Easter Dinner

[PACE]

Lamb Shanks with Lentils

This is actually a French recipe, but I have doctored it over the years, went thru a smoked phase, but now, here's the recipe I've settled on

Four lamb shanks
Chipolte pepper
Coarse salt
chopped sage
Two ripe tomatoes,
chicken broth, preferably homemade
1/2 cup good red wine
olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground sumac
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp sweet curry powder
1/4 tsp aleppo pepper
1/4 tsp oregano

saute garlic in olive oil, season lamb shanks with the spices, except sage, brown lamb shanks add diced tomatoes, let simmer, add wine, reduce, you'll want to eat them at this point, but they aren't ready yet, add chicken broth,

So for those of you who will require measured amounts, cover the shanks with enough chicken stock.

Now, slow cook, either braise or slow cooker,

approximately two hours,

30 minutes before finished, add a little more broth (the pot liquor will be intense now) and 1-1/2 cups of lentils, the French use the small green, they are fresher tasting, but the regular lentils work just fine here.

continue simmering, serve with flat bread brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper,

Happy Easter!

REgards
Pace

 

[PACE]

Post Script, add the sage with the lentils!

 

[lilly]

Pace, you come up with the best recipes. I'm not making Easter dinner this year but will try this one soon. BTW, I made your crepes and they are delicious.

 

[PACE]

I told you, you'll never want Key Lime pie again!

Easter Bread, just finished the dough

1 bag of unbleached flour
2 tblsp cinnamon
zest from five oranges


Three cups of milk (whole)
1 stick of butter
2 packages of yeast (dry)
5 tbsp sugar

1-1/2 cups of raisins.

Heat milk add small cubes of butter, let melt, but stir constantly, add sugar, let dissolve,

Set aside,

Mix flour with orange zest, cinnamon.

Add yeast to cooled milk mixture, add 1 tblsp salt, let "proof"

Add wet to dry, knead, will get very stiff.

Add raisins, let rise

Color eggs,

To assembly, form long ropes from risen dough, make a circle, lay on non-stick baking sheet, place three eggs 90 degrees from each other, form smaller ropes with dough, criss cross eggs, let rise, sprinkle course sugar on top, bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or sooner, shouldn't be brown, just light brown,

Serve with maple sugar flavored butter, enjoy, this is called Panne de Pasquale, in Italian.

I added the cinnamon!

Regards
Pace

 

[Bo-4]

Wow, you are impressive. What time should i arrive?

 

[PACE]

Oh about 2 o'clock, I let the pork roast come up to room temp so it was nice and soft for the oven,

Just made a pot of black tea with cardamon to fortify the "cooks".

Yes, I love to cook, it's art to me.

Regards
Pace

 

[Judy1]

Lamb Shanks with Lentils

This is actually a French recipe, but I have doctored it over the years, went thru a smoked phase, but now, here's the recipe I've settled on

Four lamb shanks
Chipolte pepper
Coarse salt
chopped sage
Two ripe tomatoes,
chicken broth, preferably homemade
1/2 cup good red wine
olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground sumac
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp sweet curry powder
1/4 tsp aleppo pepper
1/4 tsp oregano

saute garlic in olive oil, season lamb shanks with the spices, except sage, brown lamb shanks add diced tomatoes, let simmer, add wine, reduce, you'll want to eat them at this point, but they aren't ready yet, add chicken broth,

So for those of you who will require measured amounts, cover the shanks with enough chicken stock.

Now, slow cook, either braise or slow cooker,

approximately two hours,

30 minutes before finished, add a little more broth (the pot liquor will be intense now) and 1-1/2 cups of lentils, the French use the small green, they are fresher tasting, but the regular lentils work just fine here.

continue simmering, serve with flat bread brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper,

Happy Easter!

REgards
Pace

Sounds yummy, but I have a package of lamb chops, I've never cooked lamb, how do I do them? BBQ on the grill maybe?

 

[Bo-4]

I do too, but don't think i'm near as sophisticated as you are. My thing is quality ingredients and SIMPLE.

Used to watch a lot of Rachel Ray 30 minute meals.. imagine you're no stranger to Food Network either.

Emeril used to be my favorite.. ate at at his Delmonico Restaurant at the Venetian in Vegas a couple of years ago.

The company was paying so my client and i shared the Maine Lobster and Chateaubriand with a table tossed Caesar salad.

AMAZING!

See you at 2!!

Oh about 2 o'clock, I let the pork roast come up to room temp so it was nice and soft for the oven,

Just made a pot of black tea with cardamon to fortify the "cooks".

Yes, I love to cook, it's art to me.

Regards
Pace

 

[PACE]

Butterfly leg of lamb is great on the grill, but if you have the jewel of the lamb, lamb chops, try this recipe:

1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

Mix, coat the lamb chops with this, let sit until "soft", room temp

place on baking sheet, now, here's the best part

take three or four slices of day one bread, (preferably something with a little crunch, like french bread) make your own bread crumbs

Mix with one tbsp finely chopped parsley, 1 tsp lemon zest, some fresh ground pepper.

Coat the tops of the chops with the bread crumbs, roast in 375 to 400 oven (hard for me to gage, I have a resturant range). for twenty minutes, check, if too pink for you, go a little longer.

Some sides:

Beet salad, shave fresh beets, plunge in boiling water, set for one minute, strain, and cool in ice water.
chopped one green apple, and two or three scallions,

Lemon dressing:

juice of one lemon plus two tbsps water
Olive oil
salt
Pepper
chopped mint or you can use whatever herb you like, I could live in a field of flat parsley

mix shaved beet and apples with dressing, set aside.

Coucous:

I like the Israeli kind,

chopped tomato
chopped onion or scallion
chopped celery
chopped spinach
Small pitted olives

cook coucous in broth or water, set aside, mix chopped vegetables, season with little white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt pepper.

add coucous, set aside to cool down a little, at the end add a good handful of grated parmesan cheese.

The chops will be nice and juicy, the bread crumbs give them crunch.

You have the very best part of the lamb on your hands, a little seasoning goes a long way with them!

Enjoy!

Regards
Pace

 

[PACE]

I went to buy a leg of lamb yesterday and was horrified at the price, I settled on a nice bone in pork roast, I don't think you should ever cook pork without a bone in it, it tends to dry up

And I settled on the lamb shanks,

I like very fresh and peasant-like, I love braised meats and vegetables.

I braise vegetables a lot,

some of my favorite, braised leeks (if you have an old Crueset or enamel cast iron, use this, there is a reason why people use these pots,) a little chicken broth salt and pepper, you'll be amazed.

I am now working on gazpachoes for the summer

The classic of course, but I am also trying it with key lime and different red peppers, I found this wonderful smoked African pepper at Trader Joes', it's becoming a staple now,

My daughter made me curry last night, her own recipe, apparently her house at college is now paying her to cook.

She's gotten into a lot of cheaper fish, flaxseed and whole wheat pastas, she made me lunch yesterday, I was stunned by her acumen!

But she also 'trained" at my elbow as a child, so I am not surprised she is turning her nose up at college food, and just making her own.

But Peasant is the best for me, I love nothing more than to take the cheapest, rudest ingredients and turn them into something wonderful.

Regards
Pace

 

[Bo-4]

Oh man, you just killed me with the Trader Joe's reference. I grew up with them in California, and they were there when i moved to Portland.

Nothing in Boise.. we have a Whole Foods coming but don't think that'll be quite the same.

I LOVED their frozen stuff like the fish and chicken enchiladas. They had a lot of great "lonely guy" food that you could pop in the micro!

 

[lilly]

Pace, I have my sticky buns in the oven right now and added the fruit that you recommended. I always used nuts but I just know this addition will make a good thing even better.

Bo we have 'Trader Joes' about 20 miles from me so I don't get there often but when I do, I stock up.

 

[PACE]

Whole Foods is really good, you can get any kind of lentils or dried beans there, I am addicted to beans, all kinds, I made hummus from white cannellini beans and give it an Italian slant.

Trader Joe's is one of the best in my view, like I said, I like peasant food, it's nothing for me to make extra potatoes for mashed potatoes, under cook them slightly, cut them julienne, add curry, sesame seeds, hot pepper, onions and then make Aloo paratha with Trader Joe's tortillas on the weekends for breakfast, in fact, I just did a little while ago,

You'll like Whole Foods, I tend to find them pricy, but the selection of dried beans is very impressive!

Regards
Pace

 

[lilly]

Oh yes mashed potatoes and I leave the skin on them. I made stuffed peppers the other night with the mashed potatoes....my favorite meal but don't fuss that often for just me.

 

[PACE]

Good for you!, I just made the glaze for the Panne de Pasquale;

Two egg whites
1/2 cup water
granulated maple sugar
juice of one orange.

They are rising now, thanks to my daughter's strong hands; a look:

The lamb shanks, almost ready for the lentils

And finally the slow roasting pork roast, not nearly ready yet

 

[Judy1]

Whole Foods is really good, you can get any kind of lentils or dried beans there, I am addicted to beans, all kinds, I made hummus from white cannellini beans and give it an Italian slant.

Trader Joe's is one of the best in my view, like I said, I like peasant food, it's nothing for me to make extra potatoes for mashed potatoes, under cook them slightly, cut them julienne, add curry, sesame seeds, hot pepper, onions and then make Aloo paratha with Trader Joe's tortillas on the weekends for breakfast, in fact, I just did a little while ago,

You'll like Whole Foods, I tend to find them pricy, but the selection of dried beans is very impressive!

Regards
Pace

My favorite Peasant food recipe is Ina Garten's French Lentils. Saute leeks, carrots and garlic. While they are saute-ing
put a halved turnip in a pot along with a med size onion studded with whole cloves, add a cup of french lentils, the carrots, leeks and garlic, and water, bring to a boil and cook until lentils are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove turnip and onion. Drain lentils, add a dollop of butter. mix up some dijon mustard, basalmic vinegar olive oil and salt. add to lentils and stir. Yummy! Also low cal, and full of protein.

 

[Corruptbuddha]

Pace, you seem to be pretty sharp on food. tell me, what makes my lamb always taste sweet? Is it supposed to be sweet?

 

[PACE]

Lactic acid, soak it first, you can just use water, or broth, it will cut the sweetness of the meat.

Always try to use herbs that compliment it, lamb isn't always good just salted and peppered.

Use what you like.

Regards
Pace