Stir Fried Lamb with Cumin

Mark Bittman, the popular author of The Minimalist column in the New York Times and various cookbooks (and one food manifesto, which seems to be de rigeur these days), recently said goodbye to the column.  As he was walking out the door, he took a moment to recap his 25 most favorite recipes.


A few of them appealed to me, including this recipe for Stir Fried Lamb with Cumin, Chili and Garlic.  Maybe it's because I've recently had lamb noodle dishes at X'ian Famous Foods, but I had a serious love at first sight moment with this recipe.


Adapted from Mark Bittman/New York Times

• 1 1/2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (pretty small)
• 1 TBS cumin seeds
• 1 TBS Szechuan peppercorns (optional)
• 1/2 tsp crushed chili pepper
• 1 TBS chopped garlic
• 1 TBS soy sauce
• peanut or high smoke point oil, like peanut or grapeseed or safflower or what have you
• about 1 lb broccolini (or broccoli, or string beans, or snow peas, or whatever), trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 slivered garlic clove
• about 1/2 cup of chicken broth or water
• 1 c roughly chopped scallions

Place the cumin seeds and Szechuan peppercorns (if using), into a small saucepan or saute pan (or skillet--whatever, use a cooking vessel) and toast over low heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. 

In a bowl, combine the lamb, toasted cumin, Szechuan peppercorns (if using), garlic, chili flakes, and soy sauce.  

Toss to coat well.  If you have time, let it marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hours.


Prep your broccolini.  

Cook in a similar fashion to this recipe, which is basically to heat about a TBS of oil in a skillet over medium high heat, add a slivered garlic clove, let the garlic lightly brown, throw in the broccolini, toss to coat, add the broth or water, cover and simmer for a few minutes until it becomes crisp tender, about 5 minutes.


Remove broccolini from skillet and wipe the skillet dry with a paper towel.

Heat about 2 to 3 TBS of oil over high heat in the skillet you just used (okay, I used a saute pan, you got me).  Place the lamb in the skillet, and cook for about a minute without disturbing. Take that minute to enjoy the aroma.

After you're done enjoying the aroma, stir the lamb a bit and then cook for another minute.  Add in the scallions.

Give another stir, and cook until scallions are wilted and lamb is about medium, which should only take 1 to 2 minutes top.


Serve over rice.

Ta-da!

Brownies

Brownies! I love brownies! So yummy, no utensils needed, and very importantly, no mixer required! Don't get me wrong, while I love my mixer, it's HEAVY. I don't like heavy lifting.


So onto the brownies.  This is the first recipe in the brownie section of the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.  They describe it as a perfect combo between cakey and chewy texture, which a crackly top--yipee!


Now, these brownies were really good, but I didn't get the crackly top. I think I beat the egg/sugar mixture too much. That, or I added dulce de leche (one of the optional add-ins), and maybe that robbed me of my crackles.  I shall try again.  Also, if I use the dulce de leche again, I will cut down on the amount of sugar.


Adapted from King Arthur Flour


Ingredients

• 6 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 12 TBS unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• 5 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c light corn syrup (optional--helps brownies last longer) (if you use this, I would cut down on the sugar by at least 1/4 cup)
• 1 1/3 c flour
• optional add-ins: 1/ 1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans; 1 1/2 c mini marshmallows; 1 c melted caramel; 1 c chocolate chips (I used 3/4 cup of jarred dulce de leche and 1 cup of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking pan.


Place the butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan. 

Melt over low heat, then set aside to cool.


In a large bowl, place the eggs, vanilla, salt, sugar and corn syrup (I think if you're going to use the corn syrup and/or the caramel sauce additions, definitely cut down on the amount of sugar--these were a tad too sweet for me, and that's saying a lot).

Whisk together until light and fluffy.  You can also do this with a mixer, but then you have to drag out the mixer. Your choice. In any case, I overcompensated for the fact that I was whisking by hand and beat the shit out of this thing (about 5 minutes), which I think led to no crackly top.  Be warned.

I dunno. Maybe I didn't beat it enough? Sigh.

Stir the flour into the chocolate and butter mixture.

It will look a little grainy. That's okay.  Or I don't know, maybe it's not, because as I keep saying, my brownies didn't have a crackly top.  Where or where did I go wrong??

Fold the saucepan chocolate mixture into the sugar/egg batter.  Stir in optional ingredients, if using.

Fold those suckers together. They *will* get along, dammit.

I love the gentle clacking noise when you pour chocolate chips.

And this is just beautirrificous.

Spread the batter into the greased pan.

Bake 35-45 minutes. The top should be crackly, but a toothpick inserted into the brownies will come out with some chocolate crumbs.  As I've mentioned, about 50 times, I didn't get the crackly top, so I just had to rely on the toothpick. The oh so accurate truth-telling toothpick.

Cut and serve to rabid coworkers (the pictures are majorly bright because of the flourescent lighting in my office...as if you care).

Ta-da! No crackly top, a wee bit sweet, but still delicious.

Valentines

I'm not big into Valentine's Day. But I'll tell you what I am big into--Etsy.  So if there's a holiday and Etsy sellers are making stuff related to that holiday, I am all over it.  At this rate, I'll be celebrating Arbor Day with abandon.

No, don't worry, I'm not going to go overboard (that might have been the word used by Kevin the Grinch) like I did for Halloween and Christmas.  Even I, in my Etsy-crazed state, realize that Valentine's Day just doesn't have the oomph and magic of other holidays, and I don't feel the need to decorate.  But if I did...

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Perhaps a little something cute?

(Seriously, it took me reading this 3 times to figure out what it said. )

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Perhaps a little more cuteness?

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These are so adorable yet elegant, too.

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Magnets? Everyone needs a magnet. 

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It's nice to have a little reminder of love around the home, and this one's great because it's in all-year colors, not in blazing pink and red. 

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I asked Kevin if he wanted to get this for me and silence ensued. That's okay, because there's this...

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 Oh my goodness can you stand the cuteness? Can you STAND IT? (psst, I couldn't, so I bought one)

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I've been into this sellers' holiday banners--I got one that says "Be Mine".

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I'm still into my skull and creepy-funny-cute things.

But I also snooped around for things that make you giggle with a little shiver.

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Why so pensive and glum, Mr. ... Thing? Surely nothing could be as bad as...

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....having your heart ripped out.  Little girl, you look like you need a friend.

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A friend with green hair.

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Or a friend with red hair.

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Or an embryo holding a heart. 

I enjoy bringing you the best of what Etsy has to offer.

Snow

Two nights ago we had 19" of snow.  I love snow and how everything looks after the fluffy, pillowy stuff has blanketed the city.  What I don't like so much is that the roads/sidewalks get paved ASAP (yes, I know it's necessary but I'm not being practical here) and they turn into a dirty, sloshy mess.

However, in the honor of remembering the brief few hours that everything is still fresh and pristine, I took a couple of photos.

Outside our subway stop--there were at least 3 other people taking pictures.

Love this building.

Happy Winter!

Short Ribs

I've had a hard time writing this post, because if writing down the process was going to be anything like what it took to make the short ribs, I just wasn't up to the effort.  This is absolutely a weekend dish, unless you like eating dinner at 4am.  But the results are lovely.

Anyway, 'tis the season for braising and short ribs (Life After Lobster is on the same wavelength).

Enough delay.

Okay I'll start writing the recipe.

Now.

Adapted from Epicurious/Daniel Boulud

Note 1: The quantities of liquid used in this recipe are astounding.  As-TOUN-ding.  I found it to be a bit much, which I've noted below.

 Note 2: I used grass-fed beef, which is much leaner than corn-fed beef.  According to the guy at the farmers' market, grass-fed beef needs to be cooked at a lower temperature for a longer period of time.  I've noted in the instructions the temp/time for grass-fed as well as corn-fed beef. 

• 3 bottles dry red wine (next time, I'll just use 2) (if I ever make this again)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 short ribs, trimmed of excess fat
• Salt and crushed black peppercorns (I just used ground pepper)
• Flour, for dredging (about 3/4 cup)
• 8 large shallots, peeled, trimmed, split, rinsed and dried
• 2 medium-sized carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 2 ribs of celery, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
• 1 medium-sized leek (white and light-green parts), coarsely chopped, washed and dried
• 10 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 6 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 thyme sprigs
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 quarts unsalted beef broth (this, at least for my 5 1/2 quart dutch oven, was WAY too much--I only needed 1 quart, at most)  

Welp, if you're gonna make a Daniel Boulud recipe, might as well go balls-out.  Get yourself three bottles of dry red wine, preferably around $10 but still drinkable.

I can't believe I cooked with these instead of drinking them. It hurts a bit. Still.

Pour the wine into a large saucepan set over medium heat.  When hot, light with a match and let the flames die out.

Yeah, wanna see how that whole "light on fire" thing went? Prepare yourself.

Now light the match (or flame stick thingy). Careful now.

Ta-DAAAA!!! 

 

Yup, nothing.  Stil nothing.

Anyway, bring the sucker up to a boil, and let it boil until reduced by half.  This probably took at least 20 minutes. I'm sorry I didn't time it. I had no idea what "half" was.

 

Set the reduction aside.

Heat the oven to 275 degrees (for corn-fed beef, heat to 350 degrees).

Then, heat oil over medium high heat in large ovenproof pot (if my experience is any indication, you don't want anything less than a 5-quart pot).

Pat your short ribs dry with a paper towel.  Season well with salt and pepper on all sides.

  

Did someone hear an angel sing.

Dredge each short rib in flour and shake off the excess.

Working in batches if necessary (which it probably will be), brown short ribs on all sides, about 3-4 minutes on each side.  That is not an absolute rule. It was very touch and go for me.

 

Get all sculptural to make sure all sides can be browned.  The things I do.

Remove browned short ribs and set aside.

 

Cue second angel joining the chorus.

Prep your aromatics/veggies.

 

If you have a lot of fat in the pot (heehee that sounds funny), drain all but 1 TBS.  With the leaner grass fed short ribs, I didn't need to drain.  Lower the heat to medium.

Add the veggies/aromatics and tomato paste to the pot and stir until browned, about 5-7 minutes.

 

Still needs some browning. Can't say that it really happened DANIEL I FAILED YOU.

Add the wine reduction, short ribs, and enough broth to the pot to just cover short ribs.

 

Cover tightly with lid and place in oven for...5 hours. Yes, I said 5 hours.  Dude, that's what the farmers market guy told me.  If you're using corn-fed beef, 2 1/2 hours will do.

Check every once in a while to see if you need to add more liquid (I didn't need to--I mean, the thing is covered, how much liquid is actually going to evaporate?).

This is what mine looked like after ffiiiiivveeee hoooouurrrsss...

 

At this point, if you want to, let the pot cool down and refrigerate overnight (or, as apropos for cold weather, stick it outside in the freezing weather).  If you do this, you will be easily able to remove a huge hunka fat from the liquid.  If you don't do this, just skim off as much fat as you can, and skip to the step after the next two pictures.

This is what the mixture looks like after a night of chilling:

 

It's like a creme brulee (but not), where you can crack through the surface and remove a good part of the fat in chunks.

 

See?

After you've gotten rid of some of the fat (whether by chilling or just skimming), carefully remove the short ribs.  They should be falling apart at this point, so handle gently.

 

Um, I think there's a third angel.

Bring the liquid to a boil until it has reduced to about 1 quart.  So, I don't know about you, but I don't know what a "quart" is on sight, so I just kinda winged it.  Took at least 15 minutes.

Strain the liquid and discard the solids.  Season liquid with salt and pepper.  I put the liquid back in the pot, but it's ready to serve at this point so do what you will.

Because my short ribs were kind of cool from the overnight chilling, I gently nestled them back in the liquid and warmed them over a gentle simmer.

  

Looks like Willy Wonka's river of chocolate.  Or a swamp of chocolate.

Serve each short rib with some of that precious liquid. Serve with whatever. I couldn't have cared less at this point. Just gimme the damn short ribs already.

This was a labor of love, although most of the time is waiting time.  In any case, it was worth it. 

Ta-da!