Lamb Stew with Root Vegetables

Shorter days, cooler nights - both increase my yearnings for comfort food. This weekend I craved stew, something I rarely make. I knew I wanted the stew to include carrots and parsnips, two root vegetables which become incredible sweet when slowly roasted. The rest of the recipe was a big question mark. I turned to a number of my cooking "bibles." The classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a slim volume from Le Cordon Bleu that my daughter gave me as a gift after a summer in Paris, and a peek at Patricia Wells' Vegetable Harvest. Armed with a few ideas, and techniques I headed to the market.

The first question was beef or lamb. The "stew" beef was cheaper, $5.99 per pound, but had a lot of fat and gristle marbled throughout. The stew meat cut from the round was leaner, but I knew it would need a long, slow cooking, to yield a tender stew. The lamb stew meat was some where in between the two cuts of beef as far as leanness, but at $9.99 per pound was clearly a more indulgent choice. Cut from the top of the leg, I knew it would require a bit of prep work, but not need a long cooking to produce a tender stew.

Well, the results are in, and this lamb stew is a flavorful, easy and satisfying dish.

Lamb Stew with Root Vegetables (4 servings)

1.5 lbs. lamb stew meat (from leg or shoulder). Remove silver membrane and extra fat. Cut into 1 inch square cubes.

1 large onion, sliced thin
1 can whole peeled tomatoes
4 - 5 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch slices
2 large parsnips, peeled and cut into 2 inch slices

2 - 3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 c. red wine
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1 bay leaf

1, 8 oz. package white button mushrooms
1, 8 oz package crimini mushrooms
salt
pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a medium fry pan, heat 2 tbsp. olive oil. Add lamb cubes in batches and brown on all sides. As cooked, transfer lamb to dutch oven. When all of the lamb is browned and in the dutch oven, season with salt & pepper. Dust lamb with flour and stir to coat. Place pot in oven, uncovered, and cook approximately 5 minutes, until floured lamb pieces are lightly brown. While lamb is browning in oven, add sliced onion and minced garlic to fry pan and saute. Add additional olive oil if necessary. Cook onions until softened and beginning to brown. Add onions, wine, cut carrots and parsnips to dutch oven. Cover and return to oven. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Add canned tomatoes and all juices to fry pan. Add sugar. Break-up tomatoes with spoor as they cook. Simmer on stove until reduced by 1/3, approximately 30 minutes. Add thickened tomatoes to dutch oven. Continue to cook covered in oven for approximately 1 additional hour.

Clean mushrooms. Cut in half or fourths. Add to stew in dutch oven and cook for an additional half hour.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. The stew may be cooled overnight or served right away. Serve with mashed potatoes, buttered noodles, or rice.

Grilled Scallops on a Salad of Baby Spinach.

This is one of my favorite quick meals. I first made it for some friends. We were having a relaxing evening around the fire, and I wanted something quick that we could easily eat while sitting in the living room. The great thing about scallops: they only take 5 minutes to make. I usually have a bag of frozen scallops in the house, and though force thawing under cold water isn't recommended, I've had good success with that method. Key is to put the thawed scallops on paper towels to dry prior to sauteing. Sea scallops are large and rich, so I find three to four per person is sufficient.

Grilled Scallops on a Salad of Baby Spinach - serves 4

2 Tbsps. Pine Nuts
1 dozen grape tomatoes
baby spinach - approximately 3/4 cup per plate

1 lb. sea scallops
1 tbsp. olive oil, or more if needed.
Scant 1/4 c. white wine or dry vermouth
juice of 1/2 lemon

Toast pine nuts in a small dry skillet set over medium heat, approximately 5 minutes.
Slice grape tomatoes in half lengthwise.
Evenly distribute spinach, sliced tomatoes and pine nuts among 4 plates.

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in medium skillet. Add scallops and cook for 2 minutes without disturbing, or until bottom edges of scallops turn white. Turn scallops over and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until lightly browned but still translucent in the middle. Plate scallops atop spinach salad.

Pour off all but 1 tbsp. of olive oil in pan. Add wine or vermouth, and simmer while scrapping off any brown bits stuck to bottom of pan. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste. Spoon hot dressing over scallop salad.

Spicy "Szechuan" Fried Shrimp & other Comfort Food

I was home alone last night, and decided to make food which satisfied all of my cravings! A true indulgence. It was cold out, and I wanted comfort food and something spicy. The result was a multi-cultural meal of chickpeas with spinach, and my rift on szechuan pepper and salt shrimp.

I didn't have the right spices on hand for true szechuan shrimp, but knew I could satisfy my flavor cravings with a blend of cayene pepper, curry powder, garlic and salt. Success and easy to boot. Best of all, fresh shrimp were on sale, so for $3.50 I had a wonderful meal.

Spicy "Szechuan" Fried Shrimp

8 - 10 fresh shrimp, devined, with shells left on. Pat dry before proceeding.

In a ziplock bag combine:

1 tbsp. cayene pepper
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt.
1/4 tsp. ginger powder

Combine well and taste. Adjust seasonings as necessary. Add dried shrimp to ziplock bag and shake to coat.

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in medium skillet. Add shrimp and cook, approximately 1 minute per side, until shrimp are pink.

Serve with rice, plenty of beer and napkins.

Chickpeas with Spinah.

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed.
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced.
1/3 c. water
2 c. baby spinach
pinch of kosher salt.
1 tbsp olive oil.

Heat oil in a medium sauce pan. Add shallot and garlic, saute just until tender. Add chickpeas, stir to lightly coat with oil. Add 1/3 c. water and baby spinach. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until all ingredients have heated through and the spinach is wilted.