YAY !!! We got 1 day of sun !!!! Even so, if you check the horizon, rain is most certainly a moment away. The inspiration comes up on you like a warm fluffy frieght train. All of a sudden you care that your kitchen repairs need to be completed. That you could race home and get some garden chores done before dinner needs to be started. Ideas to improve the garage come and go every 20 minutes, it’s great. Then you realize you’re out of mesquite and priorities need to be laid. One reminder of that was today’s Fatted Calf Newsletter. I’m out of fresh meat! I’ll have to head over to Rick the Butcher for today, but for tomorrow, it’s Team Fatted Calf I’ll be looking for.
The special this week is Little Lamb Leg Roasts stuffed with Olive Tapenade. These are good no matter what time of the year it is, even if you’re not quite sure what season this is. FC’s lamb is so darned fresh, no gammy flavors. The tapenade is something they make themselves out of special ingredients. When roasted, braised, grilled or smoked, you and yours will smile from toe to toe.
Next up we find some happy Pork Crepinettes with Greens, Pine Nuts & Lemon. I’m a huge fan of the citrus and can only imagine the brightness it brings to the fancy pork and stuffin’s. These really should be grilled outside, the added layer of fire really dials it in tight. If you don’t have the outside fire, pan fry them on your range. Use a cast iron, copper or stainless if you have it. Non-stick if that’s all you have, just don’t brown that well in those things. Cook these lightly and carefully, pull when done. Don’t cook all the fat out, that’s bad. Crepinettes are perfect for breakfast, lunch and supper. Good on a bun, good on a plate, even better on my fork.
OH LOOK, right below is the Duck Sausage with Kirsch. MmMmM, duck. Duck is an excellent fowl to eat, for sure. And the Kirsch is no slouch either. It’s an excellent brandy distilled from cherry juice and pits, oh man. How could this possibly be wrong? Get the duck.
Oh dear, they’ve got Rabbit Pate with Chives! YAY !!! mMmmmm, rabbit & chives.
Okay, I’m losing my mind, it’s wandered off somewheres. It’s headed off on a meat adventure without me, how rude.
If you’re smart, you’ll be heading out to the Berkeley Farmer’s Market this coming Saturday for some treats. I saw some green garlic last week and some wonderful salad greens. Grab yer cloth sack and follow me, happy shopping!
Please read on to Fatted Calf’s Newsletter not written by me.

Fatted Calf
Phone/Fax (510)653-4327
“…Comme il pleut sur la ville”
Pretend it is Paris I keep thinking to myself as a gust of wind sends a cascade of water off the Farmers Market tents and down the front of my jacket. It is Paris and the weather is disagreeable, as it often is in Paris in April, but le marché is aglow with the late season citrus and fat stalks of Asparagus are emerging here and there. Young leeks and shoots of green garlic stand tall and proud against baskets of rain-washed leaves. Tulips bow their elongated heads and shudder in preparation for another cold spray of wind.
I imagine it is Paris as I wrap my chilled hands around a warming café crème and stamp my soggy boots while I wait for my pain de campagne (biologique, bien sur!). I say bonjour at Loulou’s Garden where I am handed a spoonful of divine confiture. My stomach emits an audible growl as I walk by two women arguing over who sells the most perfect eggs. It is now raining so hard one might mistake Boulevard Raspail for the Embarcadero.
I will end my Paris fantasy at the charcuterie where there are robust Toulouse sausages, delicately perfumed duck links (mmm. canard!), dependable paté maison and tubs of rillettes. Perhaps some confit for a meal later this week and certainly un petit rôti d’agneau pour Dimanche. And then I see it tucked into the ice, a little slice of foie, a little sunshine in my day!
Voyez-vous au marché, mes amis!
Saturday, April 8
Special
Little Lamb Leg Roasts stuffed with Olive Tapenade
Sausage
Pork Crepinettes with Greens, Pine Nuts & Lemon
Duck Sausage with Kirsch
Calabrese
Merguez
Fennel Sausage
Toulouse
Mexican Style Chorizo
Breakfast Sausage
Patés, Confits & Terrines
Paté Maison
Rabbit Pate with Chives
Guinea Hen Terrine
Duck Liver Mousse
Duck Confit
Duck Rillettes
Rabbit Rillettes
Salumi
Fegatelli
Petit Sec Aux Herbes
Mortadella
Spanish Style Chorizo
Finocchiona
Pancetta
Cured Trotters
Other Meaty Goods
Glace de Viande
Sugo di Carne
Bacon