Thursday, December 16, 2010

ABT

Anything but turkey.


I’ve been doing a lot of recipe testing this week (for that book I’m collaborating on) so it’s been a bit like Thanksgiving around here. Translated, that means a lot of poultry, as in a great big roasted turkey. Now this would be great if I still had a houseful of kids but since it’s only Henry and me …. well not so much. As good as this recipe (with its accompanying gravy) was, I’m pretty sick of the stuff. Suffice it to say, I will not be making turkey on Christmas Day.

Yesterday I decided that I couldn’t face it once again for dinner. I hit the gym, then stopped at Whole Paycheck Foods on the way home to pick up something for dinner. It was cold, the streets were supposed to ice up later and something braised and comforting was on my radar screen. I was also feeling virtuous (since I had worked out), so I figured red meat or an extra fat gram or two wouldn’t kill me.

I ended up with lamb shanks. They didn’t break the bank and I knew they would fill the house with a lovely smell and a savory aroma. It was early enough in the day that I could set them on the stove and slowly cook them for a few hours until they were meltingly tender and infused with flavor.


Once home, I thought about unearthing a recipe, but I was too lazy. I just winged it. Here is the result, and it was delicious.  I served it on a lovely bed of cannellini beans, lightly tossed with good extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice and chopped rosemary, then seasoned with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

LIZ'S LAMB SHANKS

4 lamb shanks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, cut into small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, cut into small dice
1 stalk celery, cut into small dice
1 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (San Marzanos preferred)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 fresh bay leaf
2 cups beef stock
½ cup pitted and chopped Kalamata olives
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley, for garnish

Pat lamb shanks dry. Heat oil in a large sauté pan or dutch oven and add shanks. Brown on both sides until golden. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium-high, add diced onion to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes. Add garlic, carrot and celery and continue to cook until vegetables are just tender, another five minutes or so.

Pour wine into pan and deglaze over high heat. Stir in tomato paste and diced tomatoes with their juice. Bring to a boil then add vinegar and herbs. Add stock and browned lamb shanks. Season with salt and pepper. Once mixture boils, reduce heat, cover and simmer over very low heat for about three hours, or until meat is very tender and almost falling off the bones.

Just before serving, remove herb stems and stir in the Kalamata olives. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve the lamb shanks over a bed of white beans, mashed potatoes or polenta, topped with plenty of the sauce and a sprinkling of chopped Italian parsley. A bottle of good red wine served with this wouldn’t be a bad thing either!

Serves 4








Note: I hate it when I look at a cookbook and the photos don't match the description of the recipe.  Like maybe they have added a garnish or something to make it look really good and there is no mention of it in the directions.  It really pisses me off.  So in the interest of full disclosure, I made this with only two lamb shanks as pictured (I mean, only two of us live in this house these days, right?)  Nonetheless, the proportions I gave you in this recipe are enough for four shanks. 

Henry, I hope you like leftovers, because you get to eat this again tonight. At least it isn’t turkey!

Kotatsu

17 desember 2010, jumat

Dah 2 hari kemarin dinginnya ampun2an deh, musim dingin dimulai dah. Ah, teringat kampung halaman yang senantiasa menerima kehangatan matahari, kalo ga hujan lhooo..jadi kepingin banget mudik dah selama musim dingin nih.

Kemarin siang aja, suhu cuman 5 derajat lho, padahal ada matahari, tapi anginnya itu kenceng banget, ga brani keluar rumah, ngumpet seharian di rumah bareng si kecil. Mei terpaksa mesti berangkat sekolah dengan segala perlengkapan perang, kayak jaket tebal, sarung tangan, topi sekolah, n kairo mini-semacam kantong yg bisa menghangatkan tangan.

So, hari ini diputuskan mengeluarkan kotatsu, yaitu meja yg dibawahnya ada mesin penghangat, tinggal colok listrik, jadi kalo kita duduk, kaki ngelonjor di bawah meja itu, berasa hangattttt....kaki hangat, badan jadi hangat juga kan...mmm enak banget kalo bisa bo2an di bawah kotatsu ini, tapi katanya si ga boleh lho..gw juga ga tau kenapa ya?? ntar gw tanyain ke mertua gw dah.

Link of the Day

... comes from the Secular Apostate who has the best explanation yet as to why we're seeing such a jump in temporary employment.
“Kelly girl” used to be a term describing a pert and ambitious young person just beginning a career and working toward steady employment by building experience in temporary employment assignments. Very few Kelly girls imagined it as a way of life. But the jobs data show that Kelly girls are the New Normal.
I won't give away the ending. It's worth the read.

Make your own stock


Stock is probably the most important thing to do in the kitchen. So many recipes call for stock, and those little Knorr cubes of packed "MSG-in-disguise" powder come no where close to the flavour and depth of homemade stock. Plus it's super nutritious, full of easily available calcium and minerals. And it costs nothing.

There are recipes out there, but there's no hard and fast rules. It's basically bones (hence also called bone broth. instead of using carcasses, you can throw in a whole chicken or bits with meat too.) and water and time. I just have some tips:

1. To extract all the calcium and minerals from the bones better, let your bones sit in the cold water with a few tablespoons of vinegar added, for an hour or so, before bringing to the boil slowly.

2. Add chicken feet and neck for even more gelatinous broth! For pork bones, try pork trotters! When cooled in the fridge, it should gel like this:


3. Stock recipes usually call for leeks, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaf to be added. My mum adds garlic and ginger. Ah, only now I learn to truly appreciate my mum's daily bone broths/soups and the "shang tang" (superior stock) she uses to flavour everything she cooks.I add whatever bits and pieces of vegetables I have spare. I save the ends of carrots and celery etc in the freezer and then throw them into my stock. So it really costs nothing.

4. Simmer your bones for as long as you can. I leave it on overnight, till I can easily crush the bones. The broth after that is like..essence. Except if you use fish bones, then 2 hours is enough, else the stock turns cloudy.

5. You can do a huge batch at a time if you've got a big enough pot.
Then reduce it by half or more before storing so you don't end up having no fridge space at all. Just add water to it when you need to cook with it. Should keep for about 5 days.
Or freeze in portions you'll use, or in ice cube trays, then you got REAL stock cubes. Should keep for months.

That's it really! I have bone broths in some form at least every week. Might be in the form of proper soups, especially Asian soups (more particular about the vegetables/herbs added). Or in stews. Or as the cooking liquid in rice. Or in stir-fries.

Ok go make some stock!




Opa!

Let's buy another round of ouzo for our Greek friends!
ATHENS — Thousands of Greeks took to the streets of the capital on Wednesday for a protest against a fresh wave of austerity measures which was marred by violence as a general strike brought international travel and public services to a standstill.

Why are they burning down their own city? Why, for justice, of course!
As dusk fell and tear gas lingered in the air, police helicopters circled over Parliament, where rows of police officers in gas masks and shields stood guard. “This is unacceptable — it’s worse than the junta,” said Giorgos Papageorgiou, a 52-year-old factory worker, referring to a seven-year military dictatorship in Greece that fell in 1974. Mr. Papageorgiou said the new law voted through Parliament would lower his monthly wage to ¤700 from ¤1,000 and make it harder for him to support his wife, who does not work, and their teenage daughter.

“Is this the democracy we fought for?” said Mr. Papageorgiou, wiping the white chalky remnants of tear gas from his face. “This is fascism.”
No, Mr. Papageorgiou, what you had was fascism. This is fiscal collapse, the natural denouement of fascism. Fascism is where an all-powerful government tells you what you can and can't buy, do, make and sell. Some markers of fascism are lots and lots of state-owned or state-controlled companies and rampant corruption because bribery is how you market to the all-powerful state bureaucracies. Sound familiar, Mr. Papageorgiou?

Too bad your school system taught lefty economic theory. Had it taught reality instead of garbage, you might have avoided this or at least been able to see these budget cuts for what they are - a well-deserved kick in the pants to a load of wastrels.

Oh well. Open another bottle of ouzo and drink deep, Mr. Papageorgiou. Tomorrow morning will come soon enough and you'll need to be out there with a broom and a dustpan.

Winter Wonderland...

This morning I was woken up by 2 phone calls from my schools; snow day! We were expecting to get 2-4 inches of snow, on top of the 2-3 inches we got last week.

After sleeping in, which was wonderful, I woke up to this!

As you can tell by the picture, our road is white and it is still snowing. The snow is starting to reach the bottom of our gate in the driveway!

I think I will sit downstairs, enjoy my wonderful Christmas decorations with the window shades up and enjoy the snow with a cup of hot chocolate!


This post is linked to....



Project Simple Pleasures2

A Little EuroDebt Factoid

Dig this.
Portugal held its last debt auction of the year on Wednesday, selling 500 million euros of three-month treasury bills, but at a punitively high yield of 3.4 percent. Last month it sold the same amount at 1.8 percent.
Two things jump out at me on this one.
  • The interest Portugal is paying on its debt has doubled in the past month. Not year, month.

  • Portugal is issuing three month bonds. That means those 500 million euros of debt will have to be resold this coming April, right about the time Spain should be slipping into obvious fiscal crisis. This bond issuance only bought them three months of breathing space.
The leaders of Portugal probably aren't so stupid that they can't see what's happening. To me, it looks like they've lost control of the situation and a 3-month reprieve is the best they can do.

A year in music: 2010



Hello there, how's your week going on? I'm a little bit busy with work, but today I've got time to post you about my faves artist of 2010. This are the ones I've been lisening most during this year...


Karen Elson



I'm in totally love with her soft voice and lyrics, and I wish her the best for the next year.

Fever Ray



Simply the most gorgeous sound...

Two Door Cinema Club



This band reminds me to my best friend... and I don't know why, but maybe's because their fresh sound and happy-nostalgic mood... but they teach us that something good can work ;)

Hola a todo el Mundo



This spanish band is simply magic. Give them a try.

Plan B



I recently discovered Plan B... yes, I know it's been a long time, what was I doing? I dunno, but now I can't stop listening to his great sound. Awesome.

Aloe Blacc



I started to watch How to do it in America, and the theme song is this great piece of Aloe Blacc. So I listenend to his album, and I was fascinated. Brilliant. And I must say that i normally don't listen to this kind of music...

Foals



I've been expecting the new Foals album for so long, and I was so happy when I listened to it that I almost cried with this song. Maybe I'm a nerd for loving math rock, but the sound of Foals is perfect... Math rock stolen my heart years ago, and is still with it.

The Clash



I'm always listening to The Clash, because I still think that things can change.

Julian Plenti (Paul Banks)



The debut solo album of Paul Banks, the lead singer of Interpol. First of all, I'm in love with the voice of this gentleman. Secondly, the sound of the album is simply great.I've got no words to describe it.

Mando Diao



It's not a secret how much I love Mando Diao. And during this year, I've been listening to them more than Maxïmo Park or The Smashing Pumkins (my other two top bands).
The story with Mando Diao is curious, because I've been listening them since the very begining (that's 2002) but never saw a picture of them until Ode to Ochrasy or this video (this is 2006). So that's why I consider myself a bigger fan over lots of girls who only like their music because they're goodlooking. I'm not there because they're famous, or handsome, or stars. I'm only there because their music. Funny.


I also have been listening to Florence + The Machine (of course!), Joy Division, The Kills, Patrick Wolf, The Vines, MyChem, Sex Pistols, France Gall, Iamamiwhoami, Belle and Sebastian, Paul Smith or Love of Lesbians... and I saw a few good concerts during 2010, too!


So, what have you been listening to during this year?

Groningen, I'm coming!!



Hey folks, I feel so happy since yesterday. Why? Because i've been accepted in Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands. With International Communication as my major. Finally after more than 2 months i've got the result. Yaaaay. And do you know why im very happy? Because I fell in love already with the city and of course the university. And i'd love to introduce the crowded students city, Groningen. Enjoy!



And this is my university, Hanze!
It's the central station of groningen


Oh my God! They've this thing too. kill me!



This is another univ in Groningen, University of Groningen.

Grootemarkt :)

Are you guys agree with me? The city in north Netherlands, Groningen, also called the city which never sleep. Haha but, jakarta is more hectic than anycity in Netherlands. haha.
Well, i hope i will go to there on August 2011. :)