 20 minutes. Leave oven on.

Stir together vinegar and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Drizzle over carrots, shaking pan to coat, then roast until carrots are tender and vinegar is evaporated, 5 to 8 minutes more.

DIRECTIONS

Pour boiling water over porcini in a bowl and let stand until softened, 10 to 20 minutes. Lift out porcini, squeezing excess liquid back into bowl, and rinse to remove any grit. Pour soaking liquid through a sieve lined with a dampened paper towel into another bowl. Chop porcini and reserve for polenta.

Pat veal dry and cut 20 (1 1/2-inch-deep) slits all over with a thin-bladed knife. Stuff each slit with a slice of garlic, then season veal with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a 4- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown veal on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add wine and deglaze pot by boiling over high heat (keep veal in pot), stirring and scraping up brown bits, until wine is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Stir in porcini-soaking liquid and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently, covered, turning veal every 30 minutes, until meat is tender, about 2 hours. Transfer veal to a cutting board and cool completely.

Skim any fat and froth from surface of pan juices, then boil until reduced to about 2 cups. Pour through a very fine sieve into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir dissolved potato starch, then whisk into pan juices. Simmer sauce until slightly thickened.

Make gremolata: Stir together gremolata ingredients.

Stir half of gremolata into sauce and season with salt and pepper. Chill remaining gremolata, covered.

Heat and serve veal:Preheat oven to 350°F.

Remove strings from veal and cut meat across the grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Overlap slices in a 13- by 9-inch ceramic or glass baking dish and pour sauce over meat. Cover dish with foil and heat in middle of oven 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining gremolata.

Cooks’ notes:

• Veal (cooled on cutting board but not sliced) can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Slice meat while still cold and reheat in sauce.

• Sauce can be made 1 day ahead, then cooled completely before being chilled, covered.

DIRECTIONS

Toss half of tomato slices with onions, eggplant, garlic, oregano, potatoes, salt, and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Transfer to an oiled shallow 3-quart casserole, spreading evenly. Arrange remaining tomato slices on top. Roast, uncovered, in middle of oven 30 minutes.

Prepare lamb: Trim lamb of all but a 1/4-inch layer of fat. Cut small slits all over lambwith a sharp small knife and put a sliceof garlic into each slit. Rub lambwith some lemon juice and season with oregano, salt, and pepper.

After tian has been roasting 30 minutes, put lamb on top of vegetables. Roast in middle of oven 30 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350°F.

Continue roasting, basting meat with cooking juices (baste with remaining lemon juice during last 30 minutes of roasting) until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat (do not touch bone) registers 135°F for medium-rare, about 1 1/2 hours. Transfer meat to a cutting board, cover tian with foil, and let meat stand 15 minutes before carving. Spoon off any excess fat from tian and discard. Serve tian with lamb.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Remove any thick skin from ham and all but about 3/4-inch layer of fat.

Mince and mash garlic with salt to a paste. Coarsely grind coriander and peppercorns in coffee/spice grinder and stir together with flour, butter, and garlic paste in a bowl.

Spread spice paste all over ham, then put ham, cut side down, in a greased large roasting pan. Bake in middle of oven until crust is golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into center (do not touch bone) registers 150°F, about 1 1/4 hours.

Transfer ham to a platter and let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

DIRECTIONS

Combine milk, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish and soak crabs 5 minutes. Lift 1 crab out of milk, letting excess drip off, and dredge in flour. Knock off excess flour and transfer to atray. Repeat with remaining crabs, arranging them in 1 layer as coated.

Heat clarified butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté crabs, upside down, 2 minutes. Turn over and sauté until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Transfer crabs to a serving dish. Add butter pieces to skillet and cook until golden brown with a nutty aroma. Add lemon juice and parsley (mixture will bubble up) and remove from heat.

Season sauce with salt and pepper and drizzle over crabs.

Cooks’ note:

•If the crabs you get are larger and don’t fit 4 to the skillet, cook them in batches using more clarified butter.