New Year Rack of Lamb

     

      Two things I usually consider necessary for a meal on New Year's Day: 1) It be reasonably elegant and 2) It be relatively easy to make. No one wants to spend hours in the kitchen on the day after New Year's Eve! To accomplish these two sometimes warring requirements, it is always helpful to have planned ahead, freezer wise. Whenever I go through the hours required to create a Brown Sauce or it's slightly easier cousin, Sauce Espagnole, you can be sure there will be several small packages put away in my freezer for just such an occasion as this. If you don't have this rich sauce available, you could make do with a commercial beef or pork gravy, but be sure to sufficiently fix it up.

      The only do-ahead is to marinate your Lamb overnight. You can put this in the refrigerator before you go out and "make foolish," knowing that almost all the work for your New Year's meal is being done for you!

      Successful wines for this meal could be red (Merlot or Dolcetto) or white (Vouvray or a high quality Riesling). But it's New Year's, so I'm having Champagne. Prosit!

Ingredients:

      Marinade:

            Juice of 2 Oranges

            Small Onion, chopped

            2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

            Several sprigs of Fresh Mint

            1 Tbs. Salt

            1 Tbs. Rice Wine Vinegar

            ½ cup Olive Oil

     

      Meal:

            Small Rack of Lamb*

            3 small Red Potatoes

            3 small Mushrooms

            1 Tbs. minced Onion

            1 Avocado 

                 (my side dish, use whatever you want)

            Sauce Espagnole  (about one cup)

            Porto (from Portugal) ... to taste

            Fresh Savory

            Butter

            Olive Oil

            Salt & Pepper

* My package had two 8 rib racks, so I used them both. Leftover Lamb Chops in the refrigerator are never a bad thing!

Method:

1    Day before: Mix marinating ingredients together and pour over Lamb. Refrigerate overnight.

2    About one hour before cooking: Bring marinating meat to room temperature. Remove from marinade and dry with paper towels.

3    Quarter the Potatoes, toss in Olive Oil and Fresh Savory and let sit for about 15 minutes.

4    Preheat oven to 325F. (165C)

5    Heat a small amount of oil in an ovenproof pan on stove-top.

6    When you are ready to sear meat, put Potatoes in the oven, they will be ready in about 45 minutes.

7    Sear the Rack of Lamb (fat side down) until it is nicely charred, about 5 minutes. Because I had two racks, I did them separately.

8    Pour off any fat/oil and return rack to pan. Place a small strip of aluminum foil over bones so they do not blacken. Place pan in oven and cook for about 30 minutes until internal temperature reaches 145F (65C), no higher!!

9    Every 15 minutes, stir Potatoes.

10    While meat and potatoes roast in the oven, heat sauce and correct flavors by adding Porto, Butter and any Salt & Pepper that may be needed. When meat temperature nears 145F, sauté the Mushrooms and a little minced Onion in Butter, until just done.

11    When meat is to proper temperature, remove from oven and wrap in foil, keeping warm (stove surface should be fine) for 15 minutes.

12    Turn off oven. Drain any oil from Potatoes, sprinkle on Salt & Pepper, and return to oven until you are ready to plate. They will crisp up a little.

13    When Lamb has rested, slice into individual chops.

14    When you are ready to plate, mix Mushrooms and Potatoes and mound them in the center. Pour a little sauce over them. Cover mound with Lamb Chops and add a little sauce over these.   

Enjoy!

Baked Eggplant and Sausage

      This is the time of year when eggplants are plentiful and delicious! One thing I like to do is make meals that can be easily frozen and then enjoyed in the winter. Not everything works for that purpose, but this dish does. Even so, the ingredients here make a smallish casserole and could serve two with just a few "lunch" leftovers.

      We're just going to fry up some eggplant and make a casserole, lasagna style, with layers of hard cooked egg, fresh mozzarella and sausage slices. Add a little tomato sauce and top with freshly made balsamella sauce. Bake, then let sit for at least 15 minutes and serve plain or on cooked grain or rice. I used couscous today.

      A wide variety of wines would accompany this dish very well because it is mild and soft on the palate. You could use a full bodied wine to complement, or a soft and not too dry white to enhance it. I would initially think in the direction of a Brunello for the red or a Vouvray for the white. But not tonight!!

      I am not a great fan of West Coast Cabernets. They tend to be too full and big, with a cloying aftertaste that I just don't prefer. Maybe the grapes grow too well there. Grapes that grow where they shouldn't want to (like the side of a volcano) seem to produce wines that are more in my wheelhouse. But I realize that I'm probably in the minority here. So I purchased one of the 1878 cases produced of John Bookwalter's 2008 Foreshadow Washington State Cabernet, basically for the pleasure of visiting friends. The wine is just coming into its own and will only improve over the next several years. I have to admit, while this is a big ripe and round wine, it does not have the negative attributes I would expect from, say, a California Cabernet. Maybe the Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley and Red Mountain are more interesting places to grow. Also there is no Merlot in the blend! In fact (don't tell anyone) I sort of enjoy this wine with the proper food match. It is definitely a wine to accompany food.

Ingredients:

2             small Eggplants

most of the ingedients

3    links Italian Sausage (hot or mild)

1    HB   Egg

6    oz     Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

2    cups   Tomato Sauce

2             Eggs, beaten

¼   cup  Fresh Parsley, chopped

               Dusting Flour

               Olive Oil for frying

2    tsp    Sugar

1    tsp    Cinnamon

               Fresh Nutmeg to grate

               salt & pepper to taste

               Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese to grate

2    cups   Balsamella Sauce:

Balsamella Sauce ingredients

⅓ cup     butter

4   Tbs     flour

2   cups   Warm Milk

1             Egg, well beaten

2   Tbs     Parmigiano Cheese, grated

½ tsp      Nutmeg, grated

Preparation (to be done earlier in the day, or the day before):

1    Hard boil one egg

2    Peel Eggplants and slice into ¼" slices. Place slices in a non-reactive colander and liberally salt each layer with coarse Kosher-type salt. Place a bowl under the colander and a weight on top. This will drain bitter juices from the Eggplant. Let this drain from about 2 hours to overnight. When finished, dispose of juices, rinse salt off Eggplants and squeeze them dry with a kitchen towel (or paper towels).

using marble mortar to press eggplant

3    Cook Sausage in a fry pan until nicely browned on outside, and just cooked on inside.

4    In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon.

5    Grate about ½ cup Parmigiano cheese, divide it into two parts. One with about 2 Tbs. and the other all the rest (for the casserole), reserve.

Create Casserole:

1    Beat 2 Eggs in a shallow bowl. Mix in about 1 Tbs chopped parsley.

2    In a metal fry pan, heat oil to hot.

3    Sprinkle Dusting Powder on both sides of Eggplant slices.

preparing to fry eggplant

4    Dip Eggplant into beaten egg and fry, in batches, until golden on each side.

5    Remove to paper towels and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar while they are very hot.

frying eggplant: note cinnamon-sugar

6    When all Eggplants are done, slice Sausages into ¼" slices.

7    Slice fresh Mozzarella as thinly as you can.

8    Slice HB Egg.

9    Assemble Casserole as you would a lasagna:

·      coat bottom with Tomato Sauce

·      layer about one-third the Eggplant

·      cover with a little Tomato Sauce

·      sprinkle on a little Parmigiano

·      layer all the Sausage

·      layer about half the remaining Eggplant

·      layer the Eggs

·      layer the Mozzarella slices

·      spread Tomato Sauce over this layer

·      sprinkle any left-over Parsley and any remaining Parmigiano

·      layer the rest of the Eggplant

 10  The final step is to pour the Balsamella Sauce over the Casserole, but you must make it fresh. So do so now:

·         beat one Egg in a small bowl

·         melt Butter in a 4 cup sauce pan

·         add Flour and cook gently, while stirring, for about 5 minutes

butter and flour

·         while stirring, warm Milk in microwave for a few minutes

·         gradually add Milk and stir over moderate heat until sauce bubbles and becomes silky

·         grate Nutmeg and add Parmigiano to sauce, mixing in

·         remove from heat

·         mix a tablespoon of sauce to the egg

·         then quickly whisk the egg mixture into the sauce

 11  Pour all the Balsamella Sauce over top layer of Eggplant making the Casserole well coated.

 12  Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 45 ─ 60 minutes, until top is golden.

finished baking

 13  Heat some Tomato Sauce to pour on finished dish.

 14  Remove from oven and let stand for at least 15 minutes before you serve.

Baked Eggplant over Couscous

   Enjoy!! 

Veal Marsala with Fettuccine

        Veal Marsala is a very simple dish with few, but high quality ingredients. In fact, it’s often prepared table-side. This variation produces a sauce for some fettuccine to accompany the veal. The addition of some onion, mushrooms, stock and a little tomato paste creates enough volume of sauce to do that job. The dish remains relatively quick to prepare, just have everything prepped and ready because it goes from raw ingredients to finished in just a few minutes!

        Now for the wine: This is sort of a mild tasting meal so I thought a Vouvray would be ideal. The 2009 Vouvray Sec of Christophe Thorigny is about as sec as a Vouvray gets but, of course, that means not very. Actually it is a beautifully balanced wine and has a lovely soft feel to it.

        The Marsala I’m using is a Fine and Dry, which means it is fairly young. You’ll want to add a little sugar to the sauce. If you use a sweeter Marsala, then skip the sugar. You can wait until you taste the sauce near the end to decide how to correct the sweetness and seasoning.

Ingredients

½     lb.   Veal cutlet, thinly sliced

most of the ingredients

        Dusting Flour

4      Tbs Butter

1      Tbs Olive Oil

¼     cup Onion, chopped fine

¼     lb.   Mushrooms, sliced

2      Tbs Tomato Paste

½     cup Marsala Wine

1      cup Chicken Stock, simmering

        Salt and freshly ground Pepper

1      tsp  Sugar (depends on taste)

¼     lb.   Fettuccine

        Fresh Basil leaves, torn into small pieces

        Freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

Method

Pound the veal very, very thin.

pounding veal

          Prepare all other ingredients: thinly slice Onion and chop into fine dice, Slice Mushrooms ¼ inch thick, tear Basil leaves into small pieces and grate about ¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese. Heat the stock. Prepare a plate with foil and an extra piece of foil for covering the Veal to keep it warm. Bring a pan of water to the boil and take careful note of the cooking time for the Fettuccine. You will want to add the pasta so that it is finished exactly when you are ready for it.

ingredients prepped

everything ready, water up

You will probably have two batches of Veal for ½ pound. Melt the Butter and a little Oil in a fry pan. Bring to high heat and immediately add the first batch of Veal. Brown one minute on each side, no more! Remove to foil lined plate and brown next batch. 

browning veal

When Veal is finished, cover tightly with foil and reserve. Add the Onion and Mushrooms to the pan, reduce heat and toss well (you may want to add a splash more oil). Add the Fettuccine to the boiling water now. Back to the sauce: sprinkle on a little Salt and freshly ground Pepper and let sauté for about 5 minutes.

Add Tomato Paste and stir in well. Let this simmer for a few minutes.

mushrooms after 5 minutes

tomato paste added

Now add Marsala and hot Stock, raise heat and let this simmer down for a bit. Taste and sweeten and/or correct seasoning, if necessary.

liquids added

          When you drain the pasta, add the Veal back to the sauce to heat.

veal warming in sauce

Plate some of the Fettuccine and a couple of cutlets. Cover both with the sauce. Sprinkle Basil and Cheese over the Pasta. 

Veal Marsala with Fettuccine

Enjoy!