This was in the freezer and leftover from Pesach.
Grilled lamb roast
1 stalk rosemary, de-stemmed, and cut up a little with kitchen shears
3 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp fresh ground pepper
4 tbsp minced garlic
2-1lb lamb roasts
aluminum foil
in a small bowl, muddle/mix rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic with a spoon. Roll out a large piece of foil, place lamb on top. Rub and cake lamb with seasoning mix, and wrap up. Put in the fridge for about 30 min, or until ready to grill. Heat grill to about 350. Put lamb on for about 13 minutes each on top and bottom. Remove pack from grill and remove each piece and replace on grill (sans foil). Grill 10 min each top and bottom, the meat should be well carmelized when done. Check with a meat therm if you want, but do it slightly rare, and let sit for about 10 min before cutting.
Lets just say with all the crawfish we ate, there was still barely any lamb left.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Oyster Po'boys
At our boil yesterday, we also got a sack of oysters. accompanied with BBQ, crawfish, and lots of fiery corn and potatoes, the sack of oysters still had a few leftovers. We shucked the oysters, washed them, put them in a little water, and put them in the fridge. SO, what do you do with a couple dozen raw oysters? you FRY em. This recipe is how to make a dressed po-boy.
Oyster Po'Boy - attempt #1
2 dozen raw oysters
2 c flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp creole mustard (optional)
oil for frying
slap ya mamma (or another good cajun seasoning)
shredded lettuce
remoulade sauce (you can get it in the jar or fresh at some krogers or central market)
tomato slices
soft, crusty french bread rolls (about 12" long each)
pickle slices
to set up you need 5 stations - fry station (your frypan), egg station, flour station, a drain station (cover a large plate with paper towels), and an assembly station.
first, set your oil to warm. In a shallow pan, add about 1" of veg oil. You want to get it to about 350, but also where a wooden spoon will bubble a little. You can adjust this after the first batch of oysters if needed. Wrap your bread in foil and put in the oven. Warm at a preheated 350 for about 5 min, then shut off and keep oven closed till ready.
Prep your egg and flour station. Beat the eggs in a bowl with creole mustard or a couple shakes of seasoning. Put flour in another bowl with a couple tsp of the seasoning. Rinse and drain your oysters well.
To fry. Do this in batches of about 4 or 5 till you get the hang of it. Dip oysters in egg, then in flour till coated, one at a time. Gently drop in hot oil and fry for about 3 min, flip, and fry for abot 3 more min. Oyster batter will turn a light golden, but be careful not to cook them too much or they will get dry and nastly. Set on paper towels to drain as they finish.
To assemble. Slice open bread, scooping out some of the inner part if needed. Spread remoulade on both top and bottom. Add a layer of oysters, top with lettuce, tomato, and pickles. Serve with a little extra remoulade on the side and lots of napkins. OMG MMM
(pics will be up tomorrow)
Oyster Po'Boy - attempt #1
2 dozen raw oysters
2 c flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp creole mustard (optional)
oil for frying
slap ya mamma (or another good cajun seasoning)
shredded lettuce
remoulade sauce (you can get it in the jar or fresh at some krogers or central market)
tomato slices
soft, crusty french bread rolls (about 12" long each)
pickle slices
to set up you need 5 stations - fry station (your frypan), egg station, flour station, a drain station (cover a large plate with paper towels), and an assembly station.
first, set your oil to warm. In a shallow pan, add about 1" of veg oil. You want to get it to about 350, but also where a wooden spoon will bubble a little. You can adjust this after the first batch of oysters if needed. Wrap your bread in foil and put in the oven. Warm at a preheated 350 for about 5 min, then shut off and keep oven closed till ready.
Prep your egg and flour station. Beat the eggs in a bowl with creole mustard or a couple shakes of seasoning. Put flour in another bowl with a couple tsp of the seasoning. Rinse and drain your oysters well.
To fry. Do this in batches of about 4 or 5 till you get the hang of it. Dip oysters in egg, then in flour till coated, one at a time. Gently drop in hot oil and fry for about 3 min, flip, and fry for abot 3 more min. Oyster batter will turn a light golden, but be careful not to cook them too much or they will get dry and nastly. Set on paper towels to drain as they finish.
To assemble. Slice open bread, scooping out some of the inner part if needed. Spread remoulade on both top and bottom. Add a layer of oysters, top with lettuce, tomato, and pickles. Serve with a little extra remoulade on the side and lots of napkins. OMG MMM
(pics will be up tomorrow)
an introduction on how to make crawfish.
I was fortunate enough to marry some nice man from New Orleans 4 years ago. One of the things that becomes tradition once summer hits is our crawfish boils.
To start
Go to your local fishmart and buy a sack of crawfish - that's about 30 lbs. Don't forget to pick up a big bag of boil - about a 1lb r two. This makes about 3 or 4 pots of crawfish... enough to feed 20 or so folks. This may not look like a huge amount, but when you add beer, corn, and potatoes, it's just the perfect amount for a crowd. Make sure you have an OUTDOOR boiler and basket. For the love of all that is holy, don't ever do this inside. Take a table outside and either cover with a plastic table cloth that you are not at all fond of, or about 10 old copies of the Houston press.
Ingredients
1 sack crawfish
2 lbs butter (bout 8 sticks)
10 heads of garlic
5+ lbs of red potatoes. Get the SMALLEST ones you can find (they cook faster)
20+ half ears of corn
at least 6 lemons, cut into 8ths
salt. lots of salt.
a plastic baby pool
a broom handle
some potholders
newspaper
a large country crock container or something of the like (unless you are brave and plan to scoop crawfish with your hands)
extras - anouille 5 or so links cut into 2" pieces (or any sausage really), baby carrots (2 lbs), mushrooms (at least 2 lbs...) everyone eats them! I've also known people to toss in baby corn, onion (halved- about 1 per batch), and whatever else could be boiled.
set up. This is best to do on a driveway or someplace you can hose off. Set up a large table (or a card table), cover with newspaper or tablecloth. We hold everything down with our beer till the first batch of corn and potatoes are done. Take your time... to do this right and boil the whole sack will take a couple of hours. Manning the boiler is hot! Set up a couple of trash cans around the table for people to toss the heads into. I know some people will use foam takeout boxes to divide the trash if there are more people than table space.
First - purge the crawfish. Hose of the sack pretty well. Cut open your sack, and dump crawfish into the plastic baby pool. Dump lots and lots of salt onto the crawfish, and fill baby pool with water. take your hand and stir the crawfish. be brave, as long as you are moving, noone will pinch you. take a moment to pick out any dead crawfish... you don't want to eat them! Let the crawfish sit for about 20 minutes, and dump most of the water out. repeat while first batch of water is boiling.
the first boil
fill the pot about halfway with water. toss the potatoes in the basket along with 2 sticks butter, and 2 heads garlic (broken up). Bring the pot to boil on the propane burner (this takes about 20 or so minutes), put in about 1/3 the bag of seasoning, 1/3 of the corn, and put the lid back on. boil for about 10-20 minutes, bring up the basket. keep checking every 10 minutes till the potatoes are done. pull basket with broom handle and a potholder, shake corn and potatoes onto the table. Don't be too aggressive or the goodies will end up on the floor.
Batch 1
set basket on the ground. add more corn to the basket and 1/3 of your extras (mmmm mushrooms and andouille!). add another couple heads of garlic and about 2 lemons worth of wedges. Scoop enough angry crawfish into the basket to fill it 1/3 of the way, and top with a couple sticks of butter. submerge basket and put on lid... crawfish should be done in 10-15 minutes. pull basket, let it drip for a sec, and then dump basket contents onto table.
repeat till all the crawfish are gone! add a little more seasoning if you can bear it after the second load. If you made the first batch so hot noone can stand it, go dump out half of your water into the drain of your annoying neighbors (or the grate in the middle of your parking lot - it will seriously flush the drain!), and fill back up to half water. add butter and lemons and everything again.
The leftovers. There are always leftovers at a good boil. This is not your fault, but it is better to have too much than too little. Pick a friend that is too full, and shuck as many crawfish as you can into a bag. Use these leftover tails in soups, in omlettes, or in etoufee. HOWEVER, if you wait till tomorrow and try to shuck, it won't work as well. Crawfish are OK as leftovers all together, but you cant really do much besides eat them traditionally. Its a pain to do the day after... its easier to do when your face and hands are already burning.
The leftover garlic. This stuff is not to be underestimated! Press about a head of the leftover garlic into a small tupperware. add a little paprika, cayenne, and about 1.5 c mayo. VOILA! Spicy garlic mayo that tastes incredible on leftover crawfish po'boys.
The leftover potatoes. Whip up with a few cloves of the boiled garlic and onion for some killer garlic mashed potatoes.
To start
Go to your local fishmart and buy a sack of crawfish - that's about 30 lbs. Don't forget to pick up a big bag of boil - about a 1lb r two. This makes about 3 or 4 pots of crawfish... enough to feed 20 or so folks. This may not look like a huge amount, but when you add beer, corn, and potatoes, it's just the perfect amount for a crowd. Make sure you have an OUTDOOR boiler and basket. For the love of all that is holy, don't ever do this inside. Take a table outside and either cover with a plastic table cloth that you are not at all fond of, or about 10 old copies of the Houston press.
Ingredients
1 sack crawfish
2 lbs butter (bout 8 sticks)
10 heads of garlic
5+ lbs of red potatoes. Get the SMALLEST ones you can find (they cook faster)
20+ half ears of corn
at least 6 lemons, cut into 8ths
salt. lots of salt.
a plastic baby pool
a broom handle
some potholders
newspaper
a large country crock container or something of the like (unless you are brave and plan to scoop crawfish with your hands)
extras - anouille 5 or so links cut into 2" pieces (or any sausage really), baby carrots (2 lbs), mushrooms (at least 2 lbs...) everyone eats them! I've also known people to toss in baby corn, onion (halved- about 1 per batch), and whatever else could be boiled.
set up. This is best to do on a driveway or someplace you can hose off. Set up a large table (or a card table), cover with newspaper or tablecloth. We hold everything down with our beer till the first batch of corn and potatoes are done. Take your time... to do this right and boil the whole sack will take a couple of hours. Manning the boiler is hot! Set up a couple of trash cans around the table for people to toss the heads into. I know some people will use foam takeout boxes to divide the trash if there are more people than table space.
First - purge the crawfish. Hose of the sack pretty well. Cut open your sack, and dump crawfish into the plastic baby pool. Dump lots and lots of salt onto the crawfish, and fill baby pool with water. take your hand and stir the crawfish. be brave, as long as you are moving, noone will pinch you. take a moment to pick out any dead crawfish... you don't want to eat them! Let the crawfish sit for about 20 minutes, and dump most of the water out. repeat while first batch of water is boiling.
the first boil
fill the pot about halfway with water. toss the potatoes in the basket along with 2 sticks butter, and 2 heads garlic (broken up). Bring the pot to boil on the propane burner (this takes about 20 or so minutes), put in about 1/3 the bag of seasoning, 1/3 of the corn, and put the lid back on. boil for about 10-20 minutes, bring up the basket. keep checking every 10 minutes till the potatoes are done. pull basket with broom handle and a potholder, shake corn and potatoes onto the table. Don't be too aggressive or the goodies will end up on the floor.
Batch 1
set basket on the ground. add more corn to the basket and 1/3 of your extras (mmmm mushrooms and andouille!). add another couple heads of garlic and about 2 lemons worth of wedges. Scoop enough angry crawfish into the basket to fill it 1/3 of the way, and top with a couple sticks of butter. submerge basket and put on lid... crawfish should be done in 10-15 minutes. pull basket, let it drip for a sec, and then dump basket contents onto table.
repeat till all the crawfish are gone! add a little more seasoning if you can bear it after the second load. If you made the first batch so hot noone can stand it, go dump out half of your water into the drain of your annoying neighbors (or the grate in the middle of your parking lot - it will seriously flush the drain!), and fill back up to half water. add butter and lemons and everything again.
The leftovers. There are always leftovers at a good boil. This is not your fault, but it is better to have too much than too little. Pick a friend that is too full, and shuck as many crawfish as you can into a bag. Use these leftover tails in soups, in omlettes, or in etoufee. HOWEVER, if you wait till tomorrow and try to shuck, it won't work as well. Crawfish are OK as leftovers all together, but you cant really do much besides eat them traditionally. Its a pain to do the day after... its easier to do when your face and hands are already burning.
The leftover garlic. This stuff is not to be underestimated! Press about a head of the leftover garlic into a small tupperware. add a little paprika, cayenne, and about 1.5 c mayo. VOILA! Spicy garlic mayo that tastes incredible on leftover crawfish po'boys.
The leftover potatoes. Whip up with a few cloves of the boiled garlic and onion for some killer garlic mashed potatoes.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Soup...
Crockpot-Sarah-is-sick-and-needs-minestrone Soup
Olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled, halved (lengthwise), and then sliced into chunky bits
1 cloves garlic, sliced
4 medium tomatoes, peeled(optional) and chopped (roma tastes best, canned are fine)
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
6 cups stock. Either chicken or veggie, I always use veg.
Salt and peppa
2 yellow squash, diced
2 zucchini, diced
½ c barley
2 colored peppers (not green, think yellow orange, red), roasted in the broiler, then cored, seeded, and cut into strips (you can be lazy and use the stuff in the jar too)
a blop of pesto if you got it
Fresh parmesean. You want the good stuff. Grate about ¼- ½ c
Chopped fresh basil (like 6 leaves)
Carmelize the onion lightly in a small saucepan in 2 tbsp olive oil for a couple minutes. Add celery, carrots and garlic. Toss everything in the crockpot, add a couple shakes of Italian seasoning if you like. Add everything else, put crockpot on low, go to work. When you get home, taste, adjust seasoning if necessary. serve with cheese and a little more chopped basil.
Olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled, halved (lengthwise), and then sliced into chunky bits
1 cloves garlic, sliced
4 medium tomatoes, peeled(optional) and chopped (roma tastes best, canned are fine)
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
6 cups stock. Either chicken or veggie, I always use veg.
Salt and peppa
2 yellow squash, diced
2 zucchini, diced
½ c barley
2 colored peppers (not green, think yellow orange, red), roasted in the broiler, then cored, seeded, and cut into strips (you can be lazy and use the stuff in the jar too)
a blop of pesto if you got it
Fresh parmesean. You want the good stuff. Grate about ¼- ½ c
Chopped fresh basil (like 6 leaves)
Carmelize the onion lightly in a small saucepan in 2 tbsp olive oil for a couple minutes. Add celery, carrots and garlic. Toss everything in the crockpot, add a couple shakes of Italian seasoning if you like. Add everything else, put crockpot on low, go to work. When you get home, taste, adjust seasoning if necessary. serve with cheese and a little more chopped basil.
End of the Semester Leftover Curry Noodles
So, this is the first meal i've made in a couple weeks. really the first that has not involved canned tuna, ramen noodle pho packets, or takeout. I had a bunch of still-good veggies leftover in the fridge, so i took a stab at dinner, and it turned out fabulous. MMMM
Veggie Yellow Curry Noodles
about 7 oz of udon noodles (linguine will work too, just snap it in half)
1/2 can coconut milk
3 tbsp or so yellow curry paste
1 c shredded cabbage
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced or juillined (or about 10 baby carrots)
2 green onions, sliced
10 mushrooms, sliced
1/3 or so yellow onion, sliced
2 tbsp or so honey
boil noodles as directed, strain, and rinse really thoroughly with cold water. In a large, seperate saucepan, combine a little olive oil, the onions (both kinds) and the mushrooms, and stir fry till the onions soften. add carrots, a tbsp more of oil, curry paste, cabbage, coconut milk, and honey, and give it a good stir. when it starts to simmer, taste for heat and sweetness (you want this a little sweet and pretty spicy, remember you are dilluting this with noodles), adjust if necessicary. Stir in noodles, and bring back to a slight simmer. taste, adjust if needed, and serve hot. For a tasty variation, stir in some boiled shrimp, tofu, or even some sliced hardboiled egg at the time of the carrots.
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