My ruminations on my life, my family, cooking, baking, and whatever else comes to mind
Today is the first day of spring, the day that the sun shines directly on the equator, and the day and the night are very nearly equal in length. After today in the northern hemisphere the days will be longer than the nights as we progress towards the summer solstice. Yay science! In celebration, we’re having a very spring-like meal – lamb chops roasted with pears and rosemary and fresh roasted asparagus.
The traditional Irish-American dinner makes another appearance for Saint Patrick’s Day. A New England Boiled Dinner is corned beef, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage simmered together for a hearty dinner that’s incredibly easy to put together. See the link above for my recipe!
March, of course, brings Saint Patrick’s Day socks!
This month’s Household 6 cooking challenge was a concept MRE, aka Meal Ready to Eat. These are shelf stable, calorie dense, nutritious meals that are used in the field by our men and women in uniform. They are not, however, known for being particularly tasty. Often the tiny bottles of Tabasco are the most coveted part 😛
My concept is a take-off on the beef stew entrée with an eye towards Saint Patrick’s Day later this week. This stew is rich and flavorful, healthy, and a well balanced meal in a bowl. The garnish of fresh thyme would sadly be lacking in an MRE version 😉
Crockpot Lamb Stew
Serves 4
1 lb lamb stew meat, in 1 inch chunks
1/8 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion, cut into quarters then separated into the layers
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 small bottle dry white wine (187 ml)
1 large white potato, about 10 oz, cut into large bite sized chunks
8 oz carrots, peeled and cut into large bite sized chunks
2 cups beef broth
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Season the flour with the salt and pepper in a large zip top bag. Toss the lamb to coat well. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Shake off any excess flour from the lamb pieces and add them to the skillet in a single layer. Brown the lamb on all sides and then remove it to a bowl.
Add the onion to the skillet and cook until starting to turn translucent and browned. Remove the onion to the bowl with the lamb. Add the garlic and cook for 20-30 seconds or until golden and fragrant. Deglaze the skillet with the wine and reduce the liquid by half. Pour the wine and garlic mixture into the bowl over the onion and lamb.
If there is any flour remaining in the zip top bag, pour a little cold water in and create a slurry. Pour that into the bowl as well, then add the carrots and potatoes. Add the beef broth and stir to combine.
Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, dump the contents of the bowl into a slow cooker, add the thyme and bay leaf, and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove bay leaf and stir the stew before serving warm.
Here’s some of what we’ve been eating recently 🙂
Another week of successful weight loss, another week of oysters 🙂 I went with more kusshi oysters today, and my friend Linda at the seafood counter threw in a kumamoto for me too (the front-most one on the plate). This one wasn’t nearly as briny, so maybe that last batch was just a bit saltier than most. At any rate, the kusshis were excellent again!
Tonight I made my galbi recipe with some thinly sliced beef bottom round to make bulgogi. We like the galbi much better. This was kinda jerky-like, tasty jerky, but still not the best texture for dinner 😛 I served this with some steamed broccoli and stir fried maitake (aka hen of the woods) mushrooms.
Another week of weight loss, more oysters for me! These Kumamoto oysters were grown in Humbolt Bay in Northern California. These were just a touch too briny for my tastes, but a very nice size and pretty easy to shuck, that or my skills are much improved 😛 The seafood folks are getting to know me and my oyster quest, and the lady threw in a free Kusshi for me today because we both love them 😀
This recipe is inspired by this one on AllRecipes. I quite liked the citrus-y marinade. Shaun wasn’t as much of a fan, but thought it was alright.
Carne Asada
Serves 8
1.5 lb flank steak or flat iron steak
For the marinade:
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, pressed
2 limes, juiced (about 1/3 cup)
1 lemon, juiced (about 1/3 cup)
1 orange, juiced (about 1/3 cup)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dark chili powder
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
For cooking:
1 tbsp canola oil
Mix together the marinade ingredients in a large zip top bag. Place the meat in the bag and seal, pushing out as much of the air as possible. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.
When ready to cook, heat the canola oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Remove the meat from the marinade, letting it all drip off back into the bag, and add the meat to the skillet. Sear well on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Add about 1/4 cup of water and the marinade to the skillet and cook until the meat is done, about another 15-20 minutes total, turning over occasionally. Remove the meat and slice thinly. If desired, reduce the liquid to a sauce and drizzle over the top.
Serve hot with beans, tortillas, salsa, guacamole, or whatever else sounds good!
Emma used to get up on the back of our old couch all the time, walk along it, and perch to watch us. She hadn’t gotten up on the back of the new couch yet, though. It’s a bit taller, and she just didn’t have motivation to get up there. We got a dusting of snow these past couple days, though, and when we opened the blinds to see the flakes coming down, she hopped right up so she could see out the window too 🙂
