Rack of Lamb - Rosemary-Lavender Salt Crust

I had an idea to cook rack of lamb for a while.  The idea came from first making a crust.  I took some coarse sea salt, fresh rosemary, and lavender and blended it together in a food processor.  Crusted the lamb with some pepper as well, and seared it in a cast iron.  Finished in a 375* oven for 20 min. 

 

Paired with some pearl cous cous and fresh spinach lightly sauteed in olive oil and garlic.   

 

A cooking thermometer would have been helpful, as I slightly overcooked the lamb.  Also, a tad too much salt on the crust, but otherwise a solid addition to the pantry.

3rd Annual Holiday Cocktail Party

A non-food related post.

Enjoy! 

French Onion Soup

This dish has been on my radar for a while.  Finally I had the tools, and recipe to construct; the bowls were key.  I read about a dozen different variations on this classic dish, and I came across one that involved a lot more technique than the others. This is the one I used to start my dish.  

Onions. Lots of onions. I used about 5 very large vidallia and yellow.  Added to the dutch oven with a generous amount of olive oil and salt, this load was simmered and covered for 15 min. Yes, 15. Then uncovered and stirred occasionally for an hour. Yes, an hour.  The recipe calls for letting the onions naturally caramelize, which takes considerable time. Low & slow. Low heat, slow cook time.  After a painful hour, the onions looked a delicious brown.  The pot was deglazed with sherry, and white wine. Also added was a mess load of thyme and 2 bay leaves.  Once the alcohol burned off, I added beef stock, nothing fancy, just store bought organic beef stock.  This was then simmered for about an hour, until the soup looked very hearty and together.  Salted to taste.

Finally, the crown.  Some La Brea french bread, cut into 3/4 inch slices, oiled, salted and buttered and toasted in a grill pan until crispy.  This was added on top the soup, with a load of Gruyere cheese.  Broiled until melted.  Winner. 

From the roommate Sean (who orders this dish anywhere he sees it on the menu) "This is the best I've had. Don't change a thing." 

Thanksgiving, 2010. Appetizers.

My family is pretty traditional in our Thanksgiving day offerings.  Pretty simple, some old family recipes, and some new traditions emerging.  For the 2nd year in a row my cousin Zach and his fiance Nina hosted the big meal at their place in Sonoma.  For the 2nd year in a row we deep fried a turkey, and I was to make appetizers.  For the 1st time, we got a little creative with the deep fryer (after dinner is where the fun really started).

As I was searching for fun and different appetizers, I kept my wits about me due to my constraints; no oven, no stove.  But, I had a deep fryer! As I lazily watched some food network shows, I saw an appetizer for crab salad stuffed potato skins.  Well, its crab season! So, tweaking the recipe just, I used dungenuss crab for my salad.  2 crabs mixed with a healthy spoonful of mayo, a small spoonful of dijon mustard, chopped chives & green onions, and a squeeze of a meyer lemon.  Upon tasting, some salt and a touch of brown sugar was added to the salad.  

The potatoes were simple.  Yukon gold, baked @ 350 for 45 min.  Cooled, cut, cored... and then Deep Fried.  Stuffed with the crab mixture, this was outstanding, and the plate was gone before I could fry some more.

My other appetizer (sans picture) was a play off of an offering I had picked up off of Iron Chef America.  I made roast beef crostinis. Using a very hearty Molasses Wheat Bread from Uncommon Kitchen as my base, I constructed a gorgonzola-horseradish spread to place on top.  Topped with rare roast beef, sliced green grapes, and jullianned mint.  This too was a hit, and will certainly be making its way to a wine & food pairing soon!


Lastly, the fun stuff.  Deep Fried Twinkies. Because pie wasn't enough... Pics to come.


And, a huge congratulations to Scottie & Kimmy on their engagement! Love you guys!

Food and Wine Paring: 2

I had the pleasure of being invited back to Corkscrew (now Uncorked)in Tahoe City to do another feature on pairing farmers market food with some select wine. My inspiration this week came from these incredible blackberries. The sweetest berries I have ever tasted.  The idea was to pair with these berries. So, I took the berries and macerated them with a bit of lemon juice and just a touch of agave nectar. This mixture was then folded into some goat cheese.  To complete the spectrum of textures and tastes, it was piped onto an endive leaf (bitter & crunchy) and then wrapped with prosciutto (salty & soft).  The bite sized treat was a hit.

The 2nd dish to be paired with a white was inspired by summer squash. Finely diced summer squash and zucchini was lightly sauteed in meyer lemon olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and fresh pepper. This mixture was folded into some fresh ricotta, also purchased from the farmers market. Served with crostini bread, this added a very nice, light compliment to the plate. I believe Uncorked sold a record number of pairings this night!  Can't wait to be invited back!!

http://uncorkedtahoecity.com/