Posts Tagged ‘lamb’

It’s been a while since I cooked a meal for the blog, so when a leg of lamb arrived at my doorstep (care of the lovely folks at the American Lamb board), I took that as a sign that I should get my ass in the kitchen.  I’ve been on a carrot kick all spring, and I’ve made several variations of the caramelized carrot soup from Modernist Cuisine.  It occurred to me that the deep, sweet flavor of pressure-cooked carrots is not too dissimilar from that of a beef demi-glace (the thick, rich sauce that restaurants often serve over red meat).  This is undoubtedly the quickest demi-glace you’ll ever make, and I’ve gotta say, it’s fucking amazing. Vegetarians will throw a parade in my honor.

Thinking about demi-glace also got me in the mood for bone marrow.  I’ve seen a few faux marrow preparations in the past and I always find them amusing.  However, a big part of the appeal of roasted bone marrow is its decadent, gelatinous texture.  For my version, I decided to use a section of leek as a fake bone and achieve a convincing marrow texture by pressure cooking leek and onion, then setting it in a fluid gel.  The result was quite a bit darker than roasted bone marrow, but the richness and texture were spot-on.

For the recipe, keep reading…

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Deep frying your Thanksgiving turkey is popular for a reason – it happens to be the same reason that Lipitor is popular, but that’s beside the point.  Unfortunately, every year, 10 million* Americans start house fires from attempting to fry their bird.  And in addition to the arson hazard, deep frying a turkey requires a ton of oil, which, let’s face it, you’re not going to filter and reuse.

Luckily, the folks at Char-Broil have created The Big Easy Oil-Less Infrared Turkey Deep Fryer, and were kind enough to loan me a unit for testing.  This cooker looks and works just like a conventional turkey fryer, except it uses no oil.  Instead, a ring of gas burners heat up the inside of the cooking chamber, roasting your meat evenly and allowing the fat to drip down, with no risk of flame-ups. 

Rather than test the machine with a turkey, though, I thought I’d try out a few other dishes.  Check out my video review after the jump.

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“When the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
-Abraham Maslow

OK, OK, I’ve gone a little sous vide crazy lately… but can you blame me?  Perhaps the most revolutionary cooking method of our lifetimes has just poked its head into my kitchen.  It’ll take more than a few weeks and a handful of medium-rare proteins before I’m over it.

We all know that the sous vide method produces flawless (and dare I say, unparalleled) steak.  But, did you know that the same magic works on lamb?  It’s an amazing and, frankly, jolting experience to watch an incredibly tender lamb loin chop fall off the bone, only to reveal that the interior is a perfect medium-rare.  How can this be?  In order to get lamb tender enough to fall apart, you have to braise the hell out of it, right?  Wrong. That’s where sous vide comes in.  I cooked the lamb shanks at 54.5C – a precise medium rare – for 24 hours, until they were just barely clinging to the bone.  And since lamb is so flavorful and succulent on its own, a simple slice of pita bread, some feta cheese and toasted tomatoes were all that was needed to create a really memorable dinner.

Makes: 4 little lamb wraps
Total kitchen time: 15 minutes active, 24 hours cooking
Special equipment required: sous vide immersion circulator, blowtorch (optional), vacuum sealer

Shopping list:

• 4 American lamb loin chops
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 4 pieces pita bread
• 1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese
• 1 cup roasted tomatoes (available in finer grocery stores, substitute sun dried tomatoes)

1. Heat your sous vide immersion circulator to 54.5C.
2. Pat the lamb chops dry and coat liberally with kosher salt.  Sear all sides with a blowtorch until just browned.  If you don’t have a blowtorch (you should get one if you’re gonna be sous videing) preheat a skillet over very high heat.  Sear the lamb chops on all sides, just a few seconds per side.
3. Place lamb chops in a vacuum sealer bag and seal.  Place in the water bath and cook 24 hours, up to 32 hours.
4. When ready to serve, heat the pita slices for 30 seconds in the microwave.  Divide the Feta and tomatoes between the pita.  Remove lamb from the water bath and pull the meat apart with your fingers or a fork.  Add to the pita.  Roll and serve!

It’s a little jarring at first to see shredded lamb that’s so bright pink and moist.  But one bight of this dish will make you forget every lamb sandwich you’ve ever eaten.  Rather than tough, dry meat that begs for the rehydrating action of mint jelly, this is lamb as it should be.

Full Disclosure: I got free stuff, but that doesn’t pay for my opinion.

May is a strange month for weather, and correspondingly for food.  When the temperature swings fifty degrees  in a week, it’s hard to know what to cook.  During a cold, rainy snap we had a few weeks ago, I decided to make one of my favorite winter dishes as sort of a farewell salute to gray skies.  This is more of a personal interpretation than a traditional ossobuco, but these flavors are so kick-ass that you won’t want to quibble over technicalities.

Makes: 2 people feel the warmth of winter, year round
Total kitchen time: 3 hours

Shopping list:

• 2 lamb shanks, bone-in
• 1 medium union, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 8 oz. shitake mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 3 tbsp. tomato paste (tomato sauce or puree will work in a pinch)
• 2 cups wine (white for a sweeter dish, red for a more savory dish)
• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• olive oil
• coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the polenta:

• 2 cups polenta, prepared
• if using firm polenta, you’ll need 1/2 cup of hot chicken stock
• 4 oz. dried wild mushrooms (porcini, shitake, morel, woodear)
• 2 tbsp. crumbled blue cheese (Rogue River is best, try Whole Foods)
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 300°F and place the top rack in the lower part of the oven.  Preheat a dutch oven or the heaviest large, ovenproof stockpot with a lid that you own.  Either way, get the pot rocket hot.
2. Season the lamb shanks on all sides liberally with salt and pepper.  Rub lightly with olive oil to coat and to promote browning.  Working one at a time, sear the lamb shanks on both sides on very high heat in your dutch oven.  Place the meat in the middle of the pot and don’t touch it for 3 minutes.  Flip it over and don’t touch it for another 2.  Place the seared meat on a platter to rest.
3. Add the onions, carrots and celery to the empty pot and reduce the heat to medium.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until the veggies have slightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic (whole cloves) and mushrooms and cook another 5 minutes.  You should have a nice collection of brown bits at the bottom of your pot now. 
4. Add the tomato paste and cook another minute or so.  Then, add the wine and turn the heat up to high.  Scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan and reduce the wine until it has thickened a little, about 8 minutes.  Add the beef stock, rosemary sprig and bay leaf and bring to a boil. 
5. Put the meat back in the pot and submerge it under the liquid and veggies.  Put the lid on your dutch oven and transfer it to the oven to cook at least 2 hours. 
6. When you’re about 45 minutes out from eatin’ time, place the dried wild mushrooms in a bowl of boiling water and let them soak for 30 minutes.  Then, drain and coarsely chop the mushrooms.
7. Warm the cooked polenta in a medium saucepan over low heat.  If you’re starting with firm polenta, add a bit of hot chicken stock to thin it out.  Season the polenta with salt and pepper and add the chopped wild mushrooms.  When you’re almost ready to serve, crumble in the blue cheese and stir to combine.
8. When the lamb is done braising, remove the pot from the oven and place it back on the stove.  Let the meat rest on a plate, tented with foil.  Bring the pot to a vigorous boil and reduce the liquid until you have only 1 cup or so left, 10-15 minutes. 
9. Spoon a serving of polenta into the bottom  of a large dinner bowl and top with a lamb shank.  Cover the lamb shank with a generous helping of the reduced liquid and veggies.  If you like (and I’m sure you do) add a thin slice of blue cheese on top.

Well, that’s officially the season finale for winter cooking this year.  This dish is one of the heartiest, most soul satisfying meals I know, so the next time you find yourself out in the cold rain, you’ll know what to make.

You might be asking yourself, “Self, what is farmhouse nigiri?”.  That’s great, I appreciate your  inquisitive nature.  This dish combines all of the best qualities of savory, country cooking (roasted lamb, risotto, chevre and red beets) with the presentation quality and finger-foodiness of sushi.  It may sound strange, but one bite and anyone will be convinced: this is excellent. 

Makes:  2 people eat lamb with chopsticks
Total kitchen time: 45 mins

Shopping list:

• 1/2-lb butterflied leg of lamb, trimmed
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
• 12 slices of proscuitto (yes, as you can see, this recipe also works with bacon.  Yum!)
• 1/2 cup arborio rice
• 1 pat butter
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 red beet, steamed and julienned
• 2 tbsp sharp goat cheese
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• aged balsamic vinegar (for dipping)
• salt and pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 450F.  Heat a very heavy skillet (large enough for the lamb) with a lid over high heat.
2. In a small pot, melt the butter into 1 tbsp of olive oil over high heat.  Add the rice and stir until you can smell a nutty aroma, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the white wine and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and add half of the chicken broth.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the broth has been absorbed.  Then, add the rest and repeat.
4. Meanwhile, salt and pepper the lamb and rub with garlic and olive oil to coat.  Sear the meat on all sides in the skillet.  Reduce heat to medium and cover.  Cook, turning once, until the lamb registers 130F, about 10 minutes.  Let the lamb rest 5 minutes, then slice into thin, bite-sized pieces.
5. Add a spoon full or two of pan drippings from the lamb into the risotto.  Take a taste, if you like. 
6. Lay out a slice of proscuitto.  Spread a thin, even layer of risotto on the proscuitto, not quite to the edge.  Next, sprinkle on a little bit of goat cheese and a few stick of steamed beet.  Then, add a few pieces of lamb and roll the whole thing up.  Be careful not to overstuff your rolls or they won’t hold together.
7. Place the rolls, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet and bake until the proscuitto is slightly crispy (about 5 minutes, depending on your oven).

Serve with balsamic vinegar dipping sauce and a spoonful of risotto on the side.  These will also make great hors d’oeuvres, even without the lamb!  For kicks, insist on eating them with chopsticks.