LME Curried Zucchini n' Lamb

This was an experiment of throwing everything in but the kitchen sink. Worked out quite nice.

6 medium zucchini
1 medium eggplant
3/4 pound lamb pieces (I used loin)
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
3 shallots, minced
4 cloves garlic, whole
1 TSP cayenne pepper
1 TSP dried Thai chili peppers, minced
1 TBS salt
EVOO
2 TBS unsalted butter
2 TBS yellow curry powder
1/2 cup Vouvray wine
1/2 cup coarse bread crumbs
4 TBS chopped, roasted cashews

Preheat your oven to 250.

Take lamb and cut into cubes. Coat w/ salt and pepper. In a 4 quart, oven safe pot, sear each side over medium high heat with 2 TBS of EVOO for 30 seconds.

Peel eggplant; cut into 1" chunks. Cut zucchini in half, chop into 1" chunks.

Heat 2 TBS EVOO in the pan that had the lamb in it over medium heat. Add minced shallot and saute for 5 minutes until softened. Add the thin sliced garlic cloves with 1 TSP salt. Saute for an additional minute.

Add butter, zucchini and eggplant. Saute 10 minutes chopping the veggies with a metal spatula. Add cayenne and dried Thai chili peppers and continue to saute until the veggies have softened, about 20 minutes (or when the volume has decreased by half). Add in the curry powder.

Add back the lamb and garlic cloves. Let them rest of top of the veggies, cover, and set into the oven for 2 hours.

Add the wine and stir the entire mix. Put back into the oven for an additional hour; add in the bread crumbs and then back into the oven for an additional 30 minutes.

Serve with rice and top with chopped roasted cashews.

Lou's Most Excellent Curry II

This is remarkably good for you and remarkably tasty..... I forgot to take a picture when it was completed so here you see a half eaten version. And the picture sucks since the lighting was off and I wanted to hurry back to eat. Sorry.

I made this with hesitation: another oh-boy-something-healthy-it's-gonna-lack-everything. Turns out...it does lack but only because it ain't the real full-fat deal. But if you're watching things, you're gonna be very happy with it.

The addition of saffron probably contributes absolutely nothing to the dish except a visual: it looks nice. The scallops cook lightly - in fact they still are a bit raw in the middle but that's a good scallop. Cook longer if you wish...to ruin your scallops.

12 large scallops
6 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Black sesame salt
1 14oz can light coconut milk
½ cup chicken broth
2 TBS Thai green curry paste
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 stick lemon grass, cut into quarters
5 - 7 dried Thai chili peppers
2 TBS minced ginger
4 shaved (or minced) garlic cloves
2 TSP cumin
Saffron sprigs
1 green onion, green ends cut into 2" pieces, whites finely chopped
Sea salt
¼ cup of chopped macadamia nuts
½ cup dried Chinese black rice (prepared to mfr's directions)
Peanut, olive, sesame, and chili oils

2 baby bok choi heads
8 oz choy sum (sometimes called yu choy)*
½ cup chicken broth
2 minced garlic cloves

*If you can't find this, add two more baby bok choi heads.

In a 3 quart pot add 2 TBS of olive oil and a dash each of the sesame and chili oils. Heat to medium then add the yellow onions with a big pinch of sea salt. Sweat the onions for about 10 minutes - you want them highly translucent. At this point, add the chili peppers (whole), ginger, and shaved garlic. Saute for about one minute, then stir in the cumin. Add the chili paste, stir to mix, then stir in the chicken broth until the chili paste has been dissolved. Pour in the coconut milk and add in the lemon grass along with a big pinch of saffron sprigs. Reduce heat to simmer and let sit for 30 minutes.

Take about 3 TBS of the black sesame salt and put into a little dish. Dip one end of each scallop into this, heavily coating it. Sprinkle the remaining salt over the shrimp. Set aside.

Cut the bottom inch off the bok choi, peel the leaves, and wash in a colander. They will be dirty. Do the same for the choy sum and save the flowers. In a 5 quart pan bring the other ½ cup of chicken broth to a simmer. Add the garlic, a big pinch of sea salt, and all the leaves at once. Continually turn to braise the leaves for about 10 minutes. Set aside.

In a non-stick saute pan add about 1 TBS of peanut oil, just enough to cover the bottom. Heat over medium high heat to shimmer. Sear the uncoated side of the scallops first for about 1 minute, then the coated sides for an additional minute. Remove from the pan - you will need a good spatula to do this as even in the non-stick pan they still stick a little. Set on a plate, cover, then cook the shrimp till done.

Add the green onion sprigs to the curry.

Drain the bok choi and place a small mound on a plate. Pour a large laddlefull of curry over the bok choi; in the center of the bok choi add about ¼ cup of the cooked rice. Arrange scallops around the plate and place two shrimp each on top of the rice. Sprinkle with macadamia nuts and the whites of the green onions. Don't eat the lemon grass nor the red chili peppers.

Lou's Most Excellent NutriStew

Snow can be measured in feet and when it gets to a foot goin' out just ain't happenin'.

It's stew time.

But stew is a watch-it-you-shouldn't-be-eating-too-much-of-that-item for me right now. I love bowls and bowls of it but need to slow it down. So here comes Piedmontese beef to the rescue. This effectively trims a majority of the worrisome items from the dish (fat, cholesterol) and allows you to focus on enjoying it and not feeling guilty.

Not one iota.

Well, maybe a little. I tried to limit additional fat in the browning of the meat. In fact, I used none than what came from the meat itself. By trimming the sirloin I took that fat and put it into the pan and rendered it a little, giving me just enough to work with for sauteing the onions and such.

Imagine that: stew with no additional added fat. Brilliant.

24 oz Piedmontese sirloin, cut into 1" cubes, fat trimmed and reserved
2 TBS Montreal steak seasoning*
2 small onions, peeled and quartered
1 shallot, peeled and quartered
5 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz mini portabella mushrooms, stems removed (crimini's can sub)
2 TBS tomato paste
2 TBS flour
6 carrots, halved and quartered
10 - 12 red fingerling potatoes, halved
2 bay leaves
16 oz low sodium beef broth
8 oz low sodium chicken broth

*You can usually buy this prepackaged in the spice aisle. If you don't have any, as I didn't, mix your own using 2 TBS of sea salt, 1 TBS coarse ground black pepper, 2 TSP crushed red pepper flakes, 1 TSP cracked fennel seed, 1 TSP dried garlic, 1 TSP hot paprika, 1 TSP dried rosemary and 1 TSP dried thyme.

Preheat your oven to 225.

In a non-stick Dutch oven (5 quarts, at least), heat to medium with the reserved fat trimmings. Saute for about 15 minutes, allowing the fat to liquify. While this is going on....

...add the seasoning to the beef cubes in a large bowl and coat evenly.

Brown the beef in the pan; you'll likely have to do this in 3 - 4 rounds so don't stuff it all in there. Cook the beef on each side for about 2 minutes and set into another bowl while you do the next round.

When the beef is done add the onions and shallot. Pour in the juices from the beef that's resting in the bowl. Saute for about 10 minutes, just to where the onion has softened but not yet translucent. Add the mushrooms and saute an additional 5 mintues, then add the garlic...toss for 30 seconds...then add the tomato paste and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add the flour and mix well. Cook for about 2 additional minutes.

Add half of the broth (doesn't matter which one) and mix in; the broth will thicken. Add the remaining broth, the bay leaves, then the carrots and potatoes. Bring to a boil over medium high/high heat.

Add back in the beef and any remaining juices and bring back to a boil. Once there, cover and set the pot into the oven.

Cook for at least 4 hours.

Lou's Most Excellent Fall Apart Chicken Caccitore

Good and easy. And hearty. Slightly healthy too. This is a good Sunday dish as you can start it at 1, shove it in the oven, and it'll be done ~5ish. Frees up your afternoon to do shit you normally hate, such as raking leaves, honey-do projects, or watching Philly lose.

1 eight-part cut whole chicken*
1 large yellow onion, halved and sliced thin
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 garlic cloves, whole with paper on
8 fresh medium carrots, unpeeled, washed and halved
8 oz Kalamata olives (~1 heaping cup), quickly rinsed
8 oz jar of marinated artichokes, drained and quartered
1 box Pomi crushed tomatoes (26 ounces)
1 box Pomi strained tomatoes (26 ounces)
10 sprigs fresh parsley, minced
2 Parmesan rinds
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper

*You can usually buy a whole chicken already cut up. A butcher worth their salt will do it for you too...and give you back your paid for backbone without asking. Or just buy the pieces you like: two breasts and four thighs would work great, even just four breasts.

Preheat your oven to 225. Yes, two hundred twenty five. You're braising here and 225 is perfectly OK for chicken. The goal here really is to heavily warm the chicken and not further kill it. Braising keeps the intramuscular fat intact so meats stay moist. When you cook too hot it melts the fat and you're left with tough tissue.

In a 5 qt Dutch oven preheat to medium 2 TBS of olive oil along with the whole garlic cloves.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken and generously salt and pepper. Brown the chicken, 2 -3 pieces at a time, in the pan for 3 minutes on each side and then set aside on a plate. Discard the garlic cloves.

Add the drained chicken fat from where the chicken is resting back into the pan and an extra TBS of olive oil. Add the onions and a big pinch of salt and saute until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the carrots and saute for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for an additional thirty seconds, then add olives and marinated artichokes. Saute for about 3 more minutes.

Add the tomatoes, parsley and Parmesan rinds. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the chicken, covering with the sauce. Bring back to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven. Cook for at least 3.5 hours, undisturbed.

The chicken is going to be fall off the bone tender - even the breast will be very delicate - so if you want to serve the pieces intact be careful stirring the pot around. You're wound up with big chunks of chicken in a hodgepodge of tomato sauce. It's quite delish.

Serve with pasta of your choice and lots of Parmesan cheese.

Lou's Most Excellent 750ml Wine Stew

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated, ‘Hearty Beef Stew’

Make this stew in a large, heavy-bottomed soup kettle measuring at least ten inches in diameter. If the kettle is any smaller, you may need to cook the meat in three - four batches rather than two.

Also, this recipe takes just about all day to cook. If having it for dinner you’ll need to start around 10ish.

Why a whole bottle? I think I was on my second bottle while making the original and wound up adding all of said second bottle instead of one cup...accidently. I wouldn't call it a discovery of superglue moment but I think it ranks up there. I make a thicker roux to compensate for the thinness so you still get something hearty.

The short ribs are a nice little addition. Call them a bonus for folks that get one as they just melt in your mouth.

Maybe.

4 pounds chuck roast, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
3 beef short ribs (optional)
1 TBS kosher salt
1 TBS fresh, coarse ground black pepper
5 TBS vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped into half rings
5 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 TBS tomato paste
6 TBS unbleached all-purpose flour
1 bottle (750ml) red wine (preferably cheap cab sauvignon, cab franc, or camenere)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 TSB dried thyme
8 small boiling potatoes , peeled and quartered
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 cup frozen peas (6 ounces), thawed
3 TBS minced fresh parsley leaves

Heat oven to 225 degrees. Place beef cubes in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium-high heat in large oven proof, nonreactive soup kettle or Dutch oven; add beef to kettle in two to three separate batches. Brown meat (and short ribs, if using) on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch, adding more oil if needed. Set meat aside.

Add ~2 TBS oil and onions to now empty Dutch oven; sauté over medium heat until slightly softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste; continue to sauté about 30 seconds longer. Stir in flour; cook until pasty and lightly colored, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add stock, bay leaves, and thyme and stir until thickened and bits on bottom of pan mixed in too; bring to simmer. Add wine, bring to simmer, then add meat and remaining juices; return to simmer. Cover and place in oven; simmer undisturbed for about 4 hours.

Remove from oven, add potatoes and carrots, cover, and return to oven. Simmer about 2 hours. Add peas and allow to stand 5 minutes. Stir in parsley, adjust seasonings, and serve.

[Can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated up to 3 days.]