Curried Lamb Meatball Soup

So, David told me I could have a regularly updated blog and conversations with all my pals on Twitter...Or I could write a book. I didn't have time for all of it, he said. He laid down the law.

He also took it upon himself to read, out loud, a passage from Steven Pressfield's wonderful "The War of Art" It was a story about Odysseus, who had sailed the oceans of the world, only to get so close to his home of Ithaca, so close he and his sailors could see the smoke billowing out of the chimneys of their houses, so close he felt compelled to take a rest. A nap, for heaven's sake.

While he slept, a bag of adverse winds in his satchel (it's a bitch carrying around those adverse winds) was released and he was forced to slip back across every league of ocean he had ever traveled, forcing him to endure his long travels and hardships all over again.

The point: The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight.


And this is, of course, why I was sleeping in, using the kids as an excuse not to write before they got up, over-analyzing my writing, telling myself I am no good and who would want to read a book I wrote anyway, all those evil things and more. I can really do a job on myself. The mind is a funny thing.

But I'm on track again, thanks to David and his guilt-inducing pep talks. I have the concept and body of the proposal done and am nearly finished with sample chapters. Lord have mercy. I am nearly done, but not so nearly done, if you get my drift.

For those of you who have e-mailed me, I will post the whole book proposal, at some point, so you can see what it looks like, in case you might be thinking of your own. And please if you are a writer, read Pressfield's "The War of Art" which is 165 pages of brilliance on how your mind stops you, insidiously and secretively, from creating what you are meant to create.

Until then, have this soup. Soup always makes your brain do the right things. It's been rainy here. Not cold exactly, we are in light jacket weather, but this soup fits the bill on a rainy day, warm or otherwise. Enjoy.

xo YM

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Finish the Damn Book Proposal Already Curried Lamb Meatball Soup

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
2 handfuls cilantro leaves, minced
2 handfuls basil leaves, minced
Salt
Onion powder
Garlic powder
A palm full of cumin, be generous
A palm full of curry powder
1 egg
1 cup of Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 pound of bacon
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 medium-sized zucchini, sliced into circles
2 15-ounce cans of small white beans or half a package of dry beans, cooked to make about 3 cups
Half a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups of good quality chicken broth
A big handful or two of shredded spinach (or other green)
1/2 cup of Greek style plain yogurt (sour cream will work in a pinch)
A grating or two of Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preparation

Make Meatballs

Break up the ground lamb in a bowl and add half the chopped cilantro and half the chopped basil. Salt the meat to taste. Give the meat a few shakes of the onion and garlic powders. Add the cumin, the curry powder. You can also add a little of your favorite grilling seasoning, but this is optional. I happened to have a little Fennel Spice Rub sitting in the cupboard and I added a dash or two of that, but not so much it over-powered the flavors.

Mix all the spices into the meat. Add the egg. Mix in bread crumbs little by little until you have a good consistency to roll a meatball. It shouldn't be eggy, but it also shouldn't be overly dry. Start rolling the meat into tiny bite-sized balls.

While you are making the meatballs, heat your stock pot on the stove over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until nearly crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drain on a paper towel. Do not remove the bacon fat.

Turn up the heat. Add the meatballs. Let brown on at least two sides. Remove when they are a lovely crusty brown color, about a minute or two on each side, and remove to a separate plate.

Make the Soup

Turn the heat down to medium and add a good sized knob of butter to the pan. Add the garlic and onions. Sauté until translucent about 5 minutes. Add the sliced zucchini, the beans, the crushed tomatoes and the broth. Add the rest of the cilantro and basil.

Keep heat on medium. Let it get nice and hot. Add the meatballs back in, the bacon and the spinach. Let simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, maybe a sprinkle or two of Parmesan, if you have some, and a sprig of cilantro. Lovely.

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Authentic English Pub Shepherd's Pie... Without the Carbs

Okay, so maybe it isn't a real English Pub Shepherd's Pie if it doesn't have carbs, but it nearly is...authentic English/Australian comfort food without the guilt. Or that's what David says anyway.

Shepherd's Pie is David's Mac and Cheese. Comforting, familiar, not something his folks cooked at home, but the thing you'd buy out at a shop when you were ravenously hungry. David says most of the time he'd buy a meat pie, because you could travel with it in your hand while you eat, but the shepherd's pie was a step up, a meat pie on steroids, fancier, more of a good thing, something to sit down for.

I was looking for something Anglo-Australian to cook, sort of a bridge between the sand and the surf and the sun still lingering in our heads and our life here in New York. Granted, it was hard to get Australia out of our heads, but we came back to Spring and warmer weather, and by the time we got up to the country this weekend, we seemed nearly like ourselves again.

There was the first bare feet of the year, making their way tentatively outside.




And tree climbing. Scary tree climbing that made Mommy freak out a little inside her head.


There was also naked cooking.


See? Nearly ourselves again...

The bottom of this pie is the real English deal. Lamb, not ground beef or veal or a combination. And it's a very fine mince. That's the real key to making great shepherd's pie, fine mincing. Or at least this is what the English say. You can see in this photo that all the veg and meat are chopped very fine. Gordon Ramsey made a big deal out of saying this on one of his cooking videos and when I said so to David he was all like, "Well, yeah, that's just obvious".


See how small everything is?

So, no big gloppy vegetables or a bunch of peas poured on top of the meat. It should feel like comfort when your eating it, but it shouldn't look country style with rough cut veggies. You should get a taste of everything in every bite. You can either mince the veg by hand or give them a quick whirl in the food processor. It works as well with fresh as it does frozen veg, so you can use a veg mix and still get the same results.

Now, for the thing that makes this pie carb free. Cauliflower. I got the idea from the very talented, Aimee at Under The Highchair and Simple Bites. She did her own version of a shepherd's pie and used cauliflower puree as the topping. I knew this would make my no-carb-eating-husband happy, so I did my own take.

Okay, now be prepared. Cauliflower is never going to taste as good as creamy, buttery spuds piled high on top of the meat, but if you are trying to avoid carbs, this is damn good substitute.

The trick is to treat the cauliflower like your potatoes. Mash them up with a generous amount of butter, cream, salt, pepper, and Parmesan. Maybe throw in a handful of chives or thyme, if you are so inclined. They'll taste rich and flavorful. They will not have the heft of potatoes and you won't fool anyone over 4, but they still taste great. And no carb guilt, which means you can have seconds and thirds.

Oh and one other hint. Pop it under the broiler for a few minutes to really brown the parmesan. It will be crunchy on top, soft underneath.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

xo YM
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No Guilt, No Carb, English Pub Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
1 pound ground lamb
1 medium onion, finely grated
1 large carrot, finely grated
1/2 cup of peas, finely minced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato puree, or sauce, if you have it
Handful of thyme sprigs, leaves picked
1 sprig of rosemary, needles chopped
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup chicken stock or water (or as needed)
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup of cream (more or less)
Chives, chopped, (if you want for the cauliflower)
Parmesan, for grating
A handful of bread crumbs
A bit of finely chopped parsley, chives, or thyme for garnish on top.

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375.

Heat oil in a large pan, preferable cast iron, if you have it, until hot. Add garlic, and let it get hot and aromatic in the oil for about a minute.

Season the meat with salt and pepper and saute in the oil, medium heat, for a couple minutes. Add the onions, carrot, peas into the meat. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, herbs, and cook another couple minutes. Don't let it sit too long without a stir.

Pour in the red wine and let the liquid reduce. Add the stock, or water if you don't have stock, bring the whole thing to a boil and let it simmer until the sauce thickens up a bit.

Meanwhile, cook the cauliflower in boiling salted water until it is soft, about 6 minutes. Drain the water and put the florets in the food processor. Add salt, pepper, cream, a half a stick of butter and give it a whiz. Don't over-process because the cauliflower has to be stiff enough to sit on top of the potatoes. They should look like mash potatoes - only they'll be a bit grainier - and have a similar consistency. Add grated Parmesan to the cauliflower. You can add herbs at this point. Check for seasoning and taste.

Spoon the lamb into the bottom of a large ovenproof dish or clay baking pot. Lay the cauliflower mixture over the top. Be generous. Pile it high. Use it all. Grate some extra Parmesan over the top and a small handful of bread crumbs. This will help the pie get a lovely brown, crust on top.

Make Ahead: You can do all these steps in advance and keep the covered pie in the fridge for up to 10 hours before baking.

Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes, until bubbling and then finish it under the broiler for 5 minutes until the top gets golden brown.

Dust with a little finely chopped herb, like parsley. Serve immediately. The pie is even better the next day, if there's any left.

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Be Damned the Political Conventions: Let There Be Tapas

I'll be happy when these political conventions are over.

David has started to repeat things from the speeches. It's annoying. Recently, he's been dropping Obama-isms into everyday conversation.

Several times a day now as I am justifying some parenting technique that I think, even though it isn't working right now, will pay off somewhere down the line or explaining why I should wear a certain style of clothing or why Lucy should do tap instead of Tai Kwon Do or whatever thing I feel needs my thorough analysis and explanation and David will stop, look at me with the kind of smug look that parents give their kids when they know they have won the argument before the words come out of their mouths, the smugness that comes with knowing they will deliver a conversation-stopper that will halt the kid dead in his tracks with no allowable room for whining or pleading.

Like this one, which I never use, but is one that I regard highly and keep for just the right time - "But you said your tummy was super-full and you couldn't possibly eat another pea...I'm sure there isn't room in there for ICE CREAM, right?"

Aaaaaah! Score.

How does a toddler come back from that? The kid is stuck - He must eat the peas to get the ice cream or he can refuse the peas and lose out on the ice cream. This is when parents absolutely SUUUUUUUUUUCK!

Anyway, this is what David has been doing to me, stealing bits of memorable phrases from the speeches and lobbing them into any conversation that comes up.

This one is his favorite:

"I know you care, sweetheart but you just don't get it," he says as a response to just about everything.

And really, there is no retort. Except maybe rolling my eyes and pretending that my husband was accidentally lobotomized in a tragic combine accident. (Okay, that's not funny. Farm equipment is dangerous.)

And thanks to you, Obama speechwriters. You've made me feel like John McCain in my own home.

Okay, I promised tapas last week and have lazed about the Hamptons this weekend as if I had no other mandates or jobs to get done. So, I give you my favorite, worthwhile tapas from the dinner I had last week.

Enjoy with a little beer or Spanish rose!

xo YM

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These dishes are all adapted from Food and Wine Magazine but you should re-jigger to taste. This "food magazine" didn't even include salt and pepper in the recipes. Not that I'm bitter or anything. The food ideas are good, but I did a lot of re-seasoning at the stove. I tried to include my re-seasoning here, but you should expect to do the same.

Chorizo, Chick Pea & Spinach Salad
Serves 6

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 small chorizo sausages, sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 onion, chopped
1 can of drained chick peas
2 good-sized handfuls of baby spinach
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, preferably cast iron, over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until clear, about 5 minutes. Add chorizo and saute until beginning to turn golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add chick peas, season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for a few minutes. Add chorizo back in. Add spinach, just until before it wilts, about a minute. Sprinkle with paprika. Dust with parsley. Bring to table in the pan.


Sardines Escabeche
serves 6

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
12 fresh sardine fillets (not from a can)
2 sliced garlic cloves
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
2 fresh bay leaves
6 whole cloves
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1/4 sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook sardines for about 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan and place on a plate. Add remaining ingredients to pan and cook for 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the sardines and serve warm or cool.

Note: I do not like sardines and this dish tasted so tangy and un-sardine like that I will definately do it again. The sherry vinegar and herbs really give the fish a huge hit of acid which just sets it apart from run of the mill fish preparations. In fact, after making these tapas, I am a sherry vinegar convert. It's worth buying the big bottle.


Lamb Cutlets with Fig and Tomato Salsa
Serves 6

12 trimmed lamb cutlets
12 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 sliced garlic cloves
1 sliced onion
3 fresh bay leaves
6 halved ripe figs
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

To make the salsa: Blanch tomatoes briefly in a sauce pan of boiling water and transfer to a bowl of ice water. Peel off skins. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and saute garlic, onion and bay leaves until softened or about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, figs and sherry vinegar and cook for another 5-7 minutes.

meanwhile, cook lamb cutlets over high heat in a cast iron pan or grill pan to get a nice sear for about 5 -7 minutes for medium rare. Transfer to plates and smother with salsa.

Note: This dish is gorgeous - the summery green of the figs and the eye-popping brilliant tomato reds make this dish impressive to bring to the table. You can also prep all the ingredients before, blanch and peel tomatoes, chop garlic and slice onions, etc and have them all ready to go in your "mis en place" and then, the dish can be whipped up in under ten minutes.


Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes with Tuna, Parsley, Garlic, Capers & Tarragon
Serves 6

12 ripe cherry tomatoes (the very little ones are unruly suckers, go bigger if you can find them)
1 can of tuna, drained
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
2 tbsp capers
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste.

Blanch tomatoes for 5 seconds in a sauce pan of boiling water. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl of ice water. Peel skin off tomatoes carefully.

Slice off tops and carefully hollow out the insides with a small spoon or melon baller. You can easily mash them, so be gentle. Set on a tray.

Mix together tuna, parsley, tarragon, capers, garlic and onion in a bowl. Ad in olive oil, sherry vinegar.Be generous with salt and pepper. Stuff the hollowed out tomatoes with the tuna mixture and serve on plates.

Note: This dish can be completely prepped ahead. Make the tuna mixture and keep in fridge. Prep the tomatoes and stow in fridge. Put the tuna in the tomatoes 15 minutes before dinner. I included this dish because it is one dish you can make ahead and you won't have to fire it before it gets to the table, which will help if you are making various tapas dishes.


This pate-like dish is easy to make and comes straight from my friend at Art of the Pig. I'm a bit queasy about the handling of chicken liver. Or having it near my person. Or in my house. Or my neighborhood. Or that it simply exists. But this guy makes making meat more manageable. (I think that should be the tag line on his blog.)

If you like the chopped liver, you'll like this. At Art of the Pig, they call it, "Liver Flavored Butter". And it is. But I won't be offended if you just buy pate at the store...

Chicken Liver Parfait

2 lbs chicken livers
1 1/2 lb butter
1/4 Cognac
1 tablespoon oil

Soak chicken livers in ice water for two hours.

Place in 5 cup terrine (glass bread pan will do) with oil, Cognac, two pinches of salt and one of pepper.

Marinate for two hours.

Place terrine in a warm water bath in preheated 300 degree F oven. About 40 minutes, livers should be firm but still pink inside. Let cool and drain them.

Puree the livers and whisk in warm, room temperature butter, adjust seasoning. Wash terrine out. Place liver/butter mix back in terrine.

Chill for 24 hours. Serve with toast. Continue Reading...

Herb-Soaked Lamb Shoulder Chops

I think Lucy is going to be a chef when she grows up.

I don’t say this lightly. I’m not sure I even want to wish that on her (I’m picturing Tony Bourdain’s face on my little girl’s body), but really, this kid loves to cook with me in the kitchen. It’s THE thing we do together.

Sure, when she’s upset she asks for Daddy. And when she wakes up at night, she asks for Daddy. And when I act all parental and put my foot down about one thing or another, she asks for the phone so she can call Daddy and beg for clemency. And now and again, I feel a little like chopped liver to his porterhouse - but Lucy and I, we still have the kitchen.

Lucy getting some love from Daddy
(or trying to get him to put on her princess movie "one more time")

Lucy is asking to cook with me at every meal and snack. She asks to get on her cooking stool and stand next to me at the chopping board, the two of us snipping chives with scissors, working the handle hand over hand, cutting spring onions (which made her eyes tear up yesterday learning a very important kitchen rule about onions) and tearing off sprigs of herbs and landing them in a pot and lobbing butter into a cast iron pan.

It's the thing we do together – the place we connect – and so, I want it to go on like this endlessly. I want us to have the kitchen as a place where we can always come back to, where we can poach a catfish and talk about what's happening and just be together.

That's my fantasy. On the other hand, cooking could be displaced by Barbie Dolls and Hanna Montana next week, so I'll just enjoy this moment.

Anyway, Lucy and I had fun making this lamb recipe. She loves tearing off the herbs from their stems and lofting them into the pot. I know we recently gave you lamb tacos, but I wanted to post this recipe especially for one of my readers - Megan - because this meal is great for busy families and also busy grad students who might want to impress a suitor one Friday night or host a few friends over in between exams and papers. So, this one's for you, Megan.

Herb Soaked Lamb Shoulder Chops

Lamb bathing in herbs and oil

You should buy lamb shoulder chops for this recipe. They are fatty and have a lot of flavor. They are also very cheap. So, you can make this dish for friends and guests and not spend a fortune. I throw the chops in a covered pot and marinate them in olive oil (be generous), dried oregano, rosemary, thyme, (be generous with the herbs, too) salt and pepper and throw them in the fridge.

The longer you let the meat steep in the herbs, the better the flavor. Really, I tried marinating for a few hours, over night and two days and the two day meat was better than the over night meat which was better than the two hour meat. I also go into the pot several times through the marinating process and turn the chops around and get them all slick and drenched with oil and herbs.

Here’s how simple it is: Ten minutes before you are ready to eat, take the chops out of the fridge and out of the marinade, shake off any excess oil, but don't wipe. It's just fine if there are sprigs of herbs stuck to them. All the better. Throw them in a VERY HOT cast iron skillet or cast iron grill pan. You won't need any oil in the pan because there is enough on the chops.

Cook on each side until the meat is medium. (When you're cooking lamb, the shoulder cuts should be done a little more than other parts like the ribs). Serve with your favorite veg side dish, salad and a crusty bread.

Oh! And don't forget to let your guests see you take the pot of chops out of the fridge before you cook. The chops look so pretty and smell so fragrant coming out of the pot and into the pan, you'll have your guests salivating before they get to the table.

Enjoy!

xxxooo YM

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Lucy's Lamb Tacos (Inspired by Mark Bittman)

Lucy and I made dinner last night. Actually Lucy made the dinner and I was the sous chef.

I was looking through Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and I noticed a recipe for Onion Marinated Lambchops (p 478). Mark suggests marinating the chops in shredded onions, olive oil, cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper. I didn’t have chops, nor did I have time to marinate, but I did have a stray package of ground lamb hanging around the back of the fridge and a quick check showed I had everything I needed to make lamb tacos inspired by Bittman's recipe.

And Lucy wanted to do the cooking so this dinner was perfect for a nearly three year old chef – lots of stirring over open fire and cutting things with dangerously sharp knives. Frankly, it was a toddler’s den of iniquity.

We got out the “cooking stool” and washed our hands and she was poised with her wooden spoon, ready to stir anything in her reach. I helped her pour the olive oil in the pan. “Not too much, Mommy!” She’s a bit bossy when she cooks. And I gave her a good size knob of butter and she put it in the cast iron pan. Then, she used the knife to cut a little wedge for herself and licked it, while she informed me she was licking it, as if I didn’t notice she was licking it. “I’m licking it, Mommy.” which totally clarified it for me.

I diced the onions and Lucy threw them in the pan and we watched them get all slick and golden. Lucy stirred and I taught her how to stir without flicking the oil around the stove - and not just to keep the stove clean, but to avoid having her end up in a pediatric burn unit, where I would have to explain why a pre-schooler was cooking our dinner. Then, smarty pants that she is, she touched the pan with her finger on purpose and looked at me and said, “That’s hot, Mommy.”

Master of the obvious, my daughter.

We crumbled the ground lamb into the onions and butter. It was pretty fun to crumble the smooshy meat between our fingers and it seemed at that point she learned her lesson because she was pretty hell bent on staying far from the hot pan. Then, she stirred some more, which is her third favorite cooking activity, next to cutting stuff up with a knife and picking things up with chopsticks.

We added some cumin and then we smelled the cumin and tried to describe the spicyness of the taste and we tasted the meat and decided it needed more cumin. But I think Lucy just liked pouring in the cumin and it wasn’t really a taste decision. So we added a lot of cumin because the pouring was so fun.

She dropped in several “pinches” of salt. I have to really watch her with the salt because she LOVES to put like a hundred pinches of salt in the food. If you turn your back for a second when she is near a salt bowl, there will be little white towers in your food. So after doing only a little pinch she looked at me and said, “That’s enough, Mommy. Not too much.” which I think is verifiable proof that she actually is listening to me.

Amazing.

Then, we moved to the cutting board and I put my hand over hers and we cut the cilantro into a chiffonade. I write this because I liked teaching her to say "chiffonade", which really comes out more like “shamaladerer” when she says it, but still I’m hoping she drags the word out in front of guests. I’ll pretend it’s nothing, but inside I’ll be wanting to alert the Food Network that we have a little Alton Brown on our hands.

The cutting was fun. Lucy produced a flurry of tiny cilantro pieces which rained all over the kitchen counter and the floor. “Look Mommy! The cilantro is flying!” and when the lamb was nearly done and the heavy scent of cumin filled the apartment, Lucy dropped in overstuffed handfuls of bright green into the pan “It’s snowing green snow in the pan!!”

Come to think of it, she is kind of like a little Alton Brown with her astute, perhaps even obsessive compulsive commentary and all. Hopefully, she won't grow up to look like him...

Anyway, we stuffed fork fulls of meat into soft taco shells and lavished them with tomatoes, avocado, asiago cheese and sour cream. That was fun. And messy. There are still little flecks of cheese stuck to my kitchen floor.

We folded our tacos into little hand-held sandwiches and ate them with Edie, standing around the kitchen, proud of the little meal we created ourselves. Well, actually Lucy loved the tacos, but she didn't want me to eat anything because she apparently made the entire meal for her father and every bite I took was like I was taking precious food away from a starving man. She glared at me every time I took a bite or appeared to enjoy it.

I chewed quietly.

Daddy's girl

But there was plenty for David when he got home and Lucy was proud of her cooking and David raved about the tacos, which made her very proud and full of accomplishment.

It was all very satisfying.

xxxooo YM

PS Thanks to Homesick Texan for these scrumptious taco pics.

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