Lamb Rogan Josh

An employee of mine once told me that I cook lamb more than anybody else he knows. Why not cook lamb? It tastes way better than beef, in my opinion. And you've got all the cool cuts - rack, shanks, chops, neck.

I've been craving stewy braisy things lately, which kind of sucks, since it's in the 90s, and doesn't start cooling down until at least 7pm, if at all. But, screw it, I said, and made Lamb Rogan Josh, from Vikram Sunderam, via Food & Wine.

This is probably the first time I've made an Indian dish that I was happy with. Not just "hmm, it's ok", but completely happy with. Tender lamb, tangy spicy sauce. Good over rice. And pasta. And then use the leftover sauce to dip tortilla chips into.

I'd love to show you a picture, but...I'd hate to show you a picture. I don't even want to try to describe what my pictures looked like.

Just trust me. This recipe rocks.

So, no photo of lamb rogan josh, but here's an egg I cooked for the animals.
















Picture me (I'd be interested to know how some of you picture me!), sitting on the floor, surrounded by a yellow tabby,
















a tan chihuahua,
















and a brown lab/chow mix,
















all vulturing for a piece of egg. And I better feed them in the correct sequence (big dog, little dog, cat), otherwise they'll get upset. Just when the kids are almost "all grown up", I realize I have 3 more that never will.

Yakisoba

Youngest wanted yakisoba. I had never made it before, so I did a quick search, and found that the big bottle of Bulldog sauce in my fridge would work perfectly.

I cooked the soba noodles that I just purchased 48 hours ago (hint, foreshadowing), then rinsed them in cold water.

I stir-fried up some chicken, removed it to a plate, then stir-fried chopped bok choy stems, minced garlic and ginger, followed by some absolutely gorgeous brown beech mushrooms, and finally the bok choy leaves. Isn't it pretty?
















The mushrooms were as local as you can get, grown right here in San Marcos at the Hokto Kinoko facility. Check out their cool shrooms! They're seriously delicious.

To assemble, I heated up a little more oil really hot. Added the wet noodles, a bunch of Bulldog sauce, a little soy sauce, and (of course) some Sriracha. Stir and toss, stir and toss. I was aiming for a little crispiness to the noodles, like you get with fried rice. (Unfortunately, that wasn't happening.) I added back the chicken and vegetables, along with a handful of bean sprouts. More stirring and tossing until everything was heated through.
















Topped with sliced pickled ginger and chopped up nori. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to chop up nori? Even my ceramic knife had problems.)






























Youngest said it was good, she plans on bringing the leftovers to school for lunch, her only complaint was that the noodles broke easily and she couldn't use chopsticks. I thought there was something off about the noodles as well, not just the breakiness, but also in their flavor. Hubby was super-impressed with the dish (he especially loved the mushrooms)....except for the noodles.

Maybe they were old? You'd think not, since I just purchased them (but dummy me didn't check for an expiration date). Maybe they were inferior? Don't think so, I picked the mid-price-range ones from Marukai market.

This was one of those happy-sad dinners - happy that I was able to cook something so delicious, but sad that it was tainted by crappy noodles. I'm definitely going to try again, I think with udon, but Hubby says I should just cook the chicken/veggies/sauce and put it over rice. We'll see.

Beautiful Food

Since there's not much beautiful food going on around here lately, I thought I'd share this with you. Listening to it makes me hungry.

Beautiful Food, by Edan.

Asparagus, Cauliflower, and a Puppy

Once again, I'm too lazy to take pictures, edit pictures, etc. But "dinner" tonight was delicious. I feel sorry for people who scroll through a post looking for food pictures, then automatically click off if there aren't any. 'Cause they're missing out. 

Update 5/4/11: Added a picture of roasted cauliflower.

First, the happy asparagus. This works best with thin spears.

Soy-Balsamic Roasted Asparagus

Snap off the woody ends of your asparagus. Toss with olive oil, a little salt, and black pepper. Roast at 350-400 until it's done to your liking. Throw in a little butter, and equal parts soy sauce and balsamic vinegar.

Next, the cauliflower. My Hubby and MIL who both hate cauliflower love this. Even Youngest eats it.

Roasted Cauliflower

Cut cauliflower into small pieces, thinner is better for good crusty browning. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until almost done to your liking, tossing half way through. Toss through some minced garlic and some grated parmesan, and return to the turned-off oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, add more cheese, and a handful of chopped parsley.

And, finally, the promised puppy. Complete with tiny goggles, tiny helmet, and a satchel to keep him safe. Happy puppy was barking ecstatically the whole way down the freeway. I wish I knew where the owner got the safety gear, because I'm sure my chihuahua would love a ride on our Vespa.

Progression is Lacking...

I'm seriously thinking of changing A Work in Progress to A Lack of Progress.

Tonight was the first time I've cooked anything since I can't even remember when. (Just checked the archives, eggplants and clams from over 10 days ago.)

Ironically, it was more eggplant - I made an eggplant/hummus hybrid, the idea taken from Cooking with Michele, the quantities all mine and not measured. Hubby (eggplant lover) didn't care for it - I think I didn't mash the garbanzo beans smooth enough. His mother (eggplant hater) loved it. Go figure. (Youngest didn't try it, no surprise there.)

To go with the Mediterranean fusion (aka not-so-pretty glop in a bowl), I made tzatziki and toasted some pita bread.

Not only is there a lack of progress on the cooking front, I'm having the same difficulties with my physical ailment, ie. 9 months of chronic pain in my leg that so far has been undiagnosed and untreatable. I think I've tried all the opiates out there, lidocaine, muscle relaxers, nerve blocks, acupuncture, Neurontin, Lyrica, Cymbalta, a TENS unit, nothing works. When I told my doctor that I was wearing a Fentanyl patch and had taken 2 Vicodin (still completely coherent, still totally in pain), his jaw just about hit the floor.

So it's off to the neurologist on Friday, for an EMG and nerve conduction study (ouch) in the morning and then a bone scan in the afternoon. I'm torn between hoping they find something (which will probably be un-fixable) and hoping they don't.

In the meantime, amputation is looking better and better. But then with my luck, I'd have phantom limb pain.

Oh, and I get to have a root canal tomorrow.

So, uh..., yeah...until further notice...A Lack of Progress.

Eggplants and Clams

I bought 2 Japanese eggplants, because they looked so cute, skinny and lighter in color than your typical globe eggplant. I also bought some stuffed clams from Sprouts. Breadcrumbs, chopped clams, seasonings, some minced veggies, stuffed into clam shells. It reminded me of stuffing (heck, it was stuffing), and made me want turkey. No picture, because I forgot.

But here's a picture of the end result. I was pretty impressed with the shell pictures I took - so much so that it was difficult to decide which ones to use. And that never happens to me. It's too bad that the background in the pictures changed color, but oh well. (Anybody know why that happens?)




















With the first eggplant, I made Baked Eggplant Chips with Za'atar, from Anh at A Food Lover's Journey. They were delicious, and I think za'atar is my new favorite seasoning blend. Even Hubby liked it, and he hates thyme. I used the proportions from Laurie's recipe at Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. My eggplant slices were a little uneven, resulting in the thinner parts burning and sticking to the tray before the thicker parts were done cooking. So, they weren't very pretty - hence, no picture.

With the 2nd eggplant, because I finally bought a can of tahini, I made Baba Ghanoush (or Moutabal, depending on what country you're in) from Mercedes at Desert Candy. I didn't use a food processor to chop up the roasted eggplant, just chopped chopped chopped until I got the consistency I wanted. I was completely amazed with how good this was! Hubby couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the night. "This is so good", "can you make it again like this?", "I want this every day". It's a winner, I'd say. Again, no picture, because it was, well, a bowl of greenish-brown chunky mush. Not very appetizing to look at.

I was also going to cook up some asparagus (olive oil, s&p, bake til done, equal parts soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, a little butter), but my bunch had been lounging in the fridge too long, and got a little mushy. Ick.

Cheesy Oniony Potato Pierogi

To accompany my wild mushroom soup, I also made some pierogi. I used this recipe from Bake List, which is an adaptation of Grant Achatz's recipe. Other than substituting parrano cheese for the Gruyere (since that's what I had, and my local supermarket doesn't carry Gruyere), I followed the recipe.

Well, I kind of followed the recipe. At the almost-done point in the assembly of the pierogi, I got fed up with the dough - very elastic and sticky. So I made one big-ass pierogi, about 10" across at the widest point. It fell apart into 3 pieces while boiling. But it didn't leak (too much), so I proceeded as normal with the pan-frying in butter. Ugly, but good.
















These are definitely not health food - butter, cheese, sour cream, fried in butter. Ironically, I found out that my cholesterol is "slightly high" right after I made these. I think I see a lot of salads in my future. Good thing I made the pierogi when I did.