Pasta with Lamb-Tomato Sauce

Curry flavored pasta with a ground lamb-tomato-onion-carrot-squash-basil sauce. There were some chili flakes in there too. Lamb, carrots, and onion from the farmers market, canned tomato from the West Side food co-op, Italian heirloom squash and basil from the garden, and homemade pasta.

Short posts lately, and not too many this week either. It will be the trend for the next few weeks while The CFT relocates. Not sure whether it's a move up, down, or sideways, but the new place will be mine, complete with peaches, black walnuts (at least for the remainder of the season), mint, concord grapes (that will be replaced with a more worthy berry), a chicken coop that predates me, and enough work to warrant a 40 yard dumpster (not to worry--I'm saving/repurposing what I can). In the meantime, please bear with me.

Cooking Local and Wild

Braised Lamb Shank with Mint Gemolata and Braising Liquid, Sauteed Wild/Japanese Asparagus, and Ramp Risotto. Two hits, two misses. Shank and risotto, very good. Gemolata and wild asparagus, not so much. The gremolata, shown in progress below, with lemon zest, salt, mint (scavenged from the community garden), and a bit of olive oil was too citrusy. A little less zest and/or more mint and it may have worked.

As for the asparagus, bartered for at the Shaker Square Farmers Market, it wasn't for me. It tasted green and grassy to the point where I wasn't really sure it should be eaten. I had just sauteed it in olive oil with salt and pepper and added a little water to steam it at the end. They weren't to my liking. It may have just been me.

I also picked up the lamb shank and ramps at the Market. The lamb shank, also pictured below, came perfectly trimmed and looked great. First, I seasoned the shank with salt, pepper, and cumin and then browned it in olive oil. Then the shank was removed from the pot and some red wine was added and reduced. After the wine reduced in went a small can of tomatoes that I crushed somewhat with my hands. Once that was at a boil I seasoned with salt and pepper, added the shank back in, and then added some homemade veggie stock to come about halfway up the shank. The pot was then covered and placed in a 325 degree oven for about an hour and a half. After that the shank was removed from the liquid and kept warm in the turned off oven while the sauce was reduced down. Resting under the shank are some of the crushed tomatoes.

The ramp risotto recipe is not too different from this one. I used my usual method, substituting ramp bulbs and shallot for onion in the base saute. I also used the homemade veggie stock in place of the usual chicken stock. All that was was a bunch of old but still okay looking vegetables and mushrooms slowly boiled for about an hour and then strained. At the end I added some butter, cheese, and some chopped ramp tops.

That's it.

The rest of the lamb

Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops with Quinoa and Dwarf Blue Curled Kale (with garlic). I need to work on the crusting technique, so since it's not all sorted out I'll just give a quick narrative of the recipe.

The lamb chop coating was pistachios, fresh garlic, olive oil, cayenne, salt, and pepper. It tasted great, especially with the cayenne, and toasted up well, but didn't properly adhere to the parts of the lamb that were touching the pan, and it didn't survive cutting all that well. As for the pan, a preheated cast iron pan coated with olive oil was placed in a 500 degree oven for the cooking. About 10 min. for rare but warmed through.

If you know a way to get the crust to adhere better I'm all ears. The two things I could think of would be either to let the crust sit on the lamb a while before cooking, and/or dusting the chop with flour before coating. Maybe no olive oil?

For cooking the quinoa I'd suggest checking Google, but I just used two parts water to one part well rinsed quinoa, added a little salt, brought it all to a boil, and simmered covered for 25-30 min.

The kale is my standard kale prep. Rinsed and stemmed kale with roughly chopped garlic into a hot oiled wok. The kale should still be wet. Stir well and add some some water. Once the water is boiled off lower heat and finish cooking to your liking.

That's it for the lamb, but the freezer is not empty yet.

Curried Lamb Chop, Mashed Potatoes, and Yogurt Sauce

They are all curried. Here's how it came together:

Lamb:
Ingredients
- Lamb chops, here a double cut off a (somewhat) frenched rack
- Fenugreek (powder)
- Cumin (powder)
- Curry powder
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
Method:
- Crush the fenugreek and cumin if you need to and combine in a bowl with curry powder, salt, and pepper
- Mix just enough olive oil in with the spices to make a stiff paste
- Rub the paste all over the chop (You can see where I missed a spot in the picture, but generally the paste is pretty sticky and will not fall off the chop if the chop is coated well.)
- While the chop is covered in the spice paste heat an oven safe pan on the stove and preheat the oven to 500 degrees
- When pan is hot coat with olive oil
- Sear chop, starting with the fat side and get each side seared
- Place pan with chop in it in the hot oven for a few minutes (it cooks fast) and cook to your liking
- Let rest

Mashed Curry Potatoes:
Ingredients
- Potatoes (mostly peeled)
- Garlic (peeled cloves)
- Butter
- Milk
- Curry powder
- Parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Boil potatoes in salted water with the garlic
- When potatoes are tender drain and mash potatoes and garlic
- When things are pretty well mashed add some butter, milk, curry, salt, and pepper
- Mix in parsley and adjust seasonings to taste

Yogurt Sauce:
Ingredients
- Yogurt, plain
- Tomato paste
- Curry powder
- Paprika
- Olive Oil
- Parsley, chopped
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Whisk all ingredients together, adjusting each to taste

That's all there is to it. It's my take on lamb curry.