Sichuan Banquet

Our good friends Rachelle and Sid came over for dinner last night and I made a Sichuan banquet.  On the menu was bang bang chicken, fish fragrance eggplant, cumin lamb with hand pulled noodles, red braised pork, cauliflower with bacon and smoked tofu, and water spinach with garlic and ginger.

Timing got a bit away from me.  The noodles were a huge time sink, but they were really delicious.  I wasn't so happy with the lamb visually, that may have been because I used ginger garlic paste instead of minced/grated aromatics...trying to save a bit of time here and there.  The picture on the website Omnivore's Cookbook looked so much better.  I used her recipe for the hand-pulled noodles as well.  Here is a link to that recipe from the Omnivore's Cookbook for hand pulled noodles.  

Cumin Lamb and Hand Pulled Noodles

The eggplant recipe can be found here.  It was the big crowd pleaser last night once again. My husband is not a big fan of eggplant, but he loves mushrooms, so I added a few king mushrooms that I sliced coated with cornstarch like the eggplant, and fried.

Fish Fragrance Eggplant and Mushroom

The big loser was the water spinach with ginger and garlic.  There are 2 types of water spinach, I used the thin leafed last night, there is a larger leaf that more resembles spinach leaves.  It may have been tastier with that type.  I found it was a bit stringy and difficult to manage chewing. Turns out I didn't get a photo of that. Just as well will probably not make that dish again.  Maybe sub in pea shoots instead of the water spinach.

I used a Fuchsia Dunlap recipe from "Land of Plenty", her food of sichuan book.  Her recipes are always really good. Cauliflower with smokey bacon recipe link.  I added smoked tofu to amp up the smokey flavor, not sure that concepts worked but it was a very tasty dish. I had a few asparagus spears hanging around that needed to be cooked, so I threw them in as well.  I blanched the veggies first and they cooked the bacon and tofu before adding the aromatics and vegetables.  A very satisfying dish.

Cauliflower with smokey bacon

I used another Fuchsia Dunlop recipe for the red braised pork one that usually uses beef.  I subbed in 2 pork shanks for the beef.  The dish turned out too salty and I am trying to figure out what caused the overload.  My first idea was the reduction in the liquid in the dutch oven over the cooking time.  What was almost 2 quarts of liquid at the start became about 1/2 deep pool at the end.  That is probably the reason it was so salty.  The flavor was good and in small quantities over rice it was very good.

Red cooked pork

The bones in the shanks just fell out and the skin came off in gelatinous sheets.  It was a very pretty and authentic looking dish.  Next time I will use unsalted stock.

Bang Bang Chicken is another Fuchsia Dunlop dish and it's served cold.  It consists poached chicken shredded by hand and a sesame based sauce.  I liked this dish.  The cold/room temp was a refreshing change from the fresh off the stove stuff.  I steamed chicken thighs, traditionally it is with breast meat, and after they cooled down a bit I shredded the meat discarding any remaining fat and unappetizing looking bits.  I stored the shredded meat in the fridge over night in about 1 cup of the steaming broth which was incredibly flavorful.  I got out the instant pot and put a steaming basket in and filled up to the basket with water.  I removed the basket and added 3 scallions, 2 big slices of ginger, a couple of sichuan peppers and 2 cloves of garlic.  I steamed them for 15 minutes on LOW pressure.  

Bang Bang Chicken

I urge you to read Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbooks they are truly amazing and every time I peruse through my copies I get jonesing to return to China and eat my way through difference provinces than when we were there for 3 months in 2016.  Not a bad meal was had over that time period.  We were the floor-show in a hot pot place in Chengdu because google translate was useless as all the items on the paper menu translated to something like "star and moon pieces" or "princess eating roses"  Not very helpful in terms of choosing what you want to dip into your bubbling broths. We ended up asking google to translate "chef's choices" and we got some very interesting bits of unidentifiable animal origin and bodily location.   All in all it was a very memorable experience and we still laugh about it 9 years on!

Dateline: August 8, 2021 Spit Roasted Lamb, Baby, Spit Roasted Lamb

With a push and much assistance from Servet I got my baby animal on the spit thing going this weekend.  The good news it, the spit roaster is all systems go, BUT, the weather may not cooperate fully.  It was predicted to rain all day.  Spit roaster was moved up onto the deck under one of the umbrellas to allow us to roast.  

Weather this morning is predicted to rain until 1 pm or so, and then just cloudy.  HOORAH for us.  

Servet secured a 22 lb lamb.  My constraints are the length of the spit, which is 32 inches.  So either the body gets cut in half and I turn the back end around so the legs are under the chest, or we get a very small lamb and see how it goes.  

I've got a crowd coming today, about 13 people and some small children.  Should be a lovely closing in on labor day fun time.  This is the dry run.  The next big one is on 8/24 so I am so psyched for that as well.  Let's hope the weather is better that day!

So it was a rainy afternoon.  We cooked the lamb under one of the deck umbrellas.  My back half got soaked because the umbrella was not big enough for me and the lamb!

side view

back view

The lamb was about 10 kg, and fed a dozen of us amply with the rib cage being all that was left.  Servet took that and the rest of the bones home to make lamb stock.

Served with this was a shepherd's salad, a quasi salade composez, and an improvised room temp potato-type salad that I will make for the rest of my life.

Potato Salad

Ingredients for 4

2 lbs small creamer type potatoes,  emphasis on small, washed but not peeled

2 lemons zested and 1 juiced

olive oil

1/2 red onion chopped

1 garlic scape chopped, or 1-2 garlic cloves grated or mashed

1/2 bell pepper

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine

salt and pepper

Method

1.  Add the zest of the lemons to a jar along with the garlic and then add olive oil.  You want the zest completely covered with the oil.  Let it sit while the potatoes are steaming.

2.  Steam potatoes until easily pierced with a knife.  It's ok if some of them burst open.  Dump into serving bowl.

3.  Add the chopped veggies, salt and pepper.  It is a starch dish, so it will need a lot of salt.  Mix dish well and then add juice to the jar and shake to emulsify.  Pour over the salad and mix well.   It is best to do this while the potatoes are hot, that way they absorb the dressing.  Tastee for seasoning again after it has cooled to room temp.

Dateline: April 21, 2021 Lamb Tajine

We were visiting my mom in North Carolina last week, and prior to that I was not cooking.....that explains the break in posts!

I recently "found" my tajine pan again, so was itching to use it.  I had ordered from Fresh Direct some lamb chunks, and decided on tajine last night.  This was the perfect setting to pull it out and have a go.

I used a Melissa Clark recipe from NYTCooking.  Of course, I had to make a few changes, I didn't have apricots, so I used prunes, I didn't have almonds, so I used a mix of walnuts and pine nuts.  My lamb was without bone, so sue me, as it was boneless, I went with 2 lbs of meat chunks instead of the 3 lb called for in the recipe.

This was pretty easy, and very delicious.  I was concerned that it would be too sweet and possibly cloying, but that was not the case!  I had read some of the notes that stated they felt it was too salty, I used only 1 t of salt at the beginning and probably could have used the 2 t called for in the recipe.  The onions melted down into this delectable thick coating on the lamb chunks.  It was not too sweet.  It was luscious with the rice and the meal was rounded out with a salad.  Both of us were quite happy and it may just become a regular in the rotation.

Dateline: March 9, 2021 Lamb-Ho! Smoker Alert

It was a glorious day, in the 60's, sunny and just aching for a smoke.  I kind of went a little crazy and ordered from Costco and got a boned leg of lamb that I am currently smoking.

The afternoon began with checking up on the smoker, cleaning out the detritus, rust, errant pellets, etc. and I tested it out, and it lit things so I was happy I didn't need to do anything more than that.  

I searched on the web for a recipe for smoked lamb and decided that those that I found were, well, frankly, meh!  So I went to town to create something I would like.

Smoked Lamb with Moroccan Spices

1 5-6 lb boned leg of lamb

8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled

1 T fennel seeds

1 T coriander seeds

1.5 t ground black pepper

2 t sweet paprika

1 T tajine spice powder

1 t salt

neutral oil

1.  Heat smoker to 250° F with wood or pellets of your choice.  I am using maple.

2.  In a grinder, grind up garlic and ginger into smallish pieces, add fennel and coriander seeds and grind again, then add pepper, paprika, tajine spice, and salt.  Grind again and add enough oil to allow the blades to turn and grind everything up to a nice paste.

3.  Rinse the lamb leg.  If it is in netting, carefully peel back the netting half way and trim most of the fat off of that half.  In the pocket where the bone was, smear some of the paste and pull net back up.  Turn lamb roast around and peel the other part of the netting down and finish removing the fat and smear some past inside any bone cavities that may be on that half.  Pull of the netting, push the leg into a semi uniform shape and slather it with the remaining spice paste.

4.  Slice a large onion into 1/2 thick rings and place on the bottom of a foil roasting pan.  Place the lamb on top of the onion slice and let rest for about 1 hr while the smoker settles into its temp.

5.  When smoker hits its temp, add the lamb and close the lid.  This should smoke for about 3-4 hours, depending on your preferred lamb doneness.  Mine has been in for 3 hours and it needs to go longer.  It's just starting to develop a nice bark and get caramelized on the outside.  Smells great!

6.  Allow to rest and carve it up how ever you would like it.

Note:  This was excellent.  I am very proud of myself for concocting it!  It can be made in the oven set at 250° and still be excellent!  

 

Dateline: January 8, 2021 Lamb Chops and Roasted Root Veggies

The other day I was surveying the fridge, and decided that things had to be made to take up less space.  I had a couple of turnips, a huge rutabaga, some orange bell peppers and left over broccoli.  Chop up some onions, add garlic, and voila, dinner side dish.

As you can see, I cubed up the rutabaga and turnips, splashed some olive oil on them, and added some salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander.  Into a 400° F oven for about 40-50 minutes, keep checking, until they were crisped and deeply browned.  All of that turnip-y smell and flavor had disappeared and you were left with a crunchy exterior and a creamy interior!  A miracle!

Next step, get out the wok, and heat up some oil, fry the onions, peppers, and garlic until softened, add a little stock and some chopped preserved lemon, and lastly the broccoli.  Perfect.  A delightful side, if I do say!

step 1, cubes 

finished veggie side

The lamb chops were seasoned with salt and pepper and broiled for 5 minutes on the first side, and about 3.5 minutes on the second.  They were perfectly cooked.  Rare, but not raw, cooked to the bone and delicious too!

 

Dateline: December 20, 2020 Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder with Beans

In browsing through several different recipes for braised lamb, I decided to make an amalgam of several of them plus my own twists.

Ingredients

2 lbs lamb shoulder, either rolled, or in a single piece with or without bone

1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

3 stalks of celery, roughly chopped

1 large onion, chopped

Gravy Master (optional)

1/2 c white wine

1 tin anchovies

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 - 2 pints of good stock, preferably homemade

1/2 lb dried small white beans, pea or navy beans work well

1/2 preserved lemon, chopped

1 t ground cumin

1 t smoked paprika

Method

1.  Baste the lamb with Gravy Master and season with black pepper only.  Sear well on all sides.  If you use the instant pot, set it to saute, medium heat.

2.  Remove meat after searing, and deglaze the pan with the white wine.  Add onions, carrots, celery, anchovies, and garlic to the liquid.  Stir to combine.  Reduce liquid by at least half.  Cancel and set instant pot on slow cook mode for 5-6 hours

3.  Rinse the dried beans and add to the pan and place the seared lamb on top of the beans.  Add the stock to the pan, to a level that covers the beans by 2 inches.  Add the preserved lemon.  As the meat cooks, taste the broth and if needed add some salt.  It is very likely you will not need any, especially as the preserved lemon is also salty.

4.  Add the can of tomatoes and gently mix things together, sprinkle in the cumin and paprika.  Cover and allow to cook until the lamb is easily pierced by a fork.  

5.  Remove lamb from the pot.  Using a slotted spoon skim out veggies and place into a sauce strainer or colander over a large bowl.  Try to remove as much of the fat as possible along with the veggies, but leave the beans in the pot.  Defat the liquid, reserving the veggies.  In a deep narrow container, place the veggies and the defatted broth from the pot.  Using an immersion blender, blitz the contents of the container to emulsify the veggies, and pour the contents back into the pot.

6.  Remove any strings or netting from the lamb.  Cut the lamb into chunks, removing as much of the fat as possible.  If the meat is very tender, it will shred rather than cut, that's fine, just remove the fat from the shreds.

7.  Add the lamb back into the sauce and cover until dinner is ready.  Serve with either rice or couscous.

Nota Bene:  After 4.6 hours, my lamb was not very tender, so I used pressure cook for 10 minutes with 15 minutes natural release and quick release the balance.  The lamb cooked in the slow cooker for another hour or so.  The preserved lemon added so much to the dish.  If you do not have preserved lemons on hand, you can use orange peel from any thin skinned orange fruits, such as mandarin, tangerine, etc.  The lemon added a heady aroma and a delightful citrus back to the earthiness of the lamb.

No photos, sorry, it was brown, with flecks of white beans floating around in a dark brown sauce.  Not much to see, but it tasted wonderful.  Bill gave it 2 thumbs up, mostly because an animal died for his meal.

Dateline: November 1, 2020 Moussaka and Roasted Cauliflower

Once again, I had something in the fridge that needed to be used.  Ground Lamb.  I had thought about Keema, or lamb burgers, but, then, I had an inspiration, Moussaka!  I had 2 eggplants, check.  Had lamb, check.  Had tomatoes, yogurt, onions, garlic, etc.  A done deal.

Ingredients 

2 Eggplants, sliced into 1 inch rounds

1 lb ground lamb

1 inch cinnamon stick

1/2 t marjoram

1 red onion, chunked

3 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1 T spicy turkish pepper paste

1 T tomato paste

1 t calabrian pepper paste

1 t Aleppo pepper

1 can diced tomatoes, divided

1/4 c dry red wine

1/4 c red wine vinegar

1 c chicken stock

1 c yogurt

1 whole egg

1/4 c crumbled feta cheese

about 6 slices low fat mozzarella cheese

fresh bread crumbs

Method

1.  Set oven to 400°.  Put eggplants on a silpat mat on a baking sheet pan and spray lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle just a bit of salt on them.  Roast for 30 minutes, then turn them over, turn oven off, and let sit for 10 minutes.

2.  Grind cinnamon stick and marjoram in a spice grinder until they become a fine powder.  Hold aside.

3.  Put onion and garlic into a food processor and pulse until finely ground.  

4.  Put large saucepan or skillet on high heat and add olive oil.  Add onions and cook until wilted and water is evaporating.  Do not brown.

5.  Add ground lamb, cinnamon and marjoram to the onions and garlic.  Break up lamb as it cooks.  When it loses its raw color, add 1 cup of the canned tomatoes, pepper pastes, Aleppo pepper, salt, black pepper, wine, vinegar and stock.  

6.  Bring to a boil, and lower to a steady simmer, you want to reduce it so the final product is not soupy.  Set the oven to 350°.

7.  Take the remaining part of the can of tomatoes, about 1/2 c, and grind in the food processor until it is homogeneous.

8.  In a mixing bowl, put yogurt, feta, about 3 slices of the mozzarella torn into bits, egg, salt, pepper, and the ground tomatoes.  Mix together well.  Add about 2-3 T of fresh bread crumbs and mix again.  Set aside.  It will thicken up as it sits.

9.  Coat a 8 x 12 pan with cooking spray and sprinkle about 2-3 T of bread crumbs on the bottom of the pan.  Layer about 1/3 of the eggplant slices on top of the crumbs, then cover with about 1/3 of the lamb sauce, and another layer of eggplant, then sauce, etc.

10.  On top of the last layer of sauce, add the thickened yogurt topping.  Spread to cover the entire casserole dish.  On top, add slices of mozzarella cheese and some bread crumbs.  Spray the top with cooking spray.  Set casserole pan on the silpat mat used for the eggplant and put the entire pan into the oven for 30 minutes.

11.  After 30 minutes, check on its browning.  If it needs more, then rotate the pan 180° and put it back in for 10 more minutes.  Remove and let sit for about 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nota Bene:

This tasted very good.  I was a little skeptical, but am a believer now.  Even Bill liked it, mostly because it was not "eggplanty".  I liked the interplay between sour, heat, and lusciousness.  A Definite keeper.  I served it with roasted cauliflower which was a good choice as it did not compete with the moussaka.

The addition of the pepper pastes really gave depth to the lamb so that it could carry the blandness of the eggplants and the vinegar added just the right touch of tartness.  Thank God there are leftovers.... yumminess during the week too!

Dateline: October 29, 2020 Egyptian Kebabs and Cranberry Beans with Butternut Squash

I had to cook the kebabs.  They are a prepared product from FD and they are fabulous.  Redolent with cinnamon and spices, they do evoke our trip to Egypt.

I made the bean recipe from a couple of days ago again, except using cranberry beans and butternut squash to stand in for the escarole.  As the beans were larger than the white beans I used the other day, I opted to set the Instant Pot for 33 minutes rather than 30.  Still using the natural release.  They outcome was good, but not as slam-bang delish as with the white beans.  More than likely that was because I RAN OUT OF GARLIC...no kidding, I only had granulated.  So, that I was I used.  The squash did not provide the sweetness of the carrots in the early rendition, but did add a lovely color interest.

I used a leek for the onion and as I usually do, doctored the sauted veggies with some of the pesto I made the previous day.  

The leek sweated nicely and when it was mostly melting onto itself, I added in the thinly sliced butternut squash that didn't get added to the beans. 

As it cooked down, I realized that it would benefit from some additional flavors, so I drizzled in some of the pesto from the previous day and a touch of the calabrian pepper paste.  

I browsed through the fridge and found a couple of slices of cooked red cabbage from the other night and chopped those and dumped them in.

Here is melange that will be added to the beans after they finish cooking and are drained.  The final product did need salt, but was still quite tasty.

There was one catastrophe.  I cooked the kebabs on a plancha on the stove.  Except there was not a deep enough rim to catch the grease.  Consequently, much of the fat ran off the plancha onto the stove top.  No fire, but annoying.  Didn't effect the taste of the resulting kebabs.  

Dateline: September 15, 2020 Lamb Keema and Roti

  

I had one pound of ground lamb that needed to be used in the fridge.  I was torn between lamb burgers or keema.  Keema won!  I decided to use Tejal Rao's recipe for roti.    I  happened to have the atta flour!  I know, I know, my pantry is not like many others.  I have tons of esoteric ingredients for the off chance that I want to make something Asian, or Mexican, or, Indian, or or or.... I am guessing that if you have whole wheat pastry flour that would work fine.  

I also used Tejal Rao's recipe for keema.  I used the lamb, mentioned above, but the recipe calls for ground beef.  I suppose you could use anything ground or minced up and it would still be delicious.  I used kashmiri red chili pepper instead of cayenne, and I could have easily used much more of it.  The dish did not have the zip that I wanted it to.  That's on me, not the recipe!

   

Onions waiting to get brown and crispy, and the blender waiting for tomatoes, ginger, and onions.

The sauce of tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, and hot pepper coming to the boil and waiting for the lamb to be added.

Lamb added and cooked until most of the sauce evaporates, and the oil comes to the surface.  I added peas, well, because it's customary, but the recipe does not call for them.  I also liked the added green.  I did use the mint and cilantro mix as well as a few chives from the garden.

The roti were fun and easy to make.  I used my tortilla press, I know, and made 16 balls instead of the suggested 12.  Why, because it was easier to create equal sized balls by dividing things in half over and over.  After the balls sat, I used pieces of parchment paper to sandwich them between the top and bottom of the press.  I found that the press made one section quite thin, so I rotated the pancake 1/4 turn and pressed it each rotation.  That way the edges were somewhat uniform.

As suggested in the recipe, I did lightly glaze one side with ghee, I know.  These were pretty darn good.  I think next time I will add a bit more salt to the dough and take it out of the bowl and knead it to create more layers.  They got somewhat puffy and when torn, showed the layers.  But, I want more layers!

Dateline: August 27, 2020 Lamb, taters and cabbage: An Ode to Ireland

I had purchased 2 small racks of lamb from Wegman's a while ago.  I have been waiting for either a break in the weather where I could put the oven on, or a day when it was a) not blisteringly hot, or b) not so windy that the grill would be uncontrollable.   

Today, the weather was too windy, but it was also not so hot.  I found on NYTimes Cooking a fantastic recipe for rack of lamb with crispy potatoes.  click on link for recipe

What was good about it?  Everything.  The schmear on the racks, the crushed spuds, the rosemary, you name it, it works.

To serve with it, I decided to play with the half of green cabbage that was in the fridge.   I trimmed it up, cut into 2 quarters, and sliced it thin, parallel to the base.   

Braised Cabbage with Onions and Wine

Ingredients

1/2 head of cabbage, cored, and cut into 2 quarters.  Slice thinly, parallel to the base 

1 med white onion, halved lengthwise and sliced into thin half moons

4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 fresno pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

salt, pepper

wine or sake

olive oil

Method

1. Heat a large pan or skillet up and add some olive oil.  When hot, add sliced onions and fresno peppers, salt and pepper.  When the onion is softened, add the garlic.  Stir and when fragrant, add the cabbage.  Mix well to coat the cabbage with oil.

2.  Fry/Saute the cabbage until it is softened and begins to brown up.  If it sticks to the bottom of the pan, deglaze with some white wine or sake (use whatever is open or around, but not red wine!  Beer would work as well).  Turn down the heat and cover pan.  Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.  When cabbage tastes good, add some more salt and wine or sake and allow the alcohol and other liquids to evaporate as much as possible.  Add another glug of olive oil and crisp up the cabbage and onions.  If ready before the lamb is finished, turn heat off and cover pan to keep warm.

The coated racks of lamb over the crushed, steamed potatoes just prior to going into the hot oven.

The finished rack of lamb, perfectly medium rare.  I will say, that the schmear on the lamb was superb.  I was unsure if the anchovies, garlic, and mustard would be overpowering.  They were not.  It was an exquisite way to prepare the lamb.  To be sure, I will make this preparation over and over again!  I may even sous vide it so that I can torch it when it comes out of the bath!

And the taters!  Oh, boy, oh, boy.  What a freakin' treat these were.  I steamed them in the Instant Pot for 10 minutes, and then smashed them in the roasting pan.  I poured a little bit of oil over the top along with some Maldon salt and rosemary.  I can't decide which was the best of the night, the lamb or the potatoes!

Your turn to decide!

Dateline: August 2-4, 2020 Merguez Sausage

I bought 2 small lamb shoulder roasts, about 2 lbs each, from FreshDirect to make lamb merguez sausage.

The recipe was from Home Sausage Making, Cathy Barrow's merguez recipe.  I can't export the recipe to this blog, but I will type it up.

Ingredients

20 ft lamb casing, or 10 ft medium hog casing

4 lbs boneless lamb shoulder

1 lb pork fat (I used beef fat)

8 cloves of garlic, minced

3 T kosher salt

2 T paprika

1 T dried oregano

2 t ground coriander

2 t ground cumin

2 t anise seed

2 t ground cinnamon

2 t cayenne pepper

1.5 t ground black pepper

1/4 c red wine (I used white with a splash of red wine vinegar)

1/4 c water

Method

1.  Prepare the casings by soaking in warm water with a splash of vinegar and rinsing.

2.  Cube up lamb and fat in 1 in. cubes and sprinkle with all spices except wine and water.  Mix well and refrigerate for minimum 2 hours, or preferably overnight.

3.  Grind through small disk.

4.  Add water and wine and mix well with your clean hands until it is a little sticky.  (This is developing the bind.)

5.  Stuff into your casings.  You can make 10 in lengths, or like I did, large coils.  Tie off the ends, and prick any air bubbles.

6.  Place sausage on a rack in a baking pan and refrigerate uncovered overnight.

7.  If you made links, but them apart.  The sausage can be refrigerated for 2 - 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.  Thaw in refrigerator overnight before using frozen sausage.

8.  Cook using the method of your choice, to an internal temperature of 160° F

Ground meat ready to be cased

Lamb merguez waiting to cure in fridge overnight

Full disclosure, I forgot to put in the garlic.  Even without the vampire repelling ingredient, these were excellent sausages.  I will definitely make them again and again!

How did I use the sausages

I could not grill them because the remnants of Isaias were barreling through Brooklyn.  So I pulled out the instant pot, 2 cans of garbanzo beans and some collards and this is what I came up with.

1 lb merguez sausages

2 Cans garbanzo beans

1 bunch collard greens, stripped off of stem and julienned

3 scallions, sliced thin, held aside

1 red onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped

2 roma tomatoes, halved, seeds squeezed out and diced

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 t ground cumin

1/2 t ground coriander

1/4 t ground cinnamon

1/4 ground cloves

1/4 t tumeric

1 t chili pepper of your choice, I used alleppo

1 large handful mint, chopped 

1 large handful parsley, chopped

1/2 lime, juiced

1 t ground sumac berries

1.5 t kosher salt

avocado oil

flaky salt to finish

~1 T oil sausages were cooked in to finish

Method

1.  Drain and rinse chick peas.

2.  Heat InstantPot on saute on medium heat level.  When hot, add avocado oil, red onion and garlic.  Saute until fragrant.

3.  Add cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, and tumeric and saute to bloom the spices.  Add beans and chicken stock mix well.  Add collard greens.  Mix well.

4.  Add kosher salt, chili pepper, and chopped tomatoes.  Mix well, taste and correct seasonings, if necessary.

5.  When collards are softened and cooked, add parsley, and lime juice.  Mix well, taste and correct seasonings, if necessary.

6.   Heat a large pan with lid that can hold the sausages in one layer over high heat.  Add small amount of oil of your choice.  When the oil shimmers, add sausages, reduce temperature, and cover with a lid.  When sausages are browned on one side, carefully turn over and brown other side.  You can add a couple of ounces of water to steam the sausages after flipping.  Cook until water has evaporated and second side is nicely browned.  Use an instant thermometer to check that temp is at least 160 F.  

7.  Remove sausages, add some of the oil to the beans.  Mix well.  Taste and finish with flaky salt, reserved scallions, mint, and sumac.

Even without garlic, these were excellent sausages

 

This was far better than you would think.  The beans and collards blended together perfectly and the "sauce" clung to everything.  The mint added a nice brightness, but got overshadowed by spices after a while.

Dateline: June 4, 2020 Smoked Lamb

 

I have heard a lot about Owensboro, Kentucky and the signature dish, smoked mutton.  I have a little 2 lb lamb chuck roast that I smothered in a mixture of garlic paste, harissa, olive oil, tamarind, salt and pepper.

It went into the smoker at 3:30 pm, hopefully, dinner will be ready by 7.  I also threw in some corn on the cob.  I can quickly put together a salad, and we are done for tonight.  Which is a good thing, because we have another zoom call at 7.

I am looking forward to the smoky, crispy, exterior and the gamy interior of this cook.

Now it's just a waiting game.  Probes have been set, corn strategically placed and the rally for George Floyd's funeral is proceeding peacefully across the street.

Well, this was a noble experiment.  I took the roast to 147° F, but should have let it go much longer.  Way too rare for me.  There was nothing interesting about this.  I had such high hopes, and may try again and take the temp up to my usual 190 - 200 for succulent well done lamb.  I much prefer lamb braised until it is falling off the bone.  To add insult to ego injury, the corn was pretty dismal too!  All in all, not a great result tonight!  Sigh.

just off the grill waiting for slicing

If you like it rare, then you would be happy

Another issue was that there was a HUGE vein of fat running through the middle of the chuck roll, which, I had no idea was there.  Perhaps next time I should roll my own, hell maybe even slaughter the beast myself.  Just kidding, the neighbors already think we are heretics!  

Dateline: May 28, 2020. Lamb Ragu in the Instant Pot

I had one pound of ground lamb that I needed to cook.  I could have made lamb burgers, or some other ground meat ball or patty, but that just did not do it for me today.  I wanted pasta.

So my trusty lamb ragu recipe came out.   This actually came out to be vegetable and lamb ragu.  Usually I will use 2 lbs of ground lamb.  

Lamb Ragu

1 lb ground lamb

olive oil

1/2 t baking soda

3 stalks celery, cut into bite sized chunks

2 carrots, cut into bite sized chunks

2 leeks, cut into bite sized chunks

1 onion, cut into bite sized chunks

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

handful of parsley

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

salt and pepper

2 28 oz cans of crushed or ground tomatoes

2 C chicken stock

2 bay leaves

pinch of red pepper flakes

red wine

Method

1.  Put the celery, carrots, leeks, onion, garlic, and parsley into a food processor or ninja.  Do not use a blender as you will get a puree, which is what you do not want.  You want the veggies broken down, but not liquified.  Stop and scrape down as needed.  This is your sofrito.

evaporating off the water from the meat

2.  Into the Instant Pot put the olive and set to saute.  When hot, add lamb, broken into about 5 chunks.  Sprinkle the lamb with 2 pinches of salt and pepper and 1/2 t of baking soda.  (The soda helps the meat retain water by changing it's pH).  Brown the meat thoroughly.  The meat should be well browned and scrap up the brown bits that form on the bottom of the pan periodically as there is your flavor.  You will be able to hear by ear when the water has evaporated and when the lamb is cooking in the olive oil and its own fat.  It's a very distinct sound.  At this point, pull the leaves off of the rosemary sprig and add them to the pot.  It should take about 20 minutes for the browning to happen fully.

meat cooking in the released fat

3.  Add in the sofrito after it is ground up.  You may be tempted to add more fat to the pan.  Resist at this point.    Keep stirring the sofrito around until it is well browned as well.  Add another 2 pinches of salt and a little more pepper.

This is about half way to browned

The sofrito will also take about 20 minutes to brown up fully.  Do not cheat on this, this is where the magic happens and your flavors at build up.

4.  At the bottom of the pot a brown layer will form, this is your fond.  This is culinary gold.  Push the stuff to the side of the pot and ddd 1-2 T of red wine at a time.  Adding a little bit at a time will not overwhelm the evaporation process the ragu is undergoing.  To much wine, and you have now set yourself back at a minimum 10 minutes of cooking time.

Scrape up the brown bits as you go along the bottom of the pan.  You may need to add 1 - 2 T of wine at various point along the bottom.  The wine will evaporate, and the loosened fond will come up easily after a while.  Do not give up!

5.  Add chicken stock, tomatoes, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes.  Taste, does it need salt, pepper, water, stock?  Adjust and then select pressure cook, low temp, 1.5 hours, stir well and close lid.  If you have the luck that I did, you will keep getting the burn message.  After twice getting that, I changed it to slow cook for 4 hours.  Seems to be doing alright at this moment.  Some pressure has built and I am sure it will be tasty.

We enjoyed with with romano or parmesan cheese.  The watermelon summer salad was a lovely counterpoint to the heaviness of the pasta and sauce.

Dateline: April 12, 2020 Lamb bone's connected to the.... oops nothing else

I had a leg of lamb I managed to score from Wegman's.  What a boon to Brooklyn that store is.  Wide aisles, nice lighting and a BAR upstairs!  Someone was thinking when they were designing this store.

Marinade

1 large preserved lemon, peel, pulp, seeds and some of the brine

7 cloves of garlic peeled

3 small twigs of rosemary, stripped from stem

handful of fresh parsley

hot pepper flakes

olive oil

Blend all together until it makes a loose dressing.  Taste, if not what you want, doctor it up to your liking.

Choose a large covered pan that can fit the lamb comfortably in it without too much left over space.  Cut deep slits all over the lamb and slather on the marinade and poking it down into all the slits and nooks and crannies.  My leg came with a nice fat cap and was semi-boned and tied.  I didn't want to have to tie it up again, so I cut the slits around the strings and put it into the cavity where the femur used to be.  Sprinkle with ground pepper, no salt at this point, the lemons and brine will take care of that.

Let marinate for a couple of hours, or over night.

The Cook

Preheat oven to 300° F and put the covered lamb into the pot.  Add some white wine.  If you want, you can raise the lamb up on a rack or a bed of thickly sliced onions.  Check on it in about 1.5 hours.  I like my lamb leg well done, but lamb chops medium rare.  Don't be a hater.

white wine and/or chicken stock

2 large onions cut into 1/2" slices
2 twigs of rosemary

Add onions and rosemary to the pot now

Add more liquid if necessary.  Taste to see if you need any salt or other seasonings.  Cover again, and let ride for another hour or so.  Timing is until the leg is easily pierced with a fork without resistance.  

Check liquid level and remove lid, increase temp to 500° F to crisp up outside fat.  Alternately, you could blow torch it as well if you didn't want to worry about the oven.  You could also brown the top of the lamb at the outset of the cooking process.  Whatever floats your boat.

Remove the lamb when it is done and set aside tented with foil.  De-fat the liquid that is in the pan.  A fat separator works great here.  Leave the onions in the pan and ladle out the liquid.  After defatting return clarified liquid to the onions and blitz with an immersion blender until smooth.  This sauce will not be a typical brown color, it is kind of a riff on a soubise, but instead of a bechamel you are using the onions as a thickening agent.

I made brussel sprouts that I braised with pancetta cubes and onions before deglazing with chicken stock and a dash of white wine.

Then there were the mashed potatoes.  OMG, I steamed the potato chunks in the instant pot, then riced the cooked potatoes back into the cleaned instant pot and added butter, cream, and some water.  These were excellent mashers, if I say so myself.  Very rich, but really had a potato flavor that was not all watered down.

Nota Bene:

This is not my usual lamb recipe.  It is just something I thought about trying and improvised.  The meat had really good flavor, but as Bill pointed out it was a tad dry and he is not a big fan of lemon flavor.  I, on the other hand, really like lemon and thought that it might end up being too lemony.  Thankfully, that was not the case.  The sauce helped with the dryness and was not overly lemon flavored.  Bill even liked the brussel sprouts!

What would I do differently next time?  I would probably use less brine and less rosemary.