Stroganoff Lamb Burgers

We've now been working from home for seven months.  And, we love it!  Today, alas, I had to go to the office.  A plumber and his helper were going to be in the house all day.  While Connie can shut himself up in the study with an air purifier going, I'm stuck with the dining room table.  Too close for comfort.  I didn't think about dinner all day.  Got home about 6pm and checked the fridge and there we had a pound of ground lamb.  From the guy who sells to all the high-end restaurants in Indy.  We started buying lamb jerky treats from him eons ago.  In fact, we're on our second dog enjoying the lamb jerky.  So, Terry delivers to our house.  This time he had ground lamb, smoked chops, stew meat and smoked ribs.  Those ribs were killer!    I checked eat your books and found a couple of lamb stroganoff recipes.  But, I'd bought brioche buns and hated to waste them.  Time for a recipe mashup!  Stroganoff lamb burgers it was.  Some pepper and red wine and consommé went in with the lamb.  Which became two burgers.  Good ground lamb is very fatty so our 1/2 lb burgers became more like 1/3lb burgers.  Then, into a skillet went the butter and the mushrooms and onions.  When they were almost done, I added the garlic.  Then, I sprinkled on a couple of tablespoons of flour (1 T butter, 1 T flour, 1 c liquid for a good sauce) and let it cook a bit.  In went the  red wine and then the consommé, mustard and Worcestershire.  Once that was pretty well thickened, I started the burgers in another skillet.  The buns went in the toaster oven.  Once they were nicely toasty, I put the cheese on top and broiled them to let it melt.  Time to put it all together.  Bun, burger, sauce, other bun on the side.  I'd eat this again tomorrow.  For breakfast!

Here's the ingredient list:

1 lb ground lamb

2 T dry red wine

2 T consomme

1 t freshly ground pepper

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

6 oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, finely minced.

2 T butter

2 T flour

3 T dry red wine

1/2 c consommé

2 t Dijon mustard

1/2 t Worcestershire sauce

buns ( I used brioche)

cheese ( I used a green onion Havarti but gruyere or Havarti would be great)

Cherry Clafouti, Peach Sour Cream Pie, Lamb Pasta, Jalapeno Cucumber Margarita and Chile Lime Watermelon Wedges

Last week was a zoo.  Total, complete and entire.  I was so ready for Saturday so I could head to the office and have no phones ringing and where the email deluge would slow down.  I got up early and headed to the living room and sat down at the computer and started to work on the week's menu and grocery list.  Plus the obligatory check of the weather and Facebook.  I'd planned to start this post...  But, at 8:12 we got a call from the idiots at the Fraternal Order of Police.  I hung up on them.  Grrrrr.  Connie woke up and started puttering around.  I'd had all of about half an hour of quiet time. 

While Connie went to the farmers market and grocery and TJ's, I headed to the office to start in on the mountain on my desk.  The bad news is I'll be there all day Sunday too.  So much for brunch at Chef Josephs!

The fruits and vegetables are wonderful this time of year.  So, I've got corn on the cob, watermelon, zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers on the list.  A couple of weeks ago we scored a box of fresh cherries.  They were amazing.  My kitchen was covered with cherry juice by the time I got done pitting them.  About half went to a boozy cherry dish from a friend's blog.  The other half went to the amazing cherry clafouti from A Kitchen in France.  That's this Sunday's recipe from Weekend in a French Kitchen.  I've made clafoutis before and we've thoroughly enjoyed them.  This one was a bit lighter and more flavorful than it's predecessors.  I made half a recipe since we're not into sweets too much.  In fact, despite the fact that this was really wonderful, about a third of it went into the trash.  Sweets just don't get eaten around here...  Here's what it looked like:

Clafoutis are pretty darned easy to make.  First you put the fruit in a buttered baking dish.  Then, you top it with a custard of flour, sugar, vanilla, milk and eggs.  Pop that in the oven and bake it for about 45 minutes total.  Cool it (if you can wait) then dust it with confectioners sugar to serve.  I confess that we didn't wait.  It just smelled too good!


Let's see, in addition to the clafouti we 've had the most amazing cocktail:  Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas.  An absolute five in my book.  I got the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.  One of the magazines I quit taking eons ago but that is now on nextissue.com so I skim it...  I think next time we'll make our own margarita mix and avoid all of the chemicals and preservatives that come with the prepackaged stuff. 

Here's what the recipe was:

Jalapeno Cucumber Margarita
10 servings (needless to say, we cut the recipe to two servings!)

Ingredients:

1/2 medium cucumber, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded and sliced
3 c margarita mix
1 1/2 c gold Tequila
3/4 c orange liqueur

Directions:

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the jalapeno and cucumber with 1/2 t kosher salt.  Add the margarita mix, Tequila and orange liqueur along with several ice cubes.  Shake well.  Strain and serve over ice.


We also had a lamb pasta sauce that was incredible.  It was supposed to be lamb meatballs in spicy sauce.  My ground lamb was frozen.  Pasta sauce was the best alternative.  I doubled up on the spices (not the herbs, just the spices) in the sauce since the ground lamb wasn't seasoned as the meatballs would have been.  The only change we'd have made is adding more cheese.  It's a recipe I got from the New York Times.  The original measurements are given below.

Lamb in Spicy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb ground lamb
1 medium onion, diced
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 small sprig rosemary
crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 t fresh thyme leaves
1/2 t ground cumin
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 t sugar
1/4 c orange juice (I used 1/4 c of frozen concentrate)
crumbled feta cheese
farfalle


Directions:

Brown and drain the lamb and onion.  Crush the tomatoes.  Add them along with the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer for about half an hour to reduce the liquid.  Serve over cooked farfalle.  Top with crumbled feta cheese.



Mid week our friend Diane stopped by to pick up the bike her boyfriend, Craig, had bought from Connie.  We made antipasto salads.  Well, kind of.  Let's see, no provolone and the truffle cheese (which was provolone based) had mold on it, so I used cheddar.  No chickpeas so I used black beans.  No salami so I fried some bacon.  LOL.  Talk about substituting!  Diane is the ultimate baker so I was a bit hesitant to make a pie.  But, since we had help to eat this one I pounced on the opportunity.  Peach sour cream pie.  It looks like it came from All Recipes.  It tasted as wonderful as it looked.  And, made a mighty fine breakfast too!

Peach Sour Cream Pie

Ingredients:

pie crust
4 fresh peaches sliced 1/4" thick (you can substitute a 16 oz bag of frozen peaches, thawed, drained and patted dry)
1 T lemon juice
3 egg yolks
1 c sugar
1/3 c sour cream
1/4 c flour


Directions:

Prebake the crust in a 425F oven that's been preheated.  It'll take about 15 minutes for it to get golden brown.  Allow it to cool for about 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temp to 350F.  Toss the peach slices and the lemon juice.  Lay the peach slices in the pie crust.  Mix the other ingredients and spoon the custard over the peaches.  Bake for 50 minutes.  The original recipe called for tenting foil over the pie for that 50 minutes then removing the foil and baking it for an additional 30 minutes.  I didn't use the foil and skipped the last 30 minutes because the filling set up enough for my taste. 


adapted from All Recipes


Last, but not least, watermelon wedges.  With all kinds of wonderful things sprinkled on them!  Now, this is one that I saved in nextissue.com also.  BUT, it doesn't reference the magazine.  My guess is Cooking Light.  I put the spice mixture together for this and cut a couple of wedges.  The cilantro was chopped and ready to go but I totally forgot that and the olive oil the first round.  So, I made another wedge.  Connie liked it better with the cilantro and olive oil.  I preferred just the spice mixture. 

Chile Lime Watermelon Wedges

Ingredients:

grated rind from one lime
1 t ancho chile powder
1 t ground cumin
1 t kosher salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
8 - 8oz wedges seedless watermelon
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Put the lime rind in a cake pan or on a half sheet and bake it at 200F for 10 minutes.  You want it to be slightly dry but not dry enough to lose it's flavor.  Mix it with the chile powder, cumin, salt and pepper.  Lay the watermelon wedges on the dish you'll use to serve them.  Sprinkle them with the lime mixture.  Then, drizzle them with the evoo.  Finally, top them with a sprinkle of cilantro

I think this is adapted from Cooking Light.  I got it from a magazine on nextissue.com - one that doesn't show attribution...

Lamb and Bulgur Stew with Beans

Ya'll ready for a little yard tour here?  We've been at the office WAY too much.  So, finally we came home kinda early.  Like before 7pm.  Connie's not laughing.   I am.  You either laugh or cry.  Your choice.  I laugh.  Well, every once in a while I have a meltdown.  But not tonight.  We were home.  The flowers were glorious.  The light was ok - fading fast but ok.  And, I had my sweetie next to me and a glass of wine in my hand and I was walking my yard.  YEAH!

Out the back door to the hosta garden and the fence garden.  The new hellebore is now the size of the old one.  The hosta are loving it.  One fern survived the nasty honeysuckle.  The wild ginger is coming back from last year's drought.   The Virginia bluebells are starting to melt away.  Such are ephemerals. 

Around the corner, TC (Tommy Cat) is watching us from a safe perch behind the rhubarb.  Ok, yes, you could wear those for clothes.  They're mammoth.  And the rhubarb is fabulous.  We had rhubarb, goat cheese and shagbark hickory syrup salad over sorrel the other night.  Amazing. 

Have I ever shown you the compost bin Connie built?  He's amazing. 

On to the garden.  Our first sprout from the 25 asparagus roots Connie just put in.  The ten we already have just don't produce enough for us.  But, they sure do look wonderful.  So do the peas and radishes.  Oh, and the strawberries and cruciferous bed.  Not sure what made it in there but take a look at the Brussels sprouts from last year that seem to be coming back.  We're leaving them just to see what happens... 

 

 

The golden raspberries along the fence are going nuts.  Last year the birds and squirrels beat us to most of them.  This year we will be more vigilant!  Then it's on to the corner garden.  The wisteria.  Oh, my.   It's stunning.

A look under the crabapple at the hosta and daylilies and it's out the gate to the bed in front of the living room window.  Columbine and meadow rue and bleeding hearts and heuchera.  The columbine that doesn't quite go was from my old house.  Pretty much a volunteer and didn't show up at all last year.  I was more than thrilled to see it this year.  Then, on along the entrance street.  The persimmon tree is LOADED with fruit.  We'll have a bumper crop this year.  Speaking of a bumper crop, ditto the crab apple.  Then, there's the yarrow, Shasta daisies, peonies, lilies, hosta... 

On around the corner to the future orchard.  Right now it's home to a peach  and an apple tree.  Their second year.  I counted 66 peaches coming on.  Yup, you read that right, 66.  About four apples.  There's a plum, apricot and sour cherry to go in.  Next year we'll add two pears, a sweet cherry, another persimmon and another apple.

To the front garden.  I still remember people gawking when we moved in and killed half of our front yard.  No, more like 2/3rd's.  Grass is so bad for the environment.  And, flowers are so much prettier.  The stellar performers up front right now are the peonies, roses and Siberian iris.  Amazing.  Around the corner there are iris and pinks.  We've also got salvia, bachelor's buttons, daylilies, cranesbill geraniums...

Then, it's on to the herb garden.  Pretty much everything you can name.  And, a couple dozen pepper plants.  Plus blueberries. 

 

 

We do love our yard.  As much as we love cooking.  While we wandered the yard I had a meal cooking away in the dutch oven.  I'd never cooked with bulgur before.  But, we do love lamb.  So, I was game.  Found a bag of Bob's Red Mill bulgur at the grocery so we were good to go.  The recipe actually called for fresh spinach.  But, I had a bag of baby spinach, kale and chard.  That worked perfectly.  We totally loved this dish.  I added a splash of siracha, substituted pinto beans for the white beans and left out the paprika since I'm not a fan of that.  But otherwise I stayed pretty true to the recipe.

Lamb and Bulgur Stew with Beans

Ingredients:

1 lb ground lamb
1 medium onion, diced
2/3 c bulgur
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/3 c water
1 14.5 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
5 oz baby spinach (or mix of baby spinach, kale and chard)
3.5 oz feta cheese
1 T fresh oregano leaves

Directions:

In a dutch oven, brown and drain the lamb.  Add the onion, bulgur and pepper flakes and brown for about five minutes.  Add the tomatoes and water.  Cover the pan and simmer for about 25 minutes.  Add the beans, greens, oregano and about half of the feta cheese.  Stir in well until the greens wilt a bit.  Serve with the rest of the feta crumbled over the top. 

adapted from Martha Stewart Living