January meme, food!

[cahn]

thistleingrey asked about food/recipes I liked!

I really, really like food. I also mostly see cooking as a means to getting yummy food, as opposed to D, who is exactly the opposite -- he enjoys baking for its own sake, but won't necessarily or particularly desire yummy dinner food (he is perfectly happy to eat sandwiches and pizza) -- and these days I tend to gravitate towards recipes that take very little time to put together.

My favorite cookbook in the world is A Flash in the Pan, which sadly is out of print. I love it because it features recipes that are a) relatively fast (although on a given weeknight I'm still likely to resort to pasta or something) and b) feature combinations of ingredients I wouldn't have thought to put together. (Maybe if I were more experienced with cooking I would think of it, but I'm not.) Here is a recipe from that book:


Pear and Sage Pork Medallions
1 large or 2 small pork tenderloins (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds total) [I usually get the thin pre-sliced pork tenderloins from Trader Joe's]
1/3 cup flour [optional]
4 tablespoons chopped fresh sage [or half that dried]
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil [or, you know, what you're comfortable with]
2 Tbsp butter [ditto; thistleingrey, I have used olive oil and it's fine, although obviously gives the sauce a different texture/thickness]
1 large Bosc [I've used other kinds with success, and apples in a pinch] pear, cored, peeled, and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped [I usually chop coarsely]
1 1/2 cups chicken broth [I use bouillon cubes in water]
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Slice the tenderloins into rounds 1/2 inch thick (if not pre-sliced). Mix together the flour and half the sage, salt the pork, and dredge the pork through the mixture [this step is optional, and i usually skip it, but will obviously give the pork a nice crust as well as give you a thicker sauce].

In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the meat and cook over medium heat until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through, 3-5 min. total.

Add the butter to the skillet, then add the pear and cook, stirring frequently, until it begins to soften and brown, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 more minute. Add the broth and bring to a boil, st irring up any brown bits in the bottom of the pan. Boil until the sauce is slightly reduced and thickened, about 2 minutes. Add the vinegar and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sage. Return the meat and any accumulated juices to the pan and simmer just until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

One more. I adore lamb, and I adore sweet-savory recipes (as, uh, you can see). A long time ago, K sent me a really wonderful recipe for lamb (originally from the NYTimes). I haven't made this in a while. I need to.


Lamb Tagine With Honey, Almonds and Apricots (Mrouzia)

3 lbs. lamb shoulder or neck, trimmed of fat and cut into 2 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ras el hanout [K suggested using garam masala]
1/4 teaspoon saffron
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cups chicken stock (homemade or canned)
2 cups dried apricots, roughly chopped, or raisins
1 1/2 cups almonds, whole and blanched
3/4 cup honey (preferably dark)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup carrots, peeled, cut in 1/2-inch thick slices
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped.

1. In a bowl combine the ginger, pepper, ras el hanout, saffron and water and mix well. Add the meat and rub in the paste, coating evenly. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. In a Dutch oven or other heavy, lidded pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and cinnamon sticks and cook until the onions are translucent and the mixture is fragrant.

3. Add the marinated meat to the pot and then the chicken stock to cover the meat. Bring the stock to a boil, and skim off any scum that appears.

4. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring from time to time. Add water if the pot becomes too dry. Stew until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

5. Add the apricots, almonds, honey, carrots, and ground cinnamon and simmer, covered, stirring often to prevent scorching, until the meat is very soft and almost falling apart, about 30 minutes longer. (If it is too soupy, uncover and simmer to reduce the sauce to a syrupy glaze.) Note: this recipe can be prepared in advance up to this point. Allow to cool, refrigerate and serve within a couple of days.

6. Stir in the chopped parsley and transfer to a warmed serving dish. Serve immediately with couscous, rice or potatoes.

[We also have made this by dumping everything in the slow cooker and it was delicious, although it turned out very watery and if we did it again I would turn down the broth to maybe a couple of cups at most. We also used almost no butter, which also made the sauce less thick, but it's rich enough with the lamb fat not to need it.]

Comments

[thistleingrey]

These recipes sound delicious--thank you! I'd have to substitute something for that much sage in #1 and drop the almonds in #2, which would change the texture and flavor somewhat, but I could probably keep the spirit at least of the second one. (Most of the Mentheae subfamily is dead to me now. bah.) It wouldn't have occurred to me to put pear with pork tenderloin, either.

[cahn]

You're very welcome, and thanks for asking, not least because I'd entirely forgotten about the lamb recipe :)

Argh, I didn't realize about sage! (I did remember mint and vanilla, and should have been able to extrapolate to sage, but just didn't-- apologies.) But yeah, you should be able to substitute another spice of your choice.

And the almonds were a complete oversight by me, bah, sorry. (I did mostly cut and paste that recipe, and it's the type of "kitchen sink" recipe where I tend to leave things out -- I've never made it with saffron, for example -- and substitute at will.) Can your family eat non-almond nuts?

[thistleingrey]

No worries at all--some people allergic to mint are allergic to mint, full stop. There's no reason to expect that it'd extend to rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, lavender, marjoram, and even the distant perilla/shiso cousins. grr. I have become a cautious fan of ground coriander and cumin seeds for pan-frying pork.

Yep, we eat some nuts, though mostly assertive ones that wouldn't suit tagine. At least, I have trouble imagining tagine with walnut or pistachio. Other things along that flavor axis with those things (baklava!), but not tagine. Maybe cashew.

(From K)

[(Anonymous)]

These days I usually use http://doriegreenspan.com/2009/04/-lamb-tagine.html , which doesn't have the butter and honey but still tastes spectacular. This was actually one of D's primary baby foods because I was concerned she wasn't getting enough iron, and lamb plus tomatoes is a good way to deliver easily absorbed iron (vitamin C substantially improving iron absorption).

We always leave out the almonds mostly because I forget, but nobody misses them. I make one major change, as I find that the one hour of cooking she specifies isn't nearly sufficient to soften up the lamb. I usually make it the night before, refrigerate it overnight, and then stick it back in the oven for another three hours before serving it. I expect the slow cooker route would also work well.

Re: (From K)

[cahn]

Oh, yum. I do like the honey and almonds component, but this sounds lovely too.

I think we actually did make it with cashews once, mostly because we didn't hvae almonds at the time and did have cashews.

And I can attest that the slow cooker route does work well, except tends to end up very liquidy :)

Re: (From K)

[thistleingrey]

Thanks very much for the additional tips!