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Monthly Archives: April 2015

Perhaps the Best Lamb Recipe I Ever Tried – Slow-Roasted Andalusian-Style Lamb and Potatoes

This is one of those times of the year where you can actually get a leg of lamb or a portion of a leg of lamb at a reasonable price so I usually try to get one to do something with it for a special weekend meal. If you are intimidated by trying to cook a leg of lamb since it can be quite large and seem like it would be tough to cook, there are smaller portions you can get or even boneless legs that have been butterflied that may cost a little bit more but are easier to work with. this particular recipe that I cam across from Bon Appetit makes all of that difficulty go away for you. This slow-roasted leg of lamb leaves you with the easiest leg of lamb you will ever have to carve as it simply falls off the bone for you. it is easy to make and provides you with a really succulent meal.

Slow-Roasted Andalusian-Style Lamb and Potatoes

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

4 bay leaves, divided

3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (about 6 to 8), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices, divided

7 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Freshly ground black pepper

1 3 1/2 – 4 pound bone-in leg of lamb

2 pounds tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 onions, cut into 1/2-inch slices

2 cups dry white wine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the garlic, thyme, and 2 tablespoons of kosher salt together in a small bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the mixture together until it resembles the texture of wet sand. Larger pieces of garlic will still remain. Set the mixture aside. Crush the bay leaves.

Combine half of the potatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 1 crushed bay leaf in a large roasting pan. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and toss them well to coat them. Spread out the potatoes in a single layer in the bottom of the roasting pan.

Place the leg of lamb on top of the potatoes and rub the lamb with the garlic mixture. Layer the tomatoes, onions, the remaining 3 crushed bay leaves and the remaining potatoes around and up the sides of the leg of lamb, seasoning them with salt and pepper and drizzling the remaining 6 tablespoons of olive oil as you go along. The lamb will be nearly covered. Add the white wine to the pan and cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.

Roast until the lamb is very tender, about 3 to 4 hours. Remove the foil and increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Roast, turning the lamb halfway through, until the lamb is golden, about 20 to 25 minutes longer. Let the lamb rest in the roasting pan for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pull the meat from the bones in large chunks. Discard the bones and any fat. Place the meat and the vegetables together on a large platter. Skim fat from the surface of the cooking juices in the pan. Spoon some of the cooking juices over the lamb and the vegetables and serve the remained alongside the lamb.

I have to say that this may be the best lamb recipe I ever tried. The lamb easily fell off the bones and was almost like a pot roast or a pulled pork after it had been slow cooked. The braising it goes through in the oven is fantastic and the whole house smelled great while it was cooking, but the lamb itself had fantastic flavor even with just the simplest spice mixture of garlic, salt and thyme. The potatoes were fantastic as well and really added nicely to the dish. You certainly don’t have to worry about any carving of the lamb since it falls right apart for you and every agreed it was a great way to cook the lamb and one I will certainly try again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

Steak in a Snap – Cook’s Country Strip Steaks with Sauteed Onion and Mushrooms

06 Apr

Now that the Easter holiday is over and a couple of really big work projects are out of the way for me, hopefully I can get back to doing some more regular posts here on my cooking blog. I have made a few different things recently, with a number of them coming out of the last issue of Cook’s Country magazine. They was have some good choices and therefore meals that have recipes that are easy to follow and make use of some basic ingredients. I particularly like their recipe card dinners that can be done in under 30 minutes or so. That is the case with this particular recipe for a strip steaks with sautéed onion and mushrooms. I had just happened to get some New York strip steaks on sale last week and saw it was a great opportunity to give this easy recipe a try. It makes use of just a few ingredients and makes a really nice and flavorful sauce to go along with the steak, mushrooms and onions.

Strip Steaks with Sautéed Onion and Mushrooms

2 (one-pound) boneless strip or rib-eye steaks, 12 1 1/2 inches thick

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin

one onion, halved and sliced thin

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

2 Tablespoons Butter

Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and season each steak well with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a large cast-iron or stainless steel skillet set over medium-high heat until the oil is just smoking. Cook the steaks until they are well browned and the meat registers 125° on an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the steak (for medium rare), about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the steaks to a carving board and tent it loosely with aluminum foil and allow the steaks to rest for about 5 minutes.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the now empty skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is just smoking. Add the mushrooms, onion 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and cook until the vegetables are well browned, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Stir the balsamic vinegar and any accumulated beef juices into the skillet and simmer, scraping up any browned bits in the pan, until the sauce has thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of the chives and the 2 tablespoons of butter. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Slice the steaks and transfer them to a platter. Top the steaks with the sauce and sprinkle the steaks with the remaining 1 tablespoon of chives and serve.

It might be hard for you to get a recipe that is much easier than that and supplies you with such great flavor. The mix of the balsamic vinegar with the mushrooms, onions and garlic really provide great flavor for the steaks. I made some mashed potatoes to go along with it and the sauce was just as great on the potatoes as it was on the steak. The steak was cooked perfectly to medium rare (that is the way we prefer it anyway) but if you like it cooked a little more well you could always cook it for an extra minute or 2 to get the doneness that you prefer. You get a great sear on the steaks and a nice sauce to go with them and mushrooms and onions go with steak so well that it seemed perfect together.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

A Perfect Play on a One Pot Meal – Cook’s Country One-Pan Pork Chop Dinner

02 Apr

One pot meals are the dream of any busy home cook. You love to have a meal that tastes great, gets everything together in one dish and has easy clean up and cooking time. it may not always be as easy as it sounds and I am always on the lookout for different variations on the one pot meal. It is not often you see one involving pork that doesn’t involve a stir fry, so when I saw this recipe listed in the latest issue of Cook’s Country I was intrigued. It roasts the vegetables and the pork chops together, not something you often see because pork chops, even really think ones, do not take the same amount of time to roast as most of your vegetables do. I was wondering just how the chops would get nicely browned without doing them on the stovetop and still have everything roasted together in one pan.

One-Pan Pork Chop Dinner

4 (10-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops, 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick, trimmed

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths, thick ends quartered lengthwise

1 fennel bulb, stalks discarded, bulb halved, cored and cut into 1/2-inch thick wedges

10 garlic cloves, peeled

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 small shallot, minced

4 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1/8 teaspoon sugar

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees.Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels and rub each chop with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. Combine 2 teaspoons of the kosher salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, the paprika and the coriander together in a small bowl. Season the pork chops all over with the spice mixture and set the pork chops aside.

Toss the potatoes, carrots, fennel, garlic cloves, rosemary, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the black pepper together in a large bowl until the vegetables are well coated. Spread the vegetables in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast the vegetables until they are just tender, about 25 minutes.

Carefully place the pork chop on top of the vegetables and return the baking sheet to the oven. Roast the pork chops until they register 140 degrees on an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the pork chops and the vegetables are fully tender, about 10 to 15 minutes longer, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the roasting process.

Meanwhile, combine the parsley, shallot, red wine vinegar, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil together in a bowl.Transfer the vegetables and the pork chops to a platter and drizzle with the vinaigrette before serving.

The chops and the vegetables both were nicely browned and had great flavor. the spice run on the chops really helped them to brown nicely and provide just the flavor they needed for the dish and roasting the pork chops on top of the vegetables added some extra flavor to the veggies as well. Since the vegetables were nice and hot when I added the pork they helped to cook the pork nicely as well. The vinaigrette was a nice finish to the dish but I think it tasted great without it as well and we just passed the vinaigrette on the side for those that might want it on their meal. I love roasted carrots and throw in the potatoes, garlic and fennel (I added an onion too to the dish; who doesn’t love roasted onion?)and the flavors were phenomenal. Best of all, of course is that there was only one pan to clean up when dinner was done. It makes for a great weeknight meal in one dish that you can do in under 45 minutes.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!