Cumin Crusted Lamb and Cashew Cauliflower

I have this habit of refusing to remember that the concept of marination is involved in cooking.  I read recipes ahead of time, comprehend the words "marinate over night" then selectively erase that phrase from my memory.  Then when the night comes that I want to make that recipe its as if evil elves have come in and rearranged the world since the last time I looked at the recipe and malevolently invented the word "marinate" just to torture me.  Well at least thats how it feels when Im looking forward to something for dinner and see that horrible world and realize that not only do I have to make new plans for dinner I also have to prep a part of tomorrows dinner.  And darn it at that point I just want to eat.

I mean Ill follow some pretty crazy cooking instructions with no problem but marinating things just irks me every time, I never learn.  Twice last week this happened to me as if I was trying to subliminally teach myself a lesson by planning to eat two recipes with one of my least favorite words in it.  This recipe for cumin crusted lamb was totally worth eating dinner late while waiting for the meat to get all sticky and soft in the egg white and saki.  The meal was amazing and the chemistry of the marinade really did something wonderful to the texture of the lamb so that I would be more than happy to eat this again.  The slightly spicy cashew cauliflower only made the meal better.

However the spicy chicken thighs I had planned for tricked me two nights in a row.  So I added "marinating" to the list of things Im leaving to the fella from now on since Im apparently unable to grasp the concept.  He was more than happy to prep the chicken and really loved the end result.  I dont know if it was because I was still holding a grudge against that recipe for making me have to re-plan dinner or if the recipe wasnt just for me but I wasnt a fan.

So there you have it of all of the things I can do Im stymied by the idea of putting meat in tasty liquid over night to make it even more tasty.  How sad is that?  I maintain that all recipes that have a marination step should start out with "warning marination ahead" in big bold letter before the ingredient list just to prevent these sort of cooking failures from happening.  Who is with  me?

Cumin Crusted Lamb

1 egg white

1 tablespoon rice wine or saki

2 teaspoons rice flour

1 teaspoon salt, more to taste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 pound boneless leg of lamb or lamb shoulder, cut into strips about 1/2 inch by 2 inches

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons cumin seeds, lightly cracked in a mortar or grinder

2 tablespoons whole dried red chili peppers

4 scallions, white and green parts only, cut on diagonal into 1-inch lengths

Sesame oil, for seasoning.

In a deep medium sized bowl combine egg white, wine, rice flour, salt and pepper. Add lamb and set aside to MARINATE 1 HOUR. 

Heat a large skillet (non stick works best) over high heat until a drop of water sizzle on contact. Swirl half the oil into pan and carefully add lamb, spreading it in a single layer. Let sear a moment, then stir-fry briskly just until lamb is no longer pink on the outside. Transfer to a plate. 

Swirl remaining oil into empty pan, add cumin seeds and chilies and stir-fry a few seconds until cumin seeds start to pop. 

Add scallions and stir-fry 1 minute. Then return lamb to pan and stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes more until lamb is cooked through. Turn off heat, sprinkle with salt and drops of sesame oil, and serve immediately.

Original recipe in New York Times food section.

Cashew Cauliflower

2 tablespoons oil

1 shallot, diced

1 medium head cauliflower, cut in florets

1 star anise

2 dried red chilies

salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup of water

1/2 cup cashews

Place oil in large frying pan over medium low heat.  Cook shallot in oil until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.  Add cauliflower and raise heat to medium high to brown the cauliflower.  When the cauliflower has some color to it and is just starting to get tender, add the star anise, chilies, and salt and pepper.  Stir fry ingredients for another minute.  

Add water to the pan, turn heat back to medium low and cover.  Cook for about 10 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.

Remove cover from cauliflower and add cashews to pan until theyre toasted, raising heat if necessary.  Remove star anise and chilies to serve.

Modified from a recipe in Padma Lakshmis Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet.

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Eggplant and Chickpea Stew

Instead of writing a novel in November Im going to try to put that same sort of frantic writerly spirit into getting back to blogging about food. Im hoping to write something here everyday in November. Horrible foodie that I am I have been eating, cooking, and generally carrying on in the kitchen plenty lately I just havent been posting about it. And Ive been eating such amazing things its wrong of me to not be talking about them. Somewhere along the line since the last time I wrote there was chocolate bacon cake which the world needs to know about.

Im starting with something something simple but tasty. Its hearty and warm so its perfect for the chilly fall weather when I know all I want is soups and stews, bonus points if there are copious amounts of beans involved. There are a lot of ingredients but they all come together easily. The only hard part was frying the eggplant which I would skip all together when cooking this again, it didnt contribute anything to the dish other than extra fat.

Eggplant and Chickpea Stew


3/4 cups dried chickpeas

8 tablespoons ghee, or a mixture of butter and olive oil
1 medium eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
2 green chillies, seeded and minced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida powder

2large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 cup water
1 pound fresh spinach, trimmed and coarsely chopped

small handful fresh cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

Soak the chickpeas overnight in water with a drop of lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour or until the chickpeas are tender. Drain and set aside.

Preheat an oven to 325°. Meanwhile, heat 6 tablespoons of the ghee or butter and oil mixture in a large, deep saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the eggplant and fry, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until the cubes are well-browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the remaining ghee or butter and oil to the pan. When hot, add the ginger, chillies and cumin seeds and fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until the seeds turn dark brown. Toss in the asafoetida, wait a few seconds, then stir in the tomatoes. Add the coriander, paprika, cayenne and turmeric and cook until the tomatoes reduce to a thick sauce, about 10 minutes.

Add the water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the chickpeas, eggplant and spinach. Remove to a casserole dish, cover, and put in the preheated oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Stir in the cilantro, garam masala, salt and pepper just before serving.

Recipe from Lisas Kitchen Blog.

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New Years Eve Gluten Free Pizza Party

I spent New Years Eve doing all of the things I liked doing most in the year that came before which is what I hear youre supposed to do for a successful new year.  Not the least of these things was spending a ridiculous and enjoyable amount of time in the kitchen cooking with the chef while the fella supervised.  We decided to do a gluten free pizza party and it was splendid.  I worked with two crust recipes Ive tried before with interesting toppings and the chef to my great pleasure tried something purple.

 

 Almond Flour Zatar Pizza

The first crust was the much loved almond flour variety that the fella and I have been making off and on all year.  I found out totally accidentally that it comes out it a much better crust texture if you half the recipe and go for a mini sized thinner crust. 

Once the crust was par baked I used a pastry brush to slather it with oil from the huge jar of sun dried tomatoes I always have in the back of the fridge.  Then I sprinkled it with my newest obsession, zatar seasoning.  I added, a wee bit of feta, some grape tomatoes, and marinated artichokes.  A couple more minutes in the oven and it was amazing.  This was simple but my favorite pizza of the evening,  I will be making this again many time over.

 

Flax Seed Crust with Roasted Veggies

Next up for turning the flax seed focaccia recipe into a crust which worked out pretty well.  I halved that recipe too so it would fit into a well greased cake pan.  The only problem was once it had moist ingredients and melted cheese on it, the crust got a little too wet.  We decided it needed to cook longer or be cooked once, refrigerated, toasted in the oven and then decorated with toppings.  This situation will obviously require more experimentation.  Oh darn.

On this pizza I wanted to do something more traditional.   So I put some left over pasta sauce on it, roasted some veggies, threw on some sun dried tomatoes and covered it all with mozzarella and baby portabellas tossed in balsamic vinegar.  It was tasty but the slightly too wet texture of the crust was a bit of a turn off so it wasnt our favorite.  The crust did do a good job of imitating the taste of a hearty whole wheat type crust though so Ill continue to play with this one until I get it right. 

Purple Rice Flour Crust

The chef will have to explain to the world what he did the create the purple rice flour crust.  All I know is it was very yummy and while it was cooking it looked like the surface of the moon and he has the pictures to prove it.  So lets all bother him until he posts about that.

What I do know was that the crust had a really nice texture right out of the oven but suffered from sogginess as it cooled.  So this crust will require more experiments before its perfect as well.  With roasted eggplant, Parmesan, fig vinegar, and a goat cheese red wine reduction sauce it was as near to perfect as I could hope for something that pretty to be. 

Leatherwood South African Cab 

The only disappointment of the evening was the wine I picked.  In my defense my boss at the wine store I work at raved about it saying it was the best Cab in the store in the $11 to $15 range.  He almost always has impeccable taste so I believed him, needing something big and tannic to hold up to a bunch of pizzas.  Sadly it was a watery very blah wine.  You know the kind of wine Im talking about--its fine, not bad but not good.  It just tasted like wine it had nothing going on in it. 

Happily after dinner we were off to Lindsays to have more sparking wine cocktails than most people could possibly imagine.  That helped me to forget the very so so wine.  And we got to confuse our friends by serving them the pizza left overs.  I did have to bow out to go to bed early, having a low key ringing in the new year with the dog and my favorite guys.  But I couldnt have been happier doing it.  All in all its been my favorite new years even so far.  If you ask me all the other holidays could be improved with pizza.  

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