The secret's in the presentation.

Byline: HOME COOKING By Jim Boyd The Register-Guard

Kasha Denogeon of Eugene once served Tandoori Lamb, a marinated and grilled leg of lamb, to the adults at a New Year's Eve party, and made hot dogs for the kids.

Jean Penfold, the friend who nominated Denogeon for the Home Cooking column, attended that party with her husband and children, who then were probably 8 and 10 years old. The meal apparently made a lasting impression both on the mother and on one of the children.

"Their son, Mark, has never let me forget that he had to eat hot dogs instead of the lamb recipe," Denogeon said.

Denogeon and her husband, Ernie Denogeon, are sales representatives for Mountain Peoples Wine & Beer Distributors, a company specializing in organic wines and beers. She has worked previously as a decorator and as a florist.

Specialty: "The whole presentation. Doing the table and presenting the food colorwise - I was an art major in college, so color is important to me. And I think food tastes better when you do a presentation like that," she said.

How she began cooking: "Someplace in our boxes that we have (from) moving back here I have a little decoupaged recipe that I wrote when I was like 9 years old," she said. The recipe was basically water and flour and cinnamon and sugar, cooked until done.

"I called it 'hard tackle,' ' she said. "We'd have it for our little teas."

Her biggest cooking success: "I think my biggest success is that both of my kids really enjoy cooking and get picked, you know - my son just went on a ski trip or snowboard trip over New Year's and he did all of the cooking for the group," she said.

"But our latest - this is sort of a husband-wife combination - big success was a tailgate where we did oysters on the barbecue," she said. "Very simple. You just take bourbon and melt blue cheese in it. And when the oysters pop open, you just spread a little of this over the top and it's wonderful."

Her biggest cooking failure: "The only thing I could really think of was in college, when my girlfriend, Jill Unthank - she and I were having a group over for dinner. We were going to school in Mexico and we decided to cook a big pot of rice. And it was way past sticky rice. We ended up having a snowball fight with it."

Her favorite cookbooks: "Lately we've been trying to eat a little lighter and my daughter got us Cooking Light magazine, so we've been using a lot of recipes from that and their Internet Web site," she said, adding that she tends to add more spices because the recipes tend to be a little bland.

Her other favorite recipe sources are "The Silver Palate Cookbook" by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins; "West Coast Seafood: The Complete Cookbook" by Jay Harlow; and "The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy's Farmhouse Kitchens" by Lynne Rossetto Kasper. Her newest cookbook, a Christmas gift, is "The Gourmet Cookbook" edited by Ruth Reichl.

Why this recipe was chosen: Penfold, the friend who nominated Denogeon for the Home Cooking column, suggested she share her recipe for Tandoori Lamb with readers. Denogeon doesn't recall where the recipe came from, although she thinks she may have gotten it from her sister.

Tandoori Lamb

1 leg of lamb, butterflied, with all fat and connective tissue removed (have your butcher do this)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 piece fresh ginger, 3 inches long and 1 inch wide, peeled and chopped

5 to 7 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2/3 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon ground coriander 

1 teaspoon ground cumin 

1 teaspoon garam masala (available at The Kiva)

1 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/4 teaspoon mace

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon orange food coloring (optional)

1 additional onion for garnish

Butterfly the leg of lamb if the butcher has not already done so.

Place the remaining ingredients (except the onion for garnish) in the bowl of a food processor or blender and make a paste.

Pierce the meat with a knife, making lots of jabs on both sides. Spread the paste marinade over the meat and place in a nonmetallic container, cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, turning at least 3 or 4 times.

Peel a second onion to use as a garnish. Slice the onion into paper-thin rounds, then separate into rings and place in ice water.

When your barbecue grill is hot, place the lamb on the rack on the lowest notch and sear both sides over direct heat for 5 to 8 minutes each.

Now raise the grill to its topmost notch and cook about 20 minutes on each side, so that the spices are cooked through. The meat should be dark on the outside and pinkish on the inside.

Place the meat on a cutting board and slice as you would a London broil - into thin, diagonal pieces with a sharp knife.

Arrange on a platter with the onion rings on top and some greens, parsley or something else interesting, for garnish on the sides. Serves 10.

To nominate a cook for this feature, send mail to Home Cooking, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR; contact Jim Boyd at 338-2363; or send e-mail to [e-mail].