Another day, another dinner

 

Nothing much of interest goes on around here these days. I’m not sure if that means I’m still in the doldrums or if my life is really that dull. But that sense of sameness accounts for my sporadic blog posts. Other than giving you my daily word counts—I am writing a bit each day—or talking about politics, which I’ve forsworn for a bit, though I can hardly contain myself with subjects like Marjorie Taylor Greene, there’s not much left to tell except cooking news.

So tonight I fixed what was billed as a quick lamb ragu. Ragu is simply another way of saying a meat-based sauce, and indeed Jordan presented it to Jacob as like spaghetti with meat sauce. But there were a couple of differences—it was lamb, not beef or pork.

When I moved to Texas, I was astounded that no one eats lamb. Granted, I grew up in an Anglophile household where leg of lamb was a real treat, and I still relish a sandwich of cold, leftover leg of lamb. I’m not sure as a kid we ever had it in any other form, but in the years since I’ve had lamburgers, lamb casseroles, and lamb ragu. I mentioned this particular recipe to Jordan several times, but she always said it sounded too heavy or something. So when she didn’t object this time, I right away bought a pound of ground lamb.

A quick recipe it was not, at least for me. Cooking from a seated position simply takes longer, and it took an hour and a half for me to get the finished ragu to simmering on the hot plate. That includes time to sweep the kitchen floor with my kid-sized broom (so handy from my seated walker)—I’m a messy cook. And time to do the dishes and clean up my tiny kitchen. There was enough chopping of garlic and onion to take me a while.

At any rate, I had the ragu simmering on the stove and the kitchen cleaned up in time for a quiet glass of wine while I watched the news. We dined about seven, and I served the ragu on soft polenta. It takes polenta a while to set up, and Jordan thought I got it too runny. But by the time it sat a few minutes and then the plates were served, it was just about right.

This was a New York Times recipe, so I can’t directly share it. But you should be able to find it here: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020022-quick-lamb-ragu One thing that struck me—other than salt and pepper, there were no spices. But the one thing that many will be tempted to leave out and shouldn’t is two anchovy filets. Oh, go ahead use the whole tiny can—you’ll never know they’re in the dish, but they add great depth of flavor.

In my book, this was a winner. I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

Meat and Potatoes--on the go

A friend and neighbor recently had a hip replacement, and during his early convalescence, his wife wore herself ragged caring for him and sleeping on the couch so she could hear if he needed something at night. Friends brought food, and I volunteered to supply dinner one night. By that time, Joe was well enough—dressed and walking around—that they insisted I stay and share the meal with them. So, after ascertaining that they were lamb eaters (not everyone in Texas is), I fixed a lamb meatloaf. I grew up on lamb and love it, especially a cold roast lamb sandwich the next day. This meatloaf makes equally good sandwiches. With all courtesy and acknowledgement to the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen Web site, I present the recipe here. It’s from The Nero Wolfe Cookbook (1975). If you haven’t read Rex Stout’s Nero Wolf novels you should—Wolfe was a gourmand who planned meals with his chef, Fritz, and considered murder a distraction from life’s primary purpose—eating good food.

Here’s the recipe:

1-1/2 lbs. ground lamb (fortunately I live near a wonderful gourmet market that always has ground lamb; if not, you can ask the butcher to grind it from cheaper cuts but not the leg; my mom would have ground it at home—having Dad operate the grinder—but I don’t have a grinder.)

1//2 lb. ground pork (not sure why that is there, since lamb has enough fat on its own, but I didn’t quarrel)

2/3 c. bread crumbs
¼ c. chopped parsley
¼ c. chopped shallots
½ tsp. dried basil (I didn’t have any so defrosted a pesto cube and threw it in)
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
½ c. grated Parmesan
½ c. dry white wine
½ c. melted butter

I bought the lamb and pork on a Thursday but wasn’t slated to serve the meatloaf until the following Wed., so of course I planned to freeze the meat. Then it dawned on me that since I was cooking that evening for my kids’ arrival, I should go ahead and make the meatloaf and then freeze it. Worked fine.

Combine lamb, pork, eggs, bread crumbs (homemade in a processor is fine—you can also do the parsley and shallots in the processor), salt, pepper, cheese, and wine. Wash your hands carefully, dig in, and mix thoroughly. Shape in an oval loaf.
Brush loaf with melted butter (I forgot to do this, didn’t miss it at all). Bake on a rack in a shallow baking pan—you need the rack so the fat can drip off the lamb. Place in oven pre-heated to 350. Bake 1-1/2 hours. Let stand before slicing.

To go with this, I experimented with a potato trick I found on Pinterest:

Peel one raw russet or Idaho potato per person and thinly slice almost but not all the way through—hard to do and I cut through a couple of times. Drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. You can add garlic powder, or as I did, some herbal seasoning. Bake at 425 for 40 min. The potatoes come out beautifully golden and crusty. When Mary took the last bite, an end piece, she said, “This is going to be noisy but so delicious.”

To do these two dishes simultaneously, you really need two ovens because of the varying temperatures. At 350, potatoes don’t brown; at 425 meatloaf dries out.

I served a salad that night, but here’s the dish I’d round that meal out with:

Sauteed zucchini

Shred about one small zucchini per person.
Melt 2 parts butter to one part olive oil in skillet—go light because you don’t want a greasy vegetable when it should be crisp.
Sauté minced shallots or scallions until soft; then add grated zucchini.
Season with salt and pepper. I didn’t do this but I think a hint of lemon would have been the perfect final addition.
Optional: stir in some crème fraiche or heavy cream and simmer until absorbed—but who needs the calories? Besides, I liked the crisp cleanness of the zucchini.
This is a variation of a Julia Child recipe.

 Enjoy a hearty meal…and love those leftovers.