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Sharing Morocco: Exotic Flavors from My Kitchen to Yours Cookbook Review

January 13, 2015 by Renee

Lamb Tagine

Welcome to January! Hope you have all had a nice long break and are ready to start the new year. I spent most of my break going room to room in my house emptying closets and drawers, making bags for donation and bags for garbage. I purged quite a bit and still feel I could make one or two more rounds and will probably spend a few more weekends doing so. It’s amazing how much you accumulate!

In purging, I also culled my cookbook collection down to a mere 206 books. But of course, this leaves several emptyish shelves which I am sure will be filled again as so many terrific books came out last year that I am still in the process of acquiring. (But, I am trying to purge a few more in the process as well. Must keep a balance you know!)

One book that arrived recently is Ruth Barnes’ Sharing Morocco: Exotic Flavors from My Kitchen to Yours.  The title is was what drew me in. I love Moroccan food and hoped that this book would guide me in making traditional fare at home.  Like so many home cooks, the author, Ruth Barnes,  is a busy spouse, parent, and professional who cannot spend all day in the kitchen preparing complicated meals. Her goal was to make the cuisine accessible to the home cook. In the book she shares tips and techniques for preparing Moroccan classics like bastilla, lamb with apricots and prunes (my re-creation above), and chicken with preserved lemons, as well as more familiar dishes like baba-ganoush, baklava, and kebabs.

The recipes have been quite simplified and she identifies several common ingredient substitutes and breaks down the complex spice combinations so often found in Moroccan cuisine into manageable formulas. What is left are such easy recipes that anyone can make these dishes in their own home.

I made the Lamb Tagine with Apricots and Prunes. It’s a fairly quick “stew” that doesn’t require a lot of preparation but figure about 2 hours and 15 minutes total cooking time-so it’s better for a weekend dinner than a midweek meal.  I hardly expected the kids to like the flavors but was pleasantly surprised when they all did- even my pickiest eater. While not so pretty to photograph, the dish tasted very good and I would make it again. I served it with a side of Israeli Couscous that was cooked in beef broth with sauteed onion.

Lamb Tagine with Apricots and Prunes
 
Print
Cook time
2 hours 15 mins
Total time
2 hours 15 mins
 
Author: Ruth Barnes in Sharing Morocco
Cuisine: Moroccan
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 3 tbs. olive oil
  • 3 lbs boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • ½ bunch cilantro, chopped
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • 1½ cups low sodium beef broth
  • 3 tbs honey
  • 1 cup dried apricots
  • 1 cup dried, pitted prunes
  • 1 tbs sesame seeds, for garnish
  • ½ cup walnut halves, for garnish
Method
  1. In a cooking tagine or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and brown the lamb on all sides. Remove the lamb to a platter.
  2. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Return the meat to the pan and add the cinnamon, ginger, turmeric cumin, cilantro, salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the beef broth. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer 1 hour 15 minutes.
  4. Stir in the honey, apricots, and prunes and cook for a further 15 minutes.
  5. Remove the lamb ad fruit from the tagine and place on a serving tagine or platter. Spoon the sauce over the meat and fruit.
  6. Garnish with the walnut halves and sesame seeds.
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I would consider this book to be a good entry level experience to the flavors of Morocco and one that would fit any home cook just learning about Moroccan foods.  You can buy it here on Amazon:

Ruth Barnes Sharing Morocco

 

Disclosure: Thank you so much to the Lisa Ekus Group for sending me this copy of  Sharing Morocco: Exotic Flavors from My Kitchen to Yours by Ruth Barnes. Recipe reprinted with permission. 

Filed Under: Eat, Cookbooks, Meats Tagged With: Cookbook Review, Lamb, Moroccan

Kitchen On the Road- Camino de Santiago- Burgos and an Oven Baked Lamb Recipe

October 24, 2012 by Renee

Mention Burgos and most Spaniard’s mouths begin to water at the thought of the infamous lamb made there.  Considered to be the best in Spain, the local lamb, known as Lechazo, are suckling lamb from the Churra, Castellana or Ojalada breeds. Because the Lechazo is such a special lamb product, they are actually protected by an Indication of Geographic Protection designation -Association of Assadores de Lechazo de Castilla y Leon.  The tradition and skill involved in perfectly roasting this suckling lamb is an esteemed ability that is shared by the members of the Roasters Association of Lechazo from Castile-Leon, who are located all over the country. So if you get to dine in one of their restaurants,  you know there will be some seriously good eating!

The method of cooking for these young lambs is slow roasting them in a wood fired oven. The low, slow heat yields an incredibly tender meat that is very succulent and exceedingly delicious. If you are passing through the region of Castilla y Leon for any reason, you must try some of this lamb. The best part?  It’s perfectly acceptable to eat it with your hands- the meat closest to the bone just begs to be sucked off.

While in Burgos, my Camino friends and I enjoyed a fabulously carnivorous meal at Restaurant Ricon de Espana just off the main square.  We also enjoyed a few bottles of  the Tempranillo seen here. Oh, and dessert? It got a thumbs up.

And while you are in Burgos, be sure to stop into the cathedral. Even if you are not religious, it’s a massive, magnificent Gothic-style building.  Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, it is the only Spanish cathedral that has this distinction independently without being joined to the historic center of the city. You can spend hours just wandering around the inside looking at all the stone carvings and beautiful relics.

Now, I don’t have a wood fired oven…yet. (It’s on the list!)  But you can easily recreate the tenderness of this meat in your home oven or for that wood fired taste, you can use your grill.  The recipe here is for using your oven for the slow roasting. It takes some time so pop a cork and sit back and relax with a good book. Dinner will be served “soon”.

Kitchen Conundrum’s Slow Roasted Suckling Lamb Recipe
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
1 hour 30 mins
Total time
1 hour 40 mins
 
Author: Renee
Recipe type: Meat, Dinner, Lamb
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 11-15lb Suckling Lamb (Also called a Spring Lamb, no more than 4-6 months old. Bone-in. (Also can use a leg or shoulder))
  • 5-8 cloves Garlic (Peeled and smashed into a paste)
  • 3 large sprigs Thyme (Leaves chopped and combined with the garlic paste above)
  • Salt (To season)
  • Olive Oil (To drizzle)
Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
  2. Rinse the lamb and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut into manageable pieces. Rub the garlic and thyme paste all over each piece of the lamb. Place in a large oven proof dish. In Spain, they use a clay dish- so if you have one in your cupboard, now is the perfect chance to use it! Season each piece with salt and drizzle with olive oil. In the bottom of the pan add a bit of water- no more than ½".
  3. Place the lamb in the hot oven. After 15-20 minutes, or once the lamb is a nice golden color, reduce the heat to 325 degrees F. Roast for 1 hour.
  4. At this time, remove the lamb from the oven and turn each piece over. Add some more water (just a little!) if needed so as not to totally dry out the pan. You basically want to steam around the meat until the last few minutes of cooking. Return the lamb back into the oven to continue roasting.
  5. Once the lamb has reached a desired internal temperature, it is ready to serve. For medium rare meat the thermometer should read 120 degrees F. For medium well, 145 degrees F is the magic number. The meat should be tender and flake easily from the bone with a fork.
  6. Serve with a rich, velvety red wine like a Rioja, Priorat, Zinfandel, or Cabernet Sauvignon. (I'd go with one of the first two, keeping with the Spanish theme- but that's just my opinion!)
  7. Serve with a simple salad or roasted potatoes. This is truly a carnivore's delight.
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Filed Under: Eat, Travel, Featured Posts, Meats, Spain Tagged With: Burgos, Camino de Santiago, Lamb, Recipe, Spain, Travel

St. Paddy’s Day- Erin go Bragh! A Menu for the Day

March 17, 2012 by Renee

I should be Irish. I have the requisite red hair, the fair complexion and even a few freckles. William Butler Yeats is my favorite poet (tied with T.S. Eliot, who’s American/English but Shhh!) and I love Guinness and all things Kerrygold.

So it goes without saying that I take St. Paddy’s day a little personal. Well, I don’t do the whole, green paint your face or wear strange shamrocks with glitter on them (unless I have drank all the Guinness), but I do cook up some traditional and some non-traditional Irish fare to celebrate the day.

When we were young newlyweds, Ari and I were regulars at a pub in the West Village, where both the Italian and Irish firemen all moonlighted as bartenders. We would sit at the bar, drink pints of beer and chat with everyone that came in. It wouldn’t take long before the whole place would burst into song and sing an Irish tune called “Four Green Fields”. It was great fun, but one of the best parts of the place was the traditional pub foods they served (along with several dishes that were way more upscale and delicious!) We dined on so many great things that came out their tiny kitchen-that happened to be setup in an alleyway (I wonder what the NYC Dept. of Health’s restaurant grading system would give them today if they were still open…). Anyway, one dish that we loved there was the Shepherd’s Pie.  The meat was cubed and tender, the peas and carrots were fresh and sweet. The mashed potatoes were creamy and the melted, cheesy top gave it such a nice crust and variation of texture. One Au Gratin dish was plenty for two people to share- and sometimes even three.

We used to eat it there at least a few times a month, if not more. But now, we only seem to make Shepherd’s Pie for St. Paddy’s Day or once in a blue moon. We may want to revisit that. It’s the perfect all-in-one meal. Meat, potatoes and vegetables all together in one perfect marriage bound by aged cheddar cheese. Separate, all the parts are perfect. Together? They live in harmony. Both on the plate and in our bellies.

We were on our way to make our standard version of Shepherd’s Pie, but while watching The Chew today and seeing Carla and Clinton make their insanely decadent Eight Layer Shepherd’s Pie, we knew that we had to give this one a try. We made some adjustments to theirs and will note them below. Here’s the link to their recipe–

Our notes:

-They say that the Skill Level is ‘difficult’. It’s not. Not at all. What it is, however, is a lot of little steps that must be done before the final assembly. So, it’s not difficult, it’s time consuming. Very, very time consuming. Like, give yourself a good two hours of prep time if you are doing it all by yourself. It took the two of us, both completing different parts a good hour and fifteen minutes to finish the prep. (And Ari is a pro- so for the rest of us…. extra time.)

-The recipe also states in the Kitchenware (needed) section that it’s a 9×9” baking pan. That’s an error. It should be a 9×13”pan. And make it a deep one!

-It says to use a mandolin, but you certainly don’t have to if you don’t have one.  Just be sure to slice the potatoes very thinly for the first layer.

-For the cheese sauce, it’s important to let the flour and milk mixture come to a small boil to thicken the sauce. Be sure to keep whisking so it doesn’t burn, but the high heat helps the roux and the milk come together. One thing they don’t mention, but you should also do, is to remove the milk from the heat and whisk in the cheese. This prevents it from scalding and burning and sticking to the pot. We also upped the cheese to 1 cup as the sauce was just too liquid and added a healthy pinch of salt because it tasted flat without it.

-For the mashed potato layer, we use our standard potato to butter ratio- 2:1. And butter to heavy cream ratio- 1:1. A la Joël Robuchon. It’s just how we roll. And we added salt to taste here- which, surprisingly, is left out of their recipe.

Some tips to make it all go easier (and faster):

  • Read the entire recipe beforehand. (Sounds like it should be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised!)
  • Bake the puff pastry first and set aside.
  • Chop/dice/cube all the vegetable you will need for the entire recipe all at once. (You need potatoes and cheese twice, so divide accordingly! Keep the potatoes for layer one in a bowl of water to keep them from turning brown until you need them.)
  • When it’s time to brown the meat, at the same time, go ahead and boil the potatoes so they are ready for mashing when you get to the step for the mashed potatoes. While the potatoes are cooking, cook the peas and carrots and set aside until that step.
  • Salt every layer. A pinch of salt takes food from flat to fantastic.
  • The cheese was just not browning after the allotted time, so we kicked the oven up to broil just to give it some much needed color. And crust. We left off the final step of the fried onions but they would make an excellent addition for sure!

Here’s the finished result-

So how was it, you ask? It was truly decadent. And cheesy.   And deep. The beer flavor really comes out in the cheese sauce. The mashed potatoes and the meat were perfectly seasoned and the entire dish came together in perfect harmony. The puff pastry dough gave it a biscuit like flavor and texture in the middle of all the creaminess.  I loved the cheese topping and its crispy crust that it formed over the mashed potatoes.

Bottom line, it’s definitely a keeper recipe. But, reserved for large gatherings or special occasions. Only because of the time commitment involved in making it. I could see making the cheese sauce for other things though- like cauliflower or pasta.

If you try it, let me know your thoughts. I am always curious to know if people “follow the recipe” or improvise and what they come up with.

We also made Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes. The most traditional Irish meal there is. It’s what everyone thinks of when you say St. Patrick’s Day, so of course, we made this too. Basically, everything goes into a pot of water and cooks until it’s done. The meat first, then the potatoes and then the cabbage.  Served with a good mustard and maybe a splash of vinegar for the cabbage, it’s as easy a meal to make as any. If you are looking to glaze your corned beef, a black current mustard sauce is the most flavorful and you will please all of your guests.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, combine a jar of black current jam with three tablespoons of Dijon mustard. If you prefer a bit spicier, just add more mustard. Once liquid, pour it over the cooked corned beef and serve.  You’d be amazed at how fast your corned beef disappears. It’s also really excellent the next day if you can sneak a slice or two away to save.

Irish Soda Bread is the perfect accompaniment for the pie and the corned beef. The thing about Irish Soda Bread is that there truly is only one recipe with a variation of different ratios. I think from the beginning of time, it just consisted of these simple ingredients. Traditional Irish Soda Bread doesn’t have baking powder or sugar in it. If it does, then it’s cake, not bread. And while you can experiment with different flours, it’s either bread flour or AP Flour that’s traditionally used in Irish kitchens.

 

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

4 cups (16 oz) of all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
14 oz. of buttermilk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 425 F. degrees.  Lightly grease and flour a round cake pan.

In a large bowl sift and combine all of  the dry ingredients.

Add the buttermilk and mix to form a sticky dough.  Place on a floured surface and lightly knead. Don’t overwork the dough- too much and the gas will escape and leave you with a flatter bread.

Shape the dough into a disc and place it in the round cake pan. Cut a large “X” in the top of the dough.

Cover the pan with an inverted pan and bake for 30 minutes. (This cover simulates the Bastible Pot- or the Dutch Oven traditionally used to make the soda bread in).  Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

When completely baked, the bottom of the bread will have a hollow sound when tapped.

Cover the bread in a kitchen towel and lightly sprinkle water on the cloth to keep the bread moist until ready to serve.

Serve warm with your favorite Irish butter!

 

For dessert, we created fun “Green Velvet” Whoopie Pies. The recipe is the same for the one’s I created last Valentine’s Day, just with green food coloring instead of red. They are festive and everyone loves them. We hope you will too.

So, we’ll leave you with this Irish Blessing:

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

For fun pub song’s- try this or this.

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day and remember- Don’t Drink and Drive!

Filed Under: Eat, Featured Posts, Bread, Desserts, Meats Tagged With: Beef, Cabbage, Corned Beef, Ireland, Irish, Lamb, Mashed Potatoes, Potatoes, Shepherd's Pie, Soda Bread, St. Paddy's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Whoopie Pies

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