How to French a Rack of Lamb

Lamb is one of those love it or hate it types of meats.  Some people can't stand the gamey-ness of it (my husband and I would be some of those people) - but then there's people who love it!  Having the lamb at the restaurant I work at is a whole different story.  It doesn't taste gamey at all.  So maybe all these years I was avoiding lamb because I just wasn't buying the right kind!

I decided to give it another go, despite my husband's weird looks.

Frenching is just basically removing any excess fat from the rib bone, leaving a beautiful chop leftover.  It just makes the rack look more appealing!  A lot of times, you'll find that when you buy a rack of lamb, the butcher has already frenched it for you.  However, I think if you ever run into the problem of needing to french something on your own, this is a valuable skill to have! 

It's a bit of work, but once you get the hang of it, it's like riding a bicycle!

1. Assuming you just have one half of the rib cage and not the whole thing, start by pulling at the natural seams on the surface of the rack to remove the natural layer of fat from the meat.

2. Make an even cut through the fat, perpendicular to the ribs and about 1 inch from the rib eye.  Flip over and do the same thing on the other side.

 

3. Score the center of each rib bone from the perpendicular line.  Place your thumb in between each rib bone and press down.  The majority/all of the fat/meat should come cleanly off the rib bone.  Repeat for each bone until all are clean.  Make sure to get them as clean as possible, because leaving any meat or fat on the bones will discolor them during the cooking process, giving you a less pretty product.

 

 

4. Trim away any excess fat covering, leaving a thin layer to protect the meat while cooking.  You can also trim the fat completely if you want a leaner piece of meat.  Sear and roast as is or cut into chops to grill - the choice is yours! 

We ended up going to a friends house and grilling them with some Moroccan spices (allspice, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, nutmeg).  They were oh, so tasty!  Have a great rest of your weekend guys!

Mushroom & Beef Soup

Happy Friday everybody! 

It's been a crazy busy week, but I've got today and tomorrow off so I'm going to be catching up on some cleaning and some homework for school.

We've been going through a MAJOR heat wave here and I almost can't believe that I made this, but it was so good - I had to post it.  It's so easy and is done in less than 30 minutes!  If you want to wait until winter to make it, then I don't blame you, but if you're like me, and like soup ANY time - this is the real deal!

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 & 1/2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced - plus extra for garnish
2 tablespoons fresh mint, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
croutons, optional - for garnish

In a medium stockpot under medium high heat, saute the garlic in the olive oil.  Add mushrooms and cook until tender and most of liquid is evaporated.

Add stock, parsley, and mint.  Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with croutons and chopped parsley.

I served this with a grilled cheese sandwich - it's a perfect soup for dipping!  I think I loved this soup so much because it reminded me a lot of French Onion soup without all the onion and cheese.  It's definitely a keeper!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Vegetable Barley Soup

I know it's still a little hot outside for soup recipes, but this was too good to pass up.  I'm one of those irrational people that can have soup any time of year - especially when it's chock full of vegetables like this!



The flavor is definitely different, with all of the different herbs involved - but it's definitely a "good" kind of different!

Ingredients:
Adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe

 

4 cups water
2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups chicken stock
1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
1 large onion, chopped 

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 cup sliced mushrooms

5 cups kale, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel fronds
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
juice from 1 lemon

feta cheese crumbles, optional

Bring 4 cups water, 2 cups vegetable broth, barley, and 1 teaspoon sea salt to boil in large pot. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until barley is tender, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, chopped carrot, and mushrooms to pan.  Sprinkle with sea salt, and sauté until golden brown, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Add onion mixture and remaining 2 cups chicken stock to pot with barley.

Add kale to soup. Simmer until greens are tender, about 15 minutes. Add dill, fennel fronds, and mint; simmer 5 minutes. Add lemon juice. Season soup with sea salt, pepper, thinning with more broth, if desired. Divide soup among bowls. Sprinkle feta cheese over, drizzle with oil, and serve.

 

I even ate this cold for lunch today - and I NEVER eat soup cold.  Now you know it's gotta be good!

Do you guys eat soup in the summer time?  Or am I just a weirdo?

Andes Mint Cupcakes

Okay, so these weren't the winner of last Friday's poll... but seriously.  I just had to make them.  I mean, Andy.  Andes Mint.  They were meant to be.  Right?  So don't fret, the winner of the poll was something "bourbon-flavored" - and it will come soon enough.  But right now, we're talking about these cupcakes.

They were so good.  They flew like hot cakes.  Andy probably ate 6 in the matter of two days.  Which he probably shouldn't have since he has a tux-fitting coming up this Saturday... but I digress.

Anyway, it's late, so I won't jibber-jabber any longer.  Plus, I have to get up early, so I should be heading to bed!  So without further ado...

Ingredients:
Adapted from Your Cup of Cake's recipe

Cupcake:


1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
Devil's Food Cake mix


Chocolate FIlling:

1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
5 Andes mints, chopped


Buttercream Frosting:


8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
neon green food coloring

Andes mints, optional - about 5 chopped and 18 whole

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners.

For the cupcakes: In a medium bowl, mix sour cream, oil and vanilla extract together.  Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well in between each addition.  

3.    Alternate adding the cake mix and liquids (buttermilk and water), starting and ending with the cake mix.  

 

4.    Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Place on a cooling rack to cool slightly.

5.    Chocolate Mint Filling:  Melt chocolate chips, 5 Andes mints, and heavy cream together in the microwave in 30 second intervals.  Mine melted quickly, no more than 1 minute.  

 

6.   Place filling in a squeeze bottle and insert into middle of cupcakes, filling with desired amount (about 1-2 teaspoons per cupcake).

     Green Buttercream:  Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar, heavy cream beat well.  Add a few drops of green food coloring (I think I did about 8-10) and stir well.

 

8.   Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with extra Chocolate Mint Filling and an Andes Mint.

So silly me couldn't find any peppermint extract anywhere this weekend.  So I kind of improvised on this one - I'm sure it would have been extra special with the added mint flavor, but we didn't seem to mind =)  I mean, seriously - look how happy Andy is!

Have a great (what's left of) Wednesday guys!  And don't forget that the CSA round up is tomorrow, so there's still time to send me your local produce pictures @ mtlabor85@yahoo.com!  I'll post it sometime tomorrow afternoon (maybe evening because I have a softball game at 6:30).  See you guys tomorrow!

 

Flank Steak Tacos

This past Sunday, I had a few friends over for a little shindig.  I was kind of worried because there was a forecast that it was supposed to rain all day, but you know what?  It didn't rain a drop!  And it was great because for the first time this year, we got to eat out back on the patio.  It was the perfect weather, the perfect company, and some damn delicious food!

We've been on a healthy kick this week, and this was a perfect way to start it off.  The simplicity of the salsa and the lean cut of meat made for a delicious meal!  Even mocha was happy about it -

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food & Wine's recipe

3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 scallions, chopped
small handful of cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
1 jalapeno, halfway seeded (I like the heat) and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large flank steak (about 1-2 lbs.)
olive oil, for rubbing
warm flour tortillas, optional
sour cream, optional
1 onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced

Light a charcoal grill under medium high heat.

Take a medium sized sheet (12 by 12 inches) of aluminum foil and place onions and both bell peppers in the middle.  Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Gently toss and fold over edges of aluminum foil to loosely enclose ingredients.  Place on indirect heat on the grill and allow to cook for about 20-25 minutes or until softened, but still somewhat crisp.

In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, mint, jalapeno, garlic, and lemon juice.  Mix well and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Rub the flank steak on both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill over high heat until charred and cooked to about medium rare to medium, about 8 minutes per side.  It really depends on the size of your flank steak on this one, the timing can vary. (I think I had a steak a little under 2 lbs.)

Transfer steak to a cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes before cutting. 

Warm your tortillas on the grill for about 30 seconds, if you want to.

Now I know this may be blasphemy, but I first cut the steak in half, along the grain.  I wouldn't normally do this, but the steak was so wide and I didn't want huge slices in my small tortillas.  Then slice against the grain and transfer slices to a platter.

Place about 3-4 steak slices in the tortilla shells and top with salsa, grilled vegetables, and sour cream. 

We served this with a side of rice and black beans.  It was seriously the perfect springtime meal.  We couldn't have asked for better weather (the breeze was light, the warmth was perfect!).  So next time you're in a rut for what to make... let this be it!  You won't be sorry!  Enjoy your Wednesday guys!

Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt

I first want to give Olga over at MangoTomato big props for posting a link to Veggie Belly's Photography post on her twitter page. I learned more from than 1 post than I did trying to skim my Nikon D40 reference book. So thank you! I know understand my manual settings a little bit more now thanks to you guys!

And also, I didn't win Battle Skewer over at Foodie Fights , but one of the judges, Greg from Sippity Sup (who happens to have a pretty informative and awesome blog himself!) commented in his write-up that he really liked my blog. Cool huh? Yeah, it's the little things that make me happy!

So anyway... while I was making this frozen yogurt, Andy and I had a conversation that went a little something like this:


Andy: What are you making?


Me: mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Andy: is that yogurt going in there?


Me: yeah.

Andy: then you're making frozen yogurt. that's not ice cream.

Me: oh who cares, it all tastes the same.

Andy: Umm no... no it doesn't. Frozen yogurt is not ice cream.

All my life I've never thought frozen yogurt tasted any different from ice cream. Am I alone in this? Either way, after making homemade frozen yogurt... I could definitely taste the difference.


Ingredients:
Adapted from Rocco Dispirito's Now Eat This! - "Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt"

4 tablespoons powdered gelatin
1 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
18 oz. plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
neon green food coloring
1 cup mini chocolate chips

In a large bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup of the milk.

In a small saucepan, cimbine the remaining 1/2 cup milk with the sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir until dissolved and then pour the hot mixture in the bowl with the gelatin and milk. Whisk until the gelatin is completely dissolved (this part is crucial because you don't want little chunks of undissolved gelatin to be mixed throughout the final product. Not tasty, trust me).

Whisk the yogurt into the gelatin mixture. Whisk in peppermint extract and a few drops of the neon green food coloring until you've reached your desired color.

Using an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture according to the machine's directions. I had the mixture in mine for about 25-30 minutes for a nice creamy, solid texture. About 5 minutes before you're ready to stop the machine, add in the chocolate chips. Serve immediately.

After tasting homemade frozen yogurt, I can definitely tell a difference between it and ice cream. So yeah, as much as I hate to admit it... Andy was right about something. =) Enjoy!

P.S. Check out our CSA bundle this week - we got a boat load of stuff!!


Watermelon
1 lb. green beans
2 eggplants
1 lb. peaches
1 lb. plums
4 ears of corn
4 hot peppers
1 fresh baguette

I took some of your ideas from last week and will definitely have some posts coming up. So feel free to suggest some stuff for this weeks goodies... I've got a lot of fresh fruit, so they're just great for whatever ideas you guys have in store!