Lamb Chops with Cherry Port Sauce and Celery Root Leek Purée (and Scotch Vanilla Ice Cream)

I couldn't think of anything romantic to cook this Valentine's Day! I had stumbled across a recipe for vanilla ice cream, and since that's Dave's favorite I decided to unearth the old electric ice cream maker from 1985. But for the main course? Dave picked lamb, and I came up with the cherry-port sauce to give it some sweet V-day flavor ;) Kinda risky to do two, never-before-tried recipes for a special dinner, but luckily everything turned out even better than I hoped for! Enjoy!

1 tbs olive oil

1 frenched rack of lamb

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 cup port or sweet red wine

2 cups frozen cherries, defrosted

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbs chopped mint

2 celery roots, peeled and chopped

1 leek, chopped

2 cups milk (1% ok)

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth, as needed

1/4 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

In a pot, bring the milk to a simmer. Peel and chop the celery root and add to the pot. Chop the leek and submerge the pieces in water to remove all grit. Add leeks to the pot and if needed add broth to cover. Bring to a low boil and then simmer until vegetables are very soft, about 15 minutes. Drain the vegetables over a bowl (reserving the cooking liquid) and add the vegetables to a blender or food processor with the heavy cream. Blend until smooth, adding the reserved cooking liquid if needed until desired texture is reached. Taste for seasoning and when satisfied return to the hot pot to keep warm.

While vegetables are cooking, cut the rack of lamb into pan chops. Slice from top to bottom alongside the bone. Salt and pepper both side of the chops generously and set aside until ready to cook. Defrost the cherries in a bowl (a couple minutes in the microwave if needed) and chop the shallots finely.

Heat a large pan with olive oil. Add the pan chops and sear 4-5 minutes on each side. When browned, remove to a plate and keep warm. To the hot pan add the shallots, port, cherries and their juice. Cook five minutes, then add chops and any juices back to the pan. Coat chops in the sauce and continue cooking until meat is cooked through and sauce is thick.

To serve, place a serving of celery root purée on each plate, followed by two or three lamb chops. Finish with sauce and chopped mint.

Scotch Vanilla Ice Cream

(Recipe adapted from here)

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

3/4 sugar (I use raw turbinado sugar, finely ground in my Nutribullet)

1 tbs vanilla (vanilla bean also would be great)

4 tbs Glenlivet 12, or your favorite scotch

Whisk together ingredients, then put in the refrigerator to chill for several hours.

Add to ice cream maker following manufacturer's instructions. When ice cream is ready, freeze until ready to serve.

Black Rice Salad

I only learned of black rice (or "forbidden rice") a few years ago.  When I stumbled upon a bin of it at a local health-food store I grabbed a few cups, put the bag away and forgot about it until recently.
Black rice, a whole grain rice high in nutritional value and teeming with antioxidants, is also known as purple rice for its vibrant color once cooked.  In 2016 I'll be moving away from consuming only one source of whole grains per day and incorporating grains into more of my meals, which means I no longer have to limit myself to "breakfast" carbs - a world of opportunities for pasta and rice dinners and lunches just opened up for me!  As such I knew I wanted to find a way to not only utilize the black rice wasting space in my pantry, but to really showcase its color in an appealing way.  I decided on a black rice and chicken salad (chicken and rice go so well together, but really couldn't be any more boring and colorless in terms of their visual presentation). With an abundance of limes on hand I decided to go with an assertive Southwest-inspired flavor profile.  I brainstormed a list of veggies to include that would not only complement each other in terms of taste and texture but would also represent all the colors of the rainbow, creating an orgy of tones and tastes to dazzle the eyes as well as the palette!
However, when I went to the store to pick up my produce list, I realized what I'd actually done: almost exactly re-create the fabulous Cookie & Kate's Fresh Mango Salsa and then add rice :(  Hopefully I still get points for creativity!  I made an enormous batch of the salsa, then added celery and the rice, and topped it all with my own freshly-squeezed orange vinaigrette.  You have to appreciate what a labor of love this was for me - I absolutely hate dicing.  (My neck actually hurt from looking at the freaking cutting board for so long.) When all was chopped, diced, squeezed, zested, salted and peppered, I took my first small bite to taste for seasoning.
And then the angels sang.
It was perfect, and I proceeded to immediately dish myself up two cups of the stuff and devour it right away.
I made two batches - one as a vegetarian side to serve with some steelhead trout filets, and another one-dish version with cubed chicken included as I had originally envisioned.  To think that this tasty salsa recipe could become the base for a delicious and diverse main dish has encouraged me to keep thinking outside the box.  What else could it be used for???

Note: I made at least twice this much, so I'm estimating for simplicity's sake

Black Rice Salad:

Mango Salsa (recipe adapted from Cookie & Kate):
3 ripe mangos, diced (or buy pre-sliced mango from Costco, because chopping is the actual worst)
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, diced
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely diced
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper, or to taste

Chop and mix.  Easy.

Orange Vinaigrette:
Zest of one orange
1/2 orange, juiced
1 teaspoon apple cider vinaigrette
1/2 teaspoon sour cream (to emulsify)
1 pinch each salt and pepper
1 teaspoon grapeseed oil

Add all ingredients except the oil to a bowl and whisk.  Add the grapeseed oil a drip at a time while whisking vigorously until well blended.

Additional ingredients:
3 ribs celery, diced (for extra crunch)
3-4 cups cooked black rice (or just add until you reach your optimum rice-to-veggie ratio)
1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (optional)

Add the celery, then rice on top of the mango salsa and pour the finished vinaigrette directly onto the rice.  Add chicken if desired, mix and taste for seasoning.  Enjoy!

Tomato Soup for the Soul

I have to admit... almost all dinners are better with some tomato.  Almost anything I can think of to cook sounds better nestled in tomato sauce... shakshuka, a quick bowl of mussels, or this roman chicken recipe I made on a camping trip...

So when it comes to a wintry, homemade vegetable soup you can't be surprised I didn't think too far outside the box.  With fresh or canned tomatoes, this is a great way to use up leftover bits and pieces of veggies in the fridge or put the stock you've been making to good use! :)


Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 small yellow bell pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

6 oz can tomato paste

1/2 cup red wine

6 cups chicken stock

6 tomatoes (about two pounds), roughly chopped

1 tablespoon red wine or balsamic vinegar

1-2 Parmesan rinds, optional

Salt and pepper, to taste

Grated Parmesan, or Greek yogurt and julienned fresh basil, for serving

Directions

In a large pot, saute the chopped onion, celery and pepper in the olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until soft.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute, until garlic is fragrant.  Add the tomato paste and wine and stir until incorporated; bring to a simmer.

Remove the vegetable mixture to a food processor or Nutribullet and blend until smooth.  Return to the pot and add the chicken stock, tomatoes, vinegar and Parmesan rinds.  Bring back up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer from 20 minutes to one hour, or until tomatoes have reached the desired texture.  Serve topped with more Parmesan, or Greek yogurt and fresh basil, if desired, and enjoy!

Tomato, tomahto

Overnight Apple Butter and Whole Wheat Bread

Pretty sure everyone knows about my obsession with making jam (got old fruit? make jam).  I'm always buying more fruit than I can consume.  Grapes go soft, bananas turn freckly and brown, apples get mealy.  Ew.  But tossing it out would be like throwing money down the drain!  All that fruit is still good for purposes of cooking down into delicious preserves!  I usually end up with a collection of old bananas that I'll peel and freeze until I have enough saved up to make a small batch of preserves.

Since I stay away from refined sugar I usually make my jams naturally sweetened.  In the case of my banana jam, no added sugar is even needed - the fruit is already sweet enough, especially once you cook it down :)  Same with this apple butter recipe, adapted from here.  My last preserves came from an ancient, frozen 10-ounce bag of Trader Joe's mixed berries that got cooked down in a pot with a little added sucanat to counter the tartness.  Keep in mind that the end result is usually barely just enough to fill a teeny 4 ounce mason jar, but it's perfect for spreading on toast or even mixing into your morning oatmeal :)

I will say this apple butter couldn't really have been easier!  What follows barely qualifies as a recipe...

4 apples, any variety, cored and cut into eighths (I used Granny Smiths, unpeeled)
A very generous sprinkling of cinnamon

Place the apples and cinnamon in a slow cooker, set to low, and cover.

After about four hours, apples will be mush.  Stir to break up and then leave lid slightly ajar, allowing steam to escape and fruit to reduce, for about one hour.

After one hour stir, replace lid and adjust setting to warm.  Allow to set up overnight if more caramelization is desired.

Mmmmm... butter.

We're still experimenting with baking whole wheat bread, but this is the best we've made so far!  Since I refuse to get into anything too labor-intensive, this recipe was perfect for us.  (The hardest part is setting aside 12-18 hours to let it proof.)  I recently picked up some white whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flours to play around with as well, so hopefully they'll be more experiments to come...

For the recipe to the delicious bread pictured above, head to Jo Cooks here! 

Zucchini Lasagna for Two

Have lasagna any time!  Next time you prepare spaghetti sauce, make a double batch and freeze the leftovers to make this easy, noodle-free lasagna any night of the week.

Ingredients

4 cups prepared bolognese or marinara sauce (here is a basic one you can modify)

1 medium zucchini, washed and unpeeled

2 cups cottage cheese

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Salt and pepper, to taste

Using a mandoline slicer on the thinnest setting, slice the zucchini into thin rounds. Sprinkle rounds liberally with salt and set aside for ten minutes, then pat dry with a paper towel.

In the meantime, transfer the cottage cheese to the bowl of a food processor. Sprinkle with pepper and blend until smooth.

In the bottom of a small loaf pan, spread one fifth of the tomato sauce. Top with one quarter of the zucchini slices. Next spread over one quarter of the cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle with one quarter of the mozzarella, then repeat layers beginning again with sauce.

Continue until ingredients run out or pan is full. Finish with the remaining mozzarella and sprinkle with Parmesan. Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes to brown the cheese.

Let stand for at least ten minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Shrimp & Sofrito

An easy, low-calorie, fresh and filling recipe for winter!

3 red bell peppers

1 green bell pepper

1 poblano pepper

1 white onion

4 cloves garlic

1 pound tomatoes, any kind, fresh or frozen

1/2 a jalapeño

Dried chiles, optional

One lime, divided in half

3/4 pound fresh or frozen shrimp

Blend all ingredients up to jalapeños in a food processor.

In a large pot, drizzle a small amount of olive oil over high heat. Add the sofrito blend and sauté, until sauce reduces. Add chiles if desired for more heat. Season with salt.

When sauce has reduced to desired consistency, turn down the heat and add the shrimp. Cook until shrimp is just cooked/thawed. Squeeze in half the lime juice.

Garnish with chopped bell pepper, jalapeño, the remaining lime, and enjoy!

No Mayo Bacon Cheddar Deviled Eggs

If you love deviled eggs but try to avoid store-bought mayo like I do, here is a recipe that is good enough to eat for breakfast! Perfect for brunches or the holidays.

10 hard boiled eggs

6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

6 tablespoons salted butter, softened

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch cayenne, to taste

Pinch ground mustard, optional

Paprika, to garnish

Slice eggs in half and scoop out yolks into the bowl of a food processor.

Combine remaining ingredients except cheese with yolks and blend until mostly smooth. Season to taste, then add cheese and blend until just combined. Transfer filling to a large plastic bag. Snip off one corner and pipe filling into egg whites. Sprinkle with paprika and enjoy!