Lamb and eternal life

Today is the one year anniversary of my Mom's death. She was taken too soon and I was not sure what emotions I would have today. It is a mix of sadness and longing to see her again, joy in knowing that she is not in pain and thanksgiving for the wonderful family she left behind.

I have not written a post in a while but I think it was because this date has been looming out there as a significant moment. So what recipe would be the right one for this day? As I thought more about it, the more it became obvious to me. LAMB!! Every Easter I cook a leg of lamb for my family and what better dish to write about today than an Easter dish. Whether you believe or not I think we all hope for a resurrection and to see our loved ones again. Even if there is not anything after this life my Mom lives on in my brothers, sister, fathers, wife and daughters. She lives on in the recipes she has passed down and the love we all still have for her and each other. I love you Mom and am grateful that you are at peace.

Grilled Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary (10)
Any leftovers make a great sandwich. Spread a little mashed roasted
garlic over French, Italian or pita bread, and add the sliced lamb,
lettuce and tomato.
8 large garlic cloves, pressed
2 Tbs. fresh chopped rosemary, or 2 tsp dried
1 tsp. salt
112 tsp. black pepper
1 (SIb) leg oflamb, boned, butterflied, trimmed of excess fat*
Combine garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in small bowl. Mash with
fork to form coarse paste. Place lamb in shallow baking dish. Spread
half of garlic paste over each side. Cover and refrigerate at least 2
hours or overnight. Bring to room temperature before cooking.
Prepare barbecue. Grill lamb until brown and crusty on outside and
thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 130 for medium
rare, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.
Cut on diagonal into thin slices and serve. Calories 210 Fat 8g
*Butcher in any grocery store will do this for you when you buy
bone-in leg of lamb.

Scalloped Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Herbes de Provence From Epicurious.com (Mom loved these)

• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1 1/2 cups canned chicken broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup minced shallots
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 4 teaspoons herbes de Provence*
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 10 1/2- to 11-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
• 4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced

• *A dried herb mixture available at specialty foods stores and some supermarkets.
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Mix first 7 ingredients in large pot. Bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Add half of cheese; whisk until smooth. Chill remaining cheese. Add potatoes to pot; bring to simmer.
  Transfer potato mixture to prepared dish, spreading evenly. Cover with foil; bake 15 minutes. Uncover and bake until potatoes are very tender and liquid bubbles thickly, about 50 minutes.
  Dot potatoes with remaining cheese. Bake until cheese softens, about 5 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

French Onion Soup That Is (Not) Among Les Miserables...

"At the End of the Day", it was with a "Heart Full of Love" that I considered my mother one of the loveliest of "Lovely Ladies"...and I have often "Dreamed a Dream" of spending "One Day More" with her.  In fact, I would make the ultimate sacrifice "At the Barricade" to still have her "In My Life"!


If you haven't gathered, this post is a tribute to my mother's career as a theater producer and her undying love of the musical "Les Miserables"...and also my obsession with all things French Onion Soup.


The luscious finished product!

My mother and beloved stepfather, Bill, first introduced me to "Les Mis" when I was a high school junior and looked about like this...

A mere bambino...with very fluffy-looking hair...

In 1988, my mom and Bill saw Les Mis on Broadway and brought back with them the CD and what would become the lifetime love affair my family has enjoyed with the musical.  However, my initial exposure to the music of Les Mis was somewhat sorted -- it came in the form of a 2am school night wake-up call from what sounded like Javert performing live in our library.  Bleary-eyed and confused, I stumbled downstairs to find my mom and Bill blasting "Stars" on the stereo and enjoying some of Bordeaux's finest.  Despite the annoyance, my eyes had been opened (literally and figuratively) to the wonders of Les Mis.

In honor of Les Mis and French onion soup, I recently hosted a Les Mis-themed soiree complete with a veritable battery of "weapons" and costumes...

The Barricade at 1001 L Street NW #311 on 4/26/14

...and served the most delectable French onion soup, inspired by my mom's recipe from her cookbook.

I took a little artistic license with my mom's recipe, as follows: (1) I made my own beef broth (sample recipe here: Beef Broth) and substituted that for chicken broth, (2) I used dry red wine instead of white (I have no clue why my mom used white wine), and (3) I included a healthy dose of fresh thyme while cooking the onions down.

This recipe takes some time (and the slicing of an enormous heap of onions) but is well worth the effort.  I recommend making the soup the day before it is to be served in order to give the flavors the optimal chance to meld. 

Under the chest-filled belting of Les Mis songs during my Les Mis wonderland party could be heard whispers of "this is the best French onion soup I've ever had."  So I encourage you to go "Beyond The Barricade" of your local restaurant's version (or, God forbid, store bought) and make the recipe.  I promise, there will be no "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables" when served!

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Mom's Recipe (Serves 6)

2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/4 C. vegetable oil
3 1/2 lbs. of onions, thinly sliced
2C. dry white wine [I used red]
6 C. canned low-salt chicken broth [I made my own beef broth]
12 1/2" thin baguette slices [I only used one slice per bowl]
1 C. grated gruyere cheese [I didn't measure the cheese -- I basically just grated an enormous amount over each bowl because the crusty, nutty gruyere is the best part!]

Melt butter with oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.  Add onions, cover and cook until lightly colored, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes [don't time this -- just slowly sweat the onions until they turn deep-beige in color].  Add wine and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits [also called "deglazing" the pan].  Cook 5 minutes.  [After the wine absorbs into the onions, I sprinkled the onions with a light dash of flour and cooked it for about 10 minutes more to get the raw flour taste out...this process gives a little more girth to the onions].  Add broth and bring to simmer. Simmer uncovered about 1 1/2 hours.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat broiler.  Ladle soup into broilerproof bowls [I used the pictured crocks which can be found inexpensively online].  Top with slice of toasted bread.  Sprinkle with [loads of!] grated cheese.  Broil until cheese melts.
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The valiant men of the barricade gather to passionately discuss the battles to be won...



 

This barricade is built with piles of yellow onion...and takes "thyme"...

 

 

The onions invest their "sweat" to achieve a deep beige color (not "Red and Black")...

 

 

Now comes the "Red" (wine) part...

 



 

Like a "Little Fall of Rain", the flour descends onto the barricade...

 

 

The "First Attack" is at hand after the beef broth is added, simmers and the soup is ladeled into the crock...

 

The "Second Attack" at the 1001 L Street NW #311 barricade...

 



 

Gruyere and friends prepare for "The Final Battle" to be waged...

 

 

Every "Beggar At The Feast" will feel like they are on a "Castle On A Cloud" when they experience this French onion bliss!

The Curtain Call!  Bravo!

 

 

 

 

Pasta Puttanesca

Mom's birthday is this week.She would have been 70.We will have a family party on her birthday full of hostess cup cakes, Pepsi and Chinese food from Super Wok. Happy birthday Mom!!

The weather is getting warmer, we are getting the garden ready and that always makes me want to eat more vegetables. So for this weeks post Kathleen and I made Pasta Puttanesca with sauteed chicken and dined al fresco on our back patio. It was a great evening and reminded me of many spring nights at 1201.


The Bistro's Pasta Al la Puttanesca

3 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs. roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
114 C. chopped or sliced black olives
2 tsp. capers, drained
1 tsp crushed dried red pepper
112 tsp. oregano
pinch black pepper, salt to taste
1 can flat anchovies, drained and finely cut (optional, sometimes I
put in about a tsp. of anchovy paste if! happen to have it.)
2 Tbs. fresh chopped parsley (for looks only, I rarely do this)
1 lb. vermicelli pasta
2 chicken breast (optional)



Heat oil in large skillet; add garlic and saute' over low heat bout 1 minute, do not brown. Stir in tomatoes and juice, olives, capers, red pepper, oregano and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Stir in anchovies and parsley. Simmer 2 minutes. Add salt to taste. Cook and drain
vermicelli. Toss with sauce.

Slice the chicken horizontally and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a saute pan until just smoking. Add chicken and cook until browned. This takes about 2-3 minutes per side.

Rosemary Lamb Shanks
 

“Rosemary” is a whimsically beautiful word.  “Shank” is…um…not.  However, when you throw “lamb” between those two, you get a lusciously braised, earthy Greek potlatch. 

 

With my brother Colin, sister-in-law Kathleen and nieces Jackie and Ellie visiting DC for an incredibly special, fun-filled week (including the below-pictured snowman building), we (including the incomparable Kathleen Galvan) couldn’t resist making this sumptuous dish as our farewell feast.


Kissing our new friend aptly named "Olaf" by Jackie and Ellie.  Pay particular note to Jackie's and Ellie's boots and short sleeves.  We grow them tough, smart and adorable in Oklahoma!



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My mother first started making Rosemary Lamb Shanks in the mid-90s – about the time we all looked like this (i.e. more fit, less old and, um, more hairy)…



Colin, Chris/Canon, Cason, Mom

This photo has assumed an almost iconic stature in our family (in fact, we even tried to replicate it a few times).  It was snapped in Seattle during a family trip to visit Cason.  Among other amazing highlights of the visit was our inaugural “Big Sammy” competition.  You see, my family loves allegedly friendly competitions.  These aren’t just competitions though.  There is pride to be won or lost, humiliation to be suffered or avoided…and, of course, hardware to be won in the form of ridiculous trophies (in the case of our Oscar competition, a life-size gold-hued Oscar trophy (which yours truly won this year)). 

The Big Sammy competition was the first of such competitions and was born out of a simple challenge between Colin and me as to who could make the better unnecessarily large submarine/hoagie/grinder sandwich.  With much fanfare, the sandwiches were prepared and sampled by the panel of judges.  Colin’s was a mess of mayonnaise, hot sauce and grilled chicken (kidding--it was very good) and mine was an Italian delicacy I learned to concoct during my illustrious three month tenure at Chuck E. Cheese during high school.

After the votes were tallied and dramatically unveiled, I emerged victorious…but not without controversy.  The allegation has been made but never proven that mom changed her vote to my sandwich because she thought I would be more devastated if I lost.  True or not (and, yes, I would have been an absolute boor if I had lost), it only demonstrated how loving everyone thought my mom was – sometimes to a fault.  Although I have not since won the sandwich contest again, that inaugural Big Sammy victory continues to be my life's greatest achievement--too bad I fizzled out at 27.

But I digress…

Rosemary Lamb Shanks are surprisingly easy to prepare.  You can find lamb shanks in most decent grocery stores or on www.dartagnan.com (where I bought the shanks used for this recipe).  My only recommendation as a change to mom’s recipe (a sacrilege, I know!) is a lower oven temperature (325 degrees, perhaps) and a longer amount of time in the oven (as long as it takes the lamb to come up to an internal temperature of about 150-160 degrees...probably 2 hours).

Experiment, expand, enjoy!

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Mom’s Recipe

Just the best!!!  I serve with roasted new potatoes or mashed potatoes and a fresh fruit salad [for our preparation Colin made absolutely incomparable mashed cauliflower).

2 Tbs. olive oil
6 (12-14o) lamb shanks, trimmed
2 carrots, cut on diagonal into 1/4” thick slices
2 celery stalks, cut on diagonal into ¼” slices
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 C. dry red wine
1 C. low-salt chicken broth
1 C. canned beef broth
2 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary or 2 tsp. dried
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375.  Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven [I used a roasting pan over two burners given the size of the shanks] over medium high heat.  Season shanks with salt and pepper.  Working in batches, add lamb to Dutch oven; brown on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch.  Transfer lamb to plate.  Add carrots, celery, onion and garlic to Dutch oven; sauté until light brown, about 4 minutes.  Add 1 ¾ C. red wine; bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits, about 2 minutes.  Add both broths, rosemary and bay leaves.  Return lamb to Dutch oven; cover.  Cook in oven until lamb is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Transfer lamb to platter.  Tent with foil.  Strain cooking liquid, reserving vegetables.  Discard bay leaves.  Return liquid to Dutch oven.  Boil liquid until reduced to 1 ½ Cups, about 10 minutes.  Mix remaining ¼ cup wine with corn starch until smooth.  Add to cooking liquid and simmer until thickened, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes.  Return lamb and vegetables to Dutch oven (can be prepared 1 day ahead.  Cover and refrigerate.)

Simmer lamb until heated through.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Arrange lamb and vegetables on platter.  Spoon sauce over.  Garnish with fresh rosemary sprig, if desired.

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Our Greek friends Aristotle, Hippocrates, Archimedes, Pythagoras, Socrates and Homer surely philosophizing about the meaning of their soon-to-be short lives (cauliflower, carrots, celery, onions and other accoutrement joining them):

 

Always on the diagonal, per mi madre:

 

 The initial sear on any braise is key:

WINE and vegetables join in the festivities:

After our Greek friends returned to the bath, the finished product just out of the oven:

 

 

 A wonderful cheeseboard composed by Kathleen Galvan as an apertif:

And then the feast begins!

 

Italian Sausage and Peppers

This dish is another one that Mom would make for me when I was home. It is very easy and can be put together without much work. Makes a delicious but not diet friendly pasta.

Mom loved sausages...could be Italian sausage or kielbasa from the 7/11 she was a fan. I think one of her favorite meals was kielbasa and ranch beans. Someday I will put that "recipe" up on here.

This recipe combined her love of sausage and Italian food.

Italian Sausage braised with Peppers and Onions (4)

1/4 C. olive oil
8-10 Italian sausages (hot or sweet)
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
2 green bell peppers, cut into strips
2 small onions, sliced
1/2 lb mushrooms quartered
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1 14 oz can of tomato sauce
Salt and pepper
1 lb pasta


In a frying pan, heat olive oil and brown sausages on all sides. Might want a splatter screen as this gets messy. Remove sausages and set aside.





Add pepper, onions, mushrooms and garlic and saute until pepper are barely cooked. Add vinegar and tomato sauce. Return the sausages to the pan. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook about 30 minutes or until sausages are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. This makes lots of sauce and I serve over pasta with Parmesan cheese.

Oscar Night

Movies... My Mother loved movies. I think some of her happiest moments were in a dark theater with a big bag of popcorn and a Pepsi. She and I would often go to lunch and a movie when I was home from college and always had a great time. We joked until she passed about going to the Carebear movie together. She fell asleep after about 1 minute.

With this love of movies she was a big fan of the Oscars. We would all get together or call each other all night debating who should have won and who had a terrible dress. Then in 2000 we decided to start a family contest. We got serious about this and have this trophy.



It travels and reads that the winner must have seen and understood a majority of the movies. (This is for Bill but now he is the only one who sees all the movies) Mom however was too honest and would vote for what she thought was the best picture and not what she thought would win. Therefore, the family favorites trophy was created. You could vote your heart and there is a separate trophy. The last year that we played Mom won the family favorites and was so happy. The trophy now resides in AZ and hopefully that is where it will remain.

The contest was renewed for this year's Oscars and Canon won the family trophy after not having seen a single movie and Jorie won the favorites.

In honor of Oscar night I am giving the recipe for one of my favorite dishes of Mom's. She would make this all the time when I came home.

Chicken/Veal Scaloppini Beausejour (4)

Another one of Colin's favorites. Can also be done with chicken. Slice chicken breast in half horizontally and pound to about 1/4' thickness.



1 lb chicken or veal
2 tsp table salt
Ground pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 C. sliced mushrooms
1 lb pasta



Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet and when it starts to smoke add meat. Cook for 30 seconds per side. Place pieces on a plate and cover with foil.

Remove remaining oil from the pan and add butter, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and mushrooms. Add wine, scraping and stirring to dissolve any solids (fonde) on the bottom of the pan. Add water and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add meat back to pan to warm and serve with buttered pasta.

Burgers You "Flip Over"

There is a long running debate in our family over the derivation of the name of the recipe. Are they burgers that you flip over the stuffing the middle or are the burgers you are so excited about that they are burgers you "Flip Over"? Kathleen, my lovely wife, says that it is both and I am never one to disagree with her.

These are a quick weeknight meal and the great thing about them is the they are totally customizable to whatever ingredients you want to put in the middle. We always used green olives but now I might put roasted red peppers or sauteed mushrooms. I am not a meatloaf eater, but these never felt like meatloaf. I usually serve with mashed potatoes and a veggie. This is simple but can get as fancy as you might want.

The Team


The recipe (serves 4)

Burgers
1 lb ground beef
1 slice white bread (made into bread crumbs) or 8 saltine crackers (crumbled)
1 egg
several dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Inside (up to you)
green olives (sliced)
onions (diced)
mushrooms

Topping
Cheese
Bell Pepper cut into rings

Mix first four ingredients together. Make four rather large square patties about 1/4" thick. Put filling on 1/2 of the square and fold over. Pinch edges to seal.


Place burger on cooking sheet and bake in 425 oven for 20 minutes. Place bell pepper on top and cover with cheese. Bake for 5 minutes more.

* must be served with canned corn and fruit cocktail. (according to Mom).
I used lots of veggie to counteract effects of ground beef.

Finnan Haddie Chowder!

2/8/14

FINNAN HADDIE CHOWDER
 

Soup merely comforts your soul.  Chowder takes your exhausted, soggy, lifeless soul and, not only comforts it, but douses it with enriching foody goodness that rekindles your mortal essence...i.e. delicious butter, cream and everything in between.

Ok, that might be a little overreaching but, having been down with a bad cold for a week, my goal last Saturday night was to make a dish that would be nourishing and lift my spirits at the same time.  What could be better than a wonderful Canadian chowder with a great beat and a good backstory?  My mother’s Finnan Haddie Chowder.

• The Backstory

1976.  Cason = six.  Colin = less than zero (but in mom’s womb).  Me = four...and looking something like this (apparently needing a haircut and wearing a shirt fit for a 12 year old):

Living in Philadelphia at the time, we went on a family driving jaunt to Halifax, Nova Scotia.   Despite my mere quatrain of existence, I remember the trip fondly.  Boat rides in the scenic harbor, endless games of “rip-a-tear-tear” in the car (a simple game – Cason and I essentially shredded a mountain of tissues in the backseat much to our parents’ delight), my dad teaching us how to identify various tree varietals…But the longest-lasting memory has, of course, been Finnan Haddie Chowder.

Here’s how we discovered this magnificent but simple chowder:  We stayed in a sleepy inn in Halifax where the matriarch made this most sumptuous creamy chowder served with warm, thick, rustic oatmeal bread.  We had never had it before but enjoyed the dish so heartily that my mom mustered the courage to ask for the recipe.  As we were preparing to leave the inn to head back to Philadelphia, we were reluctantly given the recipe for this smoked haddock (“finnan haddie” is a Scottish term for this delicacy) chowder, a generous loaf of oatmeal bread and a fond farewell.

None of us has ever returned to Nova Scotia but my mom made sure Finnan Haddie Chowder returned to us often (it was one of Colin’s first meals in the womb, after all!).  On an occasional cold winter’s night when my mother could find smoked haddock (which is sometimes difficult), she would lovingly prepare this remarkably simple dish…always to our sheer delights. 

You wouldn’t think children (or people who don’t love fish) would enjoy a smoked fish chowder.  But think of smoked haddock not as tasting fishy at all.  Instead, think of it as tasting very much like bacon – it has all of the richness and saltiness of bacon but with a flakey texture and a smoky flavor that is truly unique.

Per my mom’s mantra to “experiment, expand and enjoy”, I have added leeks (because I love potato and leek soup) and a garnish of chopped green onion to the recipe.  I hope you take a bit of time to prepare this exceedingly simple dish on your next cold winter’s eve and experiment as well…enjoy!

• The Recipe From Mom’s Cookbook (1996)…

Finnan Haddie Chowder

1 Finnan Haddie broken into bite-sized pieces
2 large russet potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks
1 large onion, diced
(1 large leek, chopped)
(1 green onion, chopped for garnish)
3 Tbs. Butter
3 cups (more or less) whole milk (or cream)

Sautee onions (and leeks) in melted butter over medium heat until wilted and turning a golden color.  Add milk and potatoes to pan and bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are almost tender. Add Finnan Haddie and continue simmering til heated through and potatoes are done. Be careful as you stir that Haddie doesn’t break up too much. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Careful, not too much salt as fish is salty.

*Finnan Haddie is smoked Haddock. You can get it at most seafood stores or fish markets.

• The Pictorial Cooking Process

The Assemble Ready to Perform (with beverage pairings, dark wheat bread and a festive lantern.  *Old-Timey Lantern is not required but is recommended to make the chowder feel like it is being made in the galley of a Canadian schooner (and we all look better in candle/lamp light anyway). *Not pictured is my wonderful sous chef, Kathleen Galvan, who made sure my glass was never empty and my spirits always high.):

Vegetables Preparing for the Dance:

 

As Billy Idol Sang… “Sweat, sweat, sweat”…

Milk and Potatoes Join in the Chorus:

Mr. Haddock Enters Stage Right:

The Final Curtain Call (paired with a martini with a chili-stuffed olive – for me, martinis go amazingly well with anything salty and the chili gave the meal a little extra umph):

And for the Encore…(Haagen Daz Caramel Cone ice cream with a warm chocolate chip cookie, drizzle of chocolate syrup and, of course, a tawny port!):

BON APPETIT!