Veggie au gratin served with lamb, salad, and heirloom tomatoes

I had a delicious brussels sprouts casserole in New York at the Green Table restaurant in the Chelsea Market a few weeks ago and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  When I opened my farm box this week and spotted the brussels sprouts, I knew it was time to attempt a low-carb version.  Because I didn't want to make a bechamel sauce in the traditional au gratin spirit, I elected instead to use an egg-cream custard base for the dish.  While not as "saucy" as it might have been, it has excellent taste and was well-seasoned!

Ingredients:
1.5 cups brussels sprouts, rinsed and cut in half lengthwise
2-3 cups red chard, rinsed and chopped into large sections
1/2 to 3/4 cup scallions, or chopped onions
whole nutmeg
1 tablespoon dry curry mix
1 tsp creole seasoning (or other favored dry seasoning)
sea salt
pepper
4-5 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon of red sauce (optional)
1.5 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of Manchego, sharp cheddar, and parmesan)
grapeseed oil

Heat a large pan until medium high.  Add 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil.  When oil begins to shimmer, add brussels sprouts and saute until some browning is visible.  Remove from heat into a separate bowl and allow to cool.  Add onions and cook until slightly browned, remove from heat into separate bowl.  Repeat with chard, but cook until just wilted.  Remove pan from heat.  Allow vegetables to cool until just warmer than room temperature.  Squeeze chard to remove excess juice.  Separate leaves slightly.

Pour combined egg/cream (spice) mixture into a 9x9 greased casserole dish.  Season with curry mix and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Once vegetables are cool, carefully distribute them over the surface of the egg mixture, beginning with chard, then brussels sprouts, then onions.  Lightly season with creole mix.  Sprinkle cheese over surface until it is covered.
Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes to brown cheese.   Serve immediately.

 sauteed scallions

 brussels sprouts

 wilted sauteed chard

mixture of manchego and cheddar cheese

 egg/cream mixture

 red sauce (this is a home-canned version I picked up at the Farmer's Market)

 I layered the parmesan cheese over the egg custard prior to adding the vegetables

 adding the vegetables so they are evenly distributed throughout the casserole

 top with cheese mixture

grate a small amount of nutmeg over the cheese.

Nutmeg adds a wonderful aromatic element to the dish!

Heirloom tomato:  Yummy!

I never know how to cut one of these "curled up" tomatoes

I cut it into "sections", drizzled it with a small amount of lemony olive oil

added a sprinkle of sea salt, pepper, and some freshly chopped Italian parsley from the garden

Delicious!

Lamb chops were drizzled with a small amount of balsamic vinegar and a bit of lemon pepper dry rub,

then cooked on medium-high heat (pan seared) for about 3 minutes/side.  

Serve immediately.

*With the exception of the cheeses, all the fresh food came from my fresh delivery from Greenling.

Got Leftover Lamb? Make Lamb Hash

Dice 4 small gold potatoes and one small sweet onion.  Heat up a non-stick pan and add some Olive Oil, about 2T and spread it around the pan with a spoon.  Add the potatoes and cook, stirring often to prevent too much browning.  When you see that they are starting to brown, add the diced onion in the middle and cook.  If everything in the pan is not coated with olive oil, add a bit more.  Once the onions begin to cook, you can mix them with the potatoes, stirring often, so that nothing gets too brown.

One piece of leftover lamb (it was about a 5" square) - cut up

Green beans - cook in the microwave with some water, and steam them for about 3 minutes to get them to soften up

The potatoes are onions are looking pretty good at this point.  The potatoes should be fork tender.

After you cut up all of the lamb, coat with some flour and mix it up so it is everywhere.  You will make a mixture in a cup of 2 T flour and 1 cup of water.  Put your hand over the top of the glass or cover with Glad Press n'Seal wrap, and shake it up, to mix up the flour and water.  Add the green beans and floured lamb to the skillet of onions and potatoes.  Then add the flour and water mixture.  Stir to blend and when the lamb is all warmed up - dinner is ready!

Lamb Hash - all in one dinner

Lamb Chops: The Ultimate Fast Food

 There is a wonderful purveyor of lamb at the Pearl Farmer's Market here in San Antonio.  We are so fortunate!  The lamb is the best I've ever had.
Tonight's dinner used lamb, arugula, onions, and I used some products from a new purveyor at the Pearl Market, Oil Fusion, makers of balsamic vinegars, truffle oil, and more.

Pan-seared Lamb Chops:
4 lamb chops, brought out of the refrigerator and close to room temp
Royer's lemon-pepper dry rub
Oil Fusion blackberry balsamic vinegar
grapeseed oil

In a small sealable container, place 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil.  Shake well to emulsify.

Pour over chops, coating on both sides.

 Sprinkle a generous amount of lemon-pepper rub, or any sort of dry rub, on chops.  The dry rub isn't necessary to achieve great flavor.  I added a small sprinkle of homemade curry rub, too.

Heat a pan on medium-high heat.  Add a small amount of grapeseed oil.  Add chops.  Cook for approximately 3.5 minutes on both sides.  Remove from heat and allow to rest for a few minutes prior to serving.

Sliced onions were tossed with a small amount of truffle-infused olive oil,

sauteed until slightly caramelized, and set aside to cool . 

Arugula was tossed with a vinaigrette composed of more blackberry balsamic vinegar,

grapeseed oil, a dash of curry mixture, and pepper.

Arugula was plated, then topped with onions

A delicious meal, easily cooked in less than 15 minutes!

Mediterranean Calabacita

Tonight's dinner came together as the result of a happy accident:  I pulled a pound of ground lamb out of the freezer thinking I had ground beef.  Once I discovered my error, I altered my plans for the meal.  We ended up, rather than the traditional Hispanic calabacita dish, having a lamb-version with a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern flair.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground lamb, browned in a tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2-3 mild roasted green chilies (or one can mild green chilies) chopped
pinch saffron, optional
1-2 Tablespoons curry spice mix
1 tsp freshly ground allspice (or purchased ground allspice)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 squash, sliced crosswise (I used 1 zuchini and 1 pattypan squash)

Heat olive oil in pan, then toss in the chopped garlic.  Saute until aromatic, then add the ground lamb.
Once the lamb is mostly browned, add chopped onions and cook until onion is translucent.  Grate allspice over mixture with a zester, or add previously milled allspice, along with mixed curry spices and saffron threads, if using.  Salt and pepper.  Add squash and cook until tender.  Add chilies and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes on low.

zesting the allspice using a carpenter's rasp (a wonderful kitchen tool!) over the browning lamb

chopping the two types squash

chopped green chilies

add the onion

add spices, including saffron threads (pictured between my fingers)

squash and tomatoes are added

The meal included reheated corn tortillas leftover from last night's meal,

goat cheese (served in the tortilla with the lamb mixture, eaten like a soft taco)

Italian cucumbers seasoned with rice vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper, 

and Natalie's kale, sauteed with chopped garlic and fresh lemon juice.

This meal got a big thumbs-up from the family.  Super easy to prepare, and the leftovers will be oh-so-good tomorrow for my lunch!  Enjoy!  Try it and let me know what you think!

Note:  I may have mentioned this before, but if not, now is a good time to talk about the freshness of spices in your pantry.  How long has it been since you changed out your spices?  Huh?  If you don't know the answer, it is time to get rid of all your spices and purchase small amounts of fresh spice.

My advice is to stop buying spice in bottles in the spice section of the store and find someplace that carries spice in bulk containers. Places with bulk spices turn over their merchandise rapidly.  Therefore, the spices are much fresher, and you are able to purchase smaller quantities more frequently.  I was reminded of this while cooking dinner because my cardamom had practically no aromatic quality when I opened the container.  Time to get fresher spice!  It makes SO MUCH difference in the outcome of your food.

You can buy a small packet of spice for pennies.  Find a merchant with bulk spice, and your food will taste so much better.

Lamb Chops, Insalada Caprese (with a twist), sauteed chard with onions & garlic

I have a great local source for lamb, and fortunately, everyone in the family loves it.
I will describe the preparation in the order I made it.  First up, Insalada Caprese:

We eat a lot of this in the summer.  I decided to add a new ingredient:  Japanese Eggplant.
Ingredients:
one Japanese eggplant, skin removed and sliced into thin strips, cut in half
heirloom tomatoes (red and green)
fresh basil, stacked, rolled into a cylinder, and sliced crosswise
fresh mozzarella cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
pesto (in this case, store-bought)

This is a Japanese eggplant.  They are long and skinny,

and seem to have less bitter juice than the large ones.

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin, then slice thin strips.  I cut them crosswise to fit into my pan.  Spray a release agent on the eggplant strips and saute them until the flesh becomes slightly transparent.  Mine started to brown quite a bit.  I like them that way.  Eggplants are very good at absorbing oil so I try to watch them carefully as they cook.  I don't like to add much oil to the pan.

eggplant strips after cooking

Slice the tomatoes and set aside the red one.  I have little experience with the green heirloom variety so I wasn't sure if I had unripe green tomatoes (how do you tell??) or if they are just particularly tart.  I wanted to use them so I decided to sautee them on the griddle to mellow their flavor.

aren't they pretty?

They look like a kiwi-tomato hybrid.

Here are slices of the red tomato and mozzarella cheese

this is a stack of basil leaves, rolled into a cylinder,

which makes it easier to slice them crosswise without excessive bruising

all of the ingredients before assembling the salad

starting with a slice of eggplant, folded over, a dollip of pesto,

a slice of mozzarella, basil slices, a tomato slice, then start over

(I'm a little obsessive)

I'm even alternating the red and green tomatoes.

That's just how I roll.

The end result:  a gorgeous salad that tastes as good as it looks.

The eggplant addition was really excellent!

Next up:   Lamb Chops

Ingredients:

8 lamb chops (they are small)

chopped garlic

grapeseed oil (I use this because it has a much higher flash point than olive oil)

balsamic vinegar

apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

tumeric

smoked paprika

Place lamb chops in a pan or bowl.

Chop the garlic and place it in a small container that can be used for emulsifying dressing and marinade.  I added approximately 4 Tablespoons grapeseed oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, a dash of salt and pepper, a couple dashes each of tumeric and smoked paprika.  Shake the mixture to combine well.  Spoon over lamb chops, turning the chops frequently to assure good coverage of the marinade, and allow to sit at room temperature until ready to cook.

While these were marinating, I chopped half an onion, a shallot, and added the remainder of chopped garlic to a small bowl.  These will be used in the chard dish.  I washed and prepped the swiss chard yesterday and had it in a ziploc bag.  Here's a couple of pointers about prepping chard:

The stalks are crunchy and sometimes a bit "woody".  I usually remove the large central vein

Fold it to one side so the central vein is exposed

slice just next to the vein with a knife

This is what you have left!  Cut it crosswise into large pieces

If possible, spin it to remove excess moisture

store it with a folded paper towel in the bag to absorb moisture

Sorry, I digressed.  The chard was already prepped so that was one less step I had this evening. 

All my ingredients were placed near the stove.  

I wanted to cook the lamb first, then place it on a platter in a 225' oven to rest while the chard was prepared.

Lamb chops are very small so they don't need to cook long.  I think they are best on the grill, but since it is rainy and I'm too lazy to deal with firewood, I'm cooking on the stove.  No problem!  The main thing is: hot and fast.

I used a griddle this evening, but any good pan will do just fine.  My pan was a non-stick surface so I put a very small amount of grapeseed oil in it and allowed it to get really hot before placing the chops, 4 at a time, on the pan.  The lamb was cooked for 2.5 minutes per side!  See?  Really fast!

Here is my little cup (with lid) I used to mix the marinade.

Lamb chops in background.

Lamb chops were turned several times to assure a good coating of the marinade

The first set of chops hits the griddle

(can you see I am using the same one that was used for the eggplant and tomatoes?)

Less clean-up!

Here they are, resting in the oven until the meal is ready to be served.

Sauteed Chard:

7-8 large chard leaves

garlic, chopped

onion, chopped

shallot, chopped

olive oil

In a large wok, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add onions and shallots and cook until transparent, then add garlic.  Cook for one minute, then add all the chard.  It looks overwhelming at first.  Turn frequently with tongs and chard will begin to wilt.  You may want to cover for a couple of minutes to allow some steam to assist with the wilting.

Remove from wok.  Garnish with slivered almonds, if desired.

Here is our meal!  

I served mixed berries for dessert.

Note the dog-dish on the table (lower right)

She gets served dinner on the floor next to the table while we eat.

I guess everyone, dog included, likes to socialize during a meal!