Recipes Collection: fresh

Showing posts with label fresh. Show all posts

Monday, May 19, 2014

Palm Sunday Dinner of Spring Lamb Roasted Yukon Gold Potatoes and Fresh Spinach Gratin

Spring lamb is something I look forward to throughout the long winter months. Fortunately, Spring has arrived and Palm Sunday Dinner is the perfect opportunity to enjoy this richy delicious meal.

We purchased a small, boned lamb roast as we were only serving a few people. Most of family does not enjoy lamb, and since they were off visiting other family members, we took advantage of the situation and prepared a fantastic roast. Actually, my uncle who lives in North Carolina, fixes the most delicious lamb roast, so I consulted with him on the technique. First, I cut little slits directly into the flesh of the roast and studded it with about 7-10 small cloves of garlic. Then, I rubbed the outside of the lamb with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and olive oil and seasoned it with a combination of kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, chopped rosemary and garlic powder. The lamb roast was place on a rack in a shallow backing dish and roasted in a 375 degree oven for 2 hours. After the lamb resting for about 20 minutes, it was sliced thin and was the most tender, flavorful and succulent meat you could imagine!

While the lamb was roasting I cleaned and dried about a dozen medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes, cut them in half and placed them in a large mixing bowl. I seasoned the potatoes as I did the lamb, drizzling over balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a spice combination of rosemary, kosher salt, pepper and garlic powder. Aftering stirring well to coat each potato I placed in the baking dish, directly under the lamb so they could absorb the delicious lamb drippings. The potatoes reach the perfect degree of crispy skin and tender flesh in about 45 minutes.

In preparing to make the fresh spinach gratin, I washed, dried and chopped 1 large bag of leafy spinach. Not the baby spinach, but the more mature variety which will hold up better to the cooking process. I preheated a large sauce pot and added 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter as well as 1/2 small chopped onion. They cooked together for about 5 minutes and the onions were translucent. Next, I added 1 minced clove of garlic and allowed those flavors to cook together for another minute or two. To the onion, garlic, olive oil and butter I added 2 tablespoons flour and cooked them together just long enough to remove the raw flour taste, or about 2-3 minutes. The next step is to add about 1 1/2 - 2 cup of milk while wisking the flour mixture to avoid lumps. Bring this to a simmer and let cook for about 5 minutes until thick and creamy. If it gets too thick add a little more milk. Season with salt and pepper, a pinch of cayenne and a smaller pinch of nutmeg. Add the chopped spinach, turn off the heat and stir to combine. Transfer the spinach mixture into a baking dish and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs. Top with a sprinkle of paprika and bake in the same 375 degree oven with the lamb for about 20 minutes or until bubbly and brown. Serve with the sliced lamb and roasted Yukon Gold potatoes for the perfect springtime holiday meal!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Fresh Peach Tartlet Its Like a Peach Tart Only Smaller

Here is the peach tartlet video recipe I promised the other day. Its a Julia Child recipe from one of the cookbooks she did with Jacques Pepin. I was going to do this delicious dessert for the Julie & Julia post, but decided to go with the more substantial roast chicken recipe.

This is about the easiest "looks hard" pastry technique I know. You can make the pie crust dough if you want (Ive also posted my mothers key lime pie video below so you can see how easy pie crust is), or you can grab a package of the Pillsbury pie crust that is in just about every store these days.

I usually dont give brand names, but in this case I will since Ive tried a couple brands and the Pillsbury is by far the best. It actually has lard in the ingredients, and as any pie maker will tell you, when it comes to delicious, flaky crust, lard kicks ass.

This recipe features the unusual and exotic Chinese 5-spice powder. Peaches are a natural with the aromatic blend of anise, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and Szechuan peppercorns, which usually make up this thousand-year-old spice.

By the way, by watching and mastering this technique, you just learned like 12 different tartlet recipes. This works equally well with apples, pears, plums, etc. Just adjust the caramelizing time based on the density of the fruit so it will be perfectly cooked in the 15 minutes it sits on the tartlet. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 tartlets:
2 tbsp butter
3 large peaches, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 pieces (24 slices total)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp Chinese 5-spice
1 box (15-oz) ready-to-use piecrust (2 sheets)
1 egg, beaten plus 1 tsp water

How To Make Pie and Tart Crust:

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Quinoa Salad with Lime Fresh Mint

Quinoa salad with fresh lime and mint.

This is the post where I confess, Dear Reader, that I am now pear-shaped and lumpy and thick in the middle- obviously adept at gaining weight. I may even be considered gifted. This is not fun for me. But then, who promised fun during hip surgery recovery? Who said it would be easy? (Um, no one.) Throw menopausal hormone pandemonium into the sticky mix and you have a double roll nightmare.

I gained ~~fifteen~~ ~~eighteen~~ twenty damn pounds.

And who claimed that wedges of Green Chile Cornbread and Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones and Peach Crisp were calorie-free, anyway? Certainly not moi. But geesh.

How much can a girl give up in one lifetime?

So the rumors are true. Your intrepid plucky gluten-free goddess is trying the South Beach Diet. Or as well as one can follow the famous low glycemic diet without the comfort of dairy foods (on my allergen verboten list). This should be interesting.

Lucky for me I have a Guru.

Read more + get the recipe >>