Archives for April 2007
What we’ve been eating
A luscious kumquat basil tart from The Tart Lady.
A light dessert of homemade yogurt with raspberry coulis.
Ostrich tenderloin teriyaki served on a bed of baby saute greens.
Beautiful warm weather is here and with it, a lighter hand in cooking. The tart was purchased at the Westside Community Farmers’ Market and though it was early in the season they had a good showing of vendors. The tart was citrusy, eggy, and had just enough basil to make it intriguing.
The yogurt is simply local milk turned into yogurt via a Salton yogurt maker. Once it completed its 10 hours in the yogurt maker I chilled it and drained it for 2 - 3 hours in the refrigerator and it made a tart and tasty dessert. The raspberry coulis added just enough sweet. I don’t have a chinois so I ended up just leaving the seeds in the coulis.
The ostrich tenderloin was delicious. It tastes almost like a chickeney beef. GH and I both liked it and appreciated its tenderness and flavor…plus it’s extremely low-fat. It was quick and easy too.
Tatsoi and other delicious veggies
Look what the CSA bunny brought this week! Too bad I wasn’t here, otherwise I might have caught his fluffy little butt and cooked him right up.
This week we have more salad mix, saute mix, spinach, ramps, and radishes. New this week is a small head of romaine lettuce, tatsoi, dandelion greens, and watercress.
Tasoi is an Asian member of the brassica rapa family. One common name for tatsoi is spoon mustard…aptly so because of the distinctive spoon shape of the leaves. It can be eaten raw or cooked. I imagine mine will be served salad style, probably mixed into a salad with the spinach.
Dandelion greens are delicious. These are really long and generously leafed. Dandelions are rich in vitamin A, calcium, and vitamin C. These will get a quick spin around a hot pan with a little pork jowl and served up next to some potatoes.
Watercress is one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by humans. It too is very healthful…full of vitamins A and C, folic acid, iron, and calcium. Every year I look forward to our watercress bunch. It will be added to the yearly egg salad sandwich. It is the only reason to eat an egg salad sandwich…well maybe not? Anyway…that’s my position and I’m sticking to it.
Romaine Lettuce is the lettuce for a real caesar salad. This is a small head so I’ll use a small egg (yes raw!!! oh horrors!!!), lemon juice, garlic, homemade croutons, parmesan cheese, and a good olive oil and hopefully some fine anchovies. Anchovies are so salty and provide just the right unctuousness. I can’t wait for the ultimate bad-breath salad.
Have fun readers…it’s almost Friday!!! We get to watch Lost tonight (tivBob‘d from last night) and I can’t wait.
Sunday Roast on Tuesday
The simplest of meals are usually the best. Exceptional products and ingredients join together to provide a meal worthy of a queen…namely me. This was certainly the case yesterday. I didn’t get started putting this in the oven until after 5:30 but the prep work was minimal and by 6:30 we were happily dining on roast rack of lamb, roasted new potatoes, and stir-fried bok choy. By 6:45 we were fighting over the last ribs of lamb…complete with snarling…regal snarling on my part of course.
But here’s the thing. Yes, this was simple…but because it’s so simple it’s often difficult to find the details of how to prepare the roasted meat…everyone just says “it’s simple”. So here it is:
Roasted Rack of Lamb for Dummies
Special equipment: pan large enough to hold the rack of lamb, meat thermometer, foil
Ingredients
Rack of lamb
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
Rosemary, fresh or dried
Salt and pepper
Take the lamb out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 425º. Position the oven racks so that you have room for the pan with the lamb and room for your roasted potatoes too. Line your pan with foil if you want to make clean-up easier.
Using a sharp paring knife create a bit of space between the outer layer of fat on the lamb and the inner layer of meat. Insert your knife into the lamb in several places and stuff slices of garlic into the slits. Layer the meat with the remaining garlic and rub salt and rosemary onto the meat layer and the outer layer of fat.
Place the lamb in the pan, insert the meat thermometer and place the pan in the oven. If your thermometer is digital set the temperature alert to 125º, if it’s not…well then I guess you’re going to have to peek into the oven after about 20 minutes or so to see where its at. Put the potatoes in at about the same time.
Once the temperature reaches 125º take the lamb out of the oven and tent it loosely with foil. Let it rest for 7 - 10 minutes. Keep your eye on the potatoes as they may need to come out too. Cook up your veg and serve.
This was my first rack of lamb so if these instructions seem wrong let me know.
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