redacted recipes

Green Eggs and Lamb

"You do not like them.
So you say.
Try them! Try them!
And you may.
Try them and you may, I say."

Okay, yes, I am taking liberties with Dr. Seuss here, but I think you'll like green eggs with lamb. And if your eggs and lamb (and onions and garlic and parsley and cilantro) are locally produced the earth will like you, too.

So it's the middle of the week and there are odds and ends needing to be used up before the next CSA pick-up on Saturday. Why not make a big hash of potatoes, leeks, and kale, flavor it with charmoula and crown the glorious mess with a merguez sausage and a poached egg?

Green Eggs and Lamb
serves 2

about 8 small new potatoes, cut into pieces and cooked
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and sliced into thin disks
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup charmoula (recipe below)
a large handful of kale, roughly chopped
2 mergeuz sausage patties
2 eggs
more charmoula, for garnish

Bring about 3 inches of water to a high simmer in a large skillet (this will be your poaching water).

While the water is heating, saute the leeks with the olive oil in another large skillet until soft and translucent over medium heat. Add the potatoes and garlic and let them heat for a minute or two and then add the charmoula, stirring gently to combine. When everything is nice and hot, push the potato mixture to the side and add the mergeuz patties.

Once you've turned the sausage, you'll want to be sure your poaching water is ready to go and get the eggs ready by breaking them one at a time into a ramekin or coffee cup. When you're sure your sausage is ready it's time to poach the eggs. Slide each egg gently into the simmering water. Let them poach about 2 minutes for runny yolks-- longer if you are so inclined.

In the meantime, plate up the hash and sausage. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and let the water run off before gently transferring them to the top merguez patties. Garnish with charmoula and dig in.

Charmoula

1 clove garlic
1 small hot red pepper cut into chunks
2 bunches fresh cilantro, rinsed and most of the stems cut off
1 bunch parsley, rinsed and most of the stems cut off
juice of 1 lemon
cumin powder, to taste
4 - 6 tablespoons olive oil

Drop the garlic clove and peppers into a food processor and whirl. Add the cilantro, parsley, lemon juice and cumin and pulse a few times. Then add the olive oil while pulsing until the consistency looks right. It shouldn't look quite as runny as pesto does.

Left-overs can be frozen in plastic bags and used later to flavor fish, soups, and all sorts of things.

Grilled Lamb Salad

On Saturday we picked up our CSA shares, which come from Garden of Eve farm. Each week they considerately warn inform us ahead of time what we'll be deluged with receiving. This was actually very helpful, as it allowed us to plan ahead and to come to terms with the vast amount of salad we'd be eating all week. Our vegetable share included:

1 head red lettuce
1 head green lettuce
5 garlic scapes
1 bag arugula
1 bag mesclun lettuce
2 baby leeks
1 bunch asparagus

Additionally we signed up for an egg share (1 dozen per week); a fruit share, which included 2 quarts of strawberries and two stalks of rhubarb; and a flower share (I love getting flowers!) made up of sunflowers, snapdragons, rye, and oats.

After picking up the shares we wandered over to the Farmer's Market for rhubarb, cheeses, milk, bread, fish and meat. Then we stopped to say hello to Jessie of Cakespy, who was setting up her craft fair booth nearby, before staggering off home to start some serious greens cleaning and spinning.

And then we had lunch, which was salad. We fled the premises at dinner time to have dinner with Jessie, but we had salad for breakfast and dinner on Sunday and again for dinner Monday. Guess what we're having tonight?

This salad goes out to the current Heart of the Matter event, hosted by Ilva of Lucullian Delights. I'm very happy to be able to say that most of the ingredients were organic and locally grown/raised/produced-- I'm not willing to live without lemons, olives and olive oil, and I indulged myself with the out of season cucumber. Do drop by the HotM blog to look at the many round-ups of delicious healthy food!

Greek Salad with Grilled Lamb
serves 2

Disclaimer: I know perfectly well that real Greek salad does not ever contain lettuce, but I'm taking liberties here so that I don't have to call this dish Not Greek Salad with Grilled Lamb, and because I have a LOT of salad greens to use, okay? So please do not argue with me. THERE IS A LOT OF GREEN STUFF IN MY CRISPER.

Marinate the lamb:

1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoons dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound boneless lean lamb, cut into thin strips

Whisk together the lemon juice, oil, oregano and garlic, and add the lamb. Let it marinate for at least 6 hours (overnight is even better). Just before serving, grill the lamb strips (we like them rare).

Make the Tzatziki:

1/2 seedless cucumber, grated and water squeezed out
1/2 cup plain Greek-style yogurt
1/2 teaspoon red or white wine vinegar
1 small garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine and chill, covered, until serving, the longer the better!

Compose the salad:

1/2 lb romaine or salad greens, torn into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 seedless cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
Kalamata olives, as many as you like
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup of crumbled feta
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

Toss together in a bowl and then arrange on a dinner-sized plate, top with the hot grilled lamb and as much tzatziki as you like.

Lamb Briouats

Briouat means "small letter" in Arabic and are little folded filo pastries filled with various kinds of meat for a savory dish or with ground nuts and honey for a baklava-like dessert. Last night I was casting about for something to make for dinner and remembered that I had ground lamb in the freezer, as well as a box of filo dough. A little googling found several recipes, which I then ruthlessly modified to suit the state of my pantry. None of the recipes called for raisins, but I thought they'd provide a nice tagine-like flavor.

I served these with some homemade harrisa, and a quick tzatziki, as well as a simple green salad. In theory there should have been enough for four people, and perhaps there would have been if we weren't so greedy. It was very hard to stop eating them.

Lamb Briouats
makes about 12 - 15 filo triangles

1/2 pound lean ground lamb
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins, plumped in hot water
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
1 small can diced tomato
salt and papper, to taste

Combine the lamb, onion, garlic, cumin, ginger, paprika, cinnamon, raisins (drained), pine nuts, mint and tomatoes in a frying pan and cook over a medium heat, uncovered and stirring occasionally for about 6 minutes, or until the moisture has completely evaporated and the lamb has cooked.Drain off and discard the fat, if needed.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Cut 3 inch wide strips of filo. Brush 1 strip with melted butter and place another one on top. Brush with the butter and place a heaped teaspoon of filling at one end. Fold one corner over in a triangle, and then continue turning over the triangle to the end of the filo strip (just as in folding a flag). Trim any extra filo off with a knife. Repeat with the remaining filo and filling.

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes, until golden. Serve immediately, warm or at room temperature.

Gotta Try That! MyFrenchKitchen's Lambshanks with Curried Sultana Sauce

I am constantly leaving comments on other people's blogs that say something along the lines of "I'm definitely going to try this!" or "This one is going on my 'must-try' list." But then I get caught up in all of the ideas I've already and never get around to it. So Jack and I resolved to pick at least one recipe from a blog post we've admired each month and re-create and/or re-interpret it.

Last week at the Union Square Greenmarket I lingered over some lovely lambshanks and then passed them by, as I wasn't feeling inspired.That same afternoon I found that Ronell, of MyFrenchKitchen, had just added a mouthwatering post about Lambshanks with Curried Sultana Sauce, and left her a comment stating that I'd trying her recipe soon.

Saturday was our weekly visit to the Greenmarket and we dropped by Catskill Merino and bought two lambshanks. On Sunday I re-interpreted Ronell's recipe for the slow cooker, and instead of rice I served it on couscous, as I feel the flavors are primarily Middle Eastern or Northern African. And we baked a sweet potato, scooping it piping hot from its skin, to go with it.

My photo doesn't do this dish justice, as Ronell's does (do go and have a look!), but we loved the dish. We knew it was going to be something special as soon as those classic, bright spice aromas started to fill the kitchen but the taste exceeded those expectations. Not only was this a subtle, scented delight but the texture of the sauce was seductively suave and silky; the meat had been delicately but not overpoweringly flavoured and it came off the bone with barely a brush of the fork. Superb. Thanks, Ronell!

Lahmajoun

I Ask My Grandmother If We Can Make Lahmajoun
by Gregory Djanikian

Sure, she says, why not,
we buy the ground lamb from the market
we buy parsley, fresh tomatoes, garlic
we cut, press, dice, mix
make the yeasty dough
the night before, kneading it
until our knuckles feel the hardness
of river beds or rocks in the desert

Please follow the link and read the entire poem. Then consider making lahmajoun. Make sure you've got a full day with nothing else to do but use your hands in the kitchen.

When my son was small I used to drop him off at his family day care home every morning. His caretaker, Irene, would greet us at the door and offer coffee, if I had the time. Once in a great while she would hand me a small box filled with a stack of her lahmajouns. This was always an occasion of great rejoicing. I remember the very first time she offered me one, still warm from the oven. I had never tasted anything like it and immediately became hooked. I found places in the city that sold them, but they were never as good as Irene's.

Last week, decades after that first taste, I decided it was high time I learned to make them myself. I'm quite pleased with them. They don't taste exactly as I remember Irene's, but they're close.

Lahmajouns are not difficult, but they do take quite a chunk out of the day, as you can only bake at most 3 or 4 at a time in a regular-sized oven. Given that a single person can easily eat that many, you need to be prepared to bake them in shifts throughout the day and to reheat them later.

Don't be discouraged by the first few batches. There is a ryhthm to making lahmajoun and I got better and better at rolling out the dough and spreading the filling over each circle as the day progressed.   

Lahmajoun

Prepare the filling:

Make this a day ahead so that the flavors can meld.

Brown one pound  ground lean lamb

In the meantime, prep the the rest of the ingedients (I tossed everything but the tomatoes, tomato paste and spices into my food processor for an instant fine dice)

1 1/2 cup yellow onion chopped fine
1/2 cup green bell pepper chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon of fresh sweet basil chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Allspice, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add the diced veggies and herbs to the lamb and saute until the onions and peppers begin to soften. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, spices and salt and pepper. Refrigerate overnight.

Make the bread dough:

5 cups flour
1 pkg. dry yeast dissolved in 1 cup warm water with a pinch of sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegeatble oil
1/2 cup warm water

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. To the yeast add the salt, oil and another 1/2 cup of water. Stir well and pour over the flour. Mix well and pour out onto a floured board, knead until smooth and elastic. If it feels too dry, wet your hands and keep kneading. Place in an oiled bowl, and coat the top with a thin film of oil. Cover and let rise until doubled (1-2 hrs depending on inside temperature). When doubled in size punch the dough down and divide into about 24 balls of equal size. Roll each into a circle about 6" in diameter. This took a while to perfect and it's important to shape each little piece of dough into a circle before you roll it. The finished circles should be quite thin and should feel smooth and almost like heavy satin. Don't obsess with perfection here-- you'll get the hang of it as you get to the last of the dough.

Assemble the lahmajouns:

Remove the topping from the fridge just before you start to roll the circles and let it come to room temperature. Taste it and adjust the seasonings. It should taste somewhat spicy and I added more cumin at this point.

In batches, place the rolled circles on a cookie sheet and spread the topping to the edges pressing down gently but firmly. The layer of topping should be quite thin. Bake in a preheated 500 F oven on the lowest rack for  about 8 - 10 minutes or until dough just starts to turn color. Remove and place on a wire rack, placing two together (one up and the other facing down) until all dough and filling is used up. Keep them lightly covered with towel to keep from drying out. You can stack about a dozen this way.

Cool, refrigerate or freeze (wrapped in foil). To reheat, remove from the foil and place in a moderately hot oven, one up and one down, like they were stacked, directly on the rack for about 3 - 4 minutes.

This is my entry for best of 2007. I had thought I'd enter my Apple Cambozola Tarts but I must say that the process of making the lahmajouns on the Sunday before Christmas and the taste of them when I served them for dinner, was the most enjoyable cooking experience of the year for me. And, too, I found the marvelous poem quite by accident which only heightened the pleasure I found in the day-long rhythmic process of making lahmajouns.

Late in year, but defintely my favorite for the year.

Tagine!

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.I've been using my lovely tagine ever since Jack gave it to me last Christmas. We both love Moroccan food and have been talking about learning to cook it for years. For those of you unfamiliar with the term tagine, it's both a cooking pot and a traditional Moroccan meal. The cooking pot is an earthenware vessel--sometimes glazed and sometimes not--with a conical lid. In Morocco tagines are traditionally placed over a brazier containing hot coals and the food inside is braised, rather than sauted or fried. The  meal is a sort of stew--though there are hundreds of variations. The eG forums have an excellent thread describing all tihngs tagine-related and is a great place to get started.

If you don't have a tagine, don't despair. You can use a dutch oven.

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Tagine Bil Kok (Lamb and Prunes)
adapted from Kitty Morse's recipe in Cooking at the Kasbah
serves 4

2 tblsp olive oil
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 pounds legs of lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 onions
3 carrots, cut diagonally
1 cup chicken broth
8 threads saffron, toasted and crushed
15 cilantro springs, tied together
1 cup pitted prunes
2 tblsp honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
salt to taste
1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/2-inch pieces

Immerse the tagine bottom in water (I use the kitchen sink) for at least one hour before starting your tagine.

Place the prepped tagine on a heat diffuser over low to medium heat and braise the olive oli, turmeric, ginger, and lamb for 2 to 3 minutes. Finely dice one of the onions and add it to the meat along with the broth, saffron, cilantro and carrots. Cover and reduce heat. Cook for about an hour.

Finely slice the remaining onion. Add it, along with the prunes, honey, cinnamon and pepper. Season with salt to taste, and cook another half hour, or until the meat is tender.

Add the zucchini and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the zucchini is to your liking.

In Morocco Tagines are often served with warm bread. We like it with couscous or mixed grains.