This blog is two years old as of yesterday, so I thought I’d make something humble yet refined to exemplify my approach to home cooking where improvisation and aspirational experimentation dominate. So tonight, a lamb shoulder, braised for 7 hours in mirepoix (I fear we’re almost out) plus mustard, cumin, caraway and fennel seeds, juniper berries, pink peppercorns, preserved lemon, garlic, olives, herbes de Provence, a splash of wine, a shot of espresso, and water…
Category: Lamb
We drove to Vermont to meet Mat & co. with our big cooler full of goodies- among them, lamb bones and stew meat. Upon arrival, I set to work browning the bones, cubing the meat, and adding garden mirepoix plus carrot, parsnip, and turnip, then adzuki beans, herbs, garlic, and water to cover. Peas (also from our garden) went in just before serving. While it was going, I baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli, and…
For some reason, this came together perfectly- flavors, textures, and portion sizes were all just right. Crosscut lamb shanks braised with mirepoix and a bit of lemon and wine until they were nice and tender. Parsnip roasted with whole garlic, rosemary, oil, and coriander seeds until crispy/creamy (and so sweet after some frost.) Buckwheat “risotto” simmered with lemon, savory, marjoram, parsley and scallion. I tossed a winter salad of mâche, spinach, and some of the…
Tonight, a mix of old and new; more thinning and picking in the garden gave us a couple of fantastic fresh additions to the lamb and puréed greens from the last couple of days. The lamb, pulled apart and seasoned with some ras-el-hanout, became a sort of Moroccan pulled lamb, with the preserved lemon flavor really coming through the complex spices. There is no substitute for letting stews sit in the fridge for a day…
Rick and Julie extended their visit long enough to have an early dinner, so I braised some lamb ribs in wine, tapenade, preserved lemon, and mirepoix. While they were getting tender, I steamed a big parsnip, a celery root, and the leftover potatoes from the night before then mashed them up with some butter. Baby kale (thinned from the winter bed) and green mash to finish. Fall makes for such good eating, and drinking, though…
I finally got to Fleisher’s today, after using everything in the fridge except the enormous lamb shoulder which I’m saving for a bigger group, and got a few things to see us through the next couple of weeks. For tonight, ground lamb seasoned with garlic, cumin, herbs, pepper, and salt accompanied by another perfect salad and fresh-dug red potato fries. Not a particularly photogenic meal, nor very healthy- the fries got their second dunk in…
It’s good to be home. The garden is loving the cooler weather; late plantings of greens are freaking out and we can’t keep up. The salads are as good as they were in the spring, and now they get to play against creamy winter squash. On Sunday we went apple picking with the gang, and bought peaches and plums as well to preserve. Today saw the happy combination of peaches, red onions, lime basil, honey,…
Plating, schmating. This was money. Local, organic lamb leg steak with endive mash, kale, and little cakes made from the leftover yam-sweet potato mixture with black olives, lemon zest, and Moroccan spices added. All drizzled with a reduction I made from the lamb chop bones in the fridge, mirepoix, bay leaf, and red wine. I got started early on this, which is why the reduction had time to happen, since I was blanching and freezing…
This isn’t the best picture I’ve ever taken, but it tasted pretty great; Christine was out shopping for Milo’s birthday party and I figured she’d come home tired, stressed, and hungry. One of the keys to my marriage is anticipating such contingencies and dispatching them with appropriate culinary remedies. Thus lamb chops (shoulder, which I prefer to loin for both price and character) along with mash, a ragout of zucchini, leek, artichoke, carrot, celery, fennel,…
Christine returned from the city, bearing a beautiful enameled cast-iron gratin dish that she got for 13 bucks at the dollar store around the corner from our place. It’s indistinguishable from Le Creuset, and got me inspired, given that I had made a merguez mixture a couple of days ago, figuring to grill it on sticks like before. Milo and I had already picked a beet, carrots, and potatoes earier in the day, as well…