March and June are two busy months for our family. We celebrate many birthdays during these two months. This year we decided to combine the most important two, our daughter's and mine, in one single event. A dear friend of mine also is celebrating her birthday the week in between, so I decided to throw a big collective birthday party for all of us. I made sure that we make it a surprise for our friend, she thought we are just having one of our now regular tea parties.
As usual, I had everything ready the night before, but our grand daughter fell sick on that day, so her mom couldn't come. A small change of plans. I had prepared my menu for a larger number of people, so I had to scale things down a little bit. The original menu was as follows:
- leg of lamb with mushroom gravy, served with potatoes
- chicken bites over yellow rice
- lots of vegetables and a separate dish of peperonata
- salsa with avocado
- yogurt salad
The meat was already marinating in the fridge, the rice cooked, the veggies cleaned and ready, the peperonata almost done. So, the first thing I did was to freeze the peperonata. I can finish cooking it later when I need it. I also scaled back on the veggies. I can keep them cleaned and trimmed for a couple more days and cook them fresh later on. As for the meats, it was better to cook them anyway and give dogie bags to all who will come.
LEG OF LAMB WITH MUSHROOM GRAVY AND TWICE COOKED POTATOES
I might have posted this recipe before, but as I always say, you never cook the same dish the same way every time. Today I bought 2 boneless legs of lamb. When I started removing all the fat, I realized that it was too much, so I retained a good chunk of it, and it turned out to be a good decision. You'll need:
A whole leg of lamb, bone and all visible fat removed, about 6 pounds
3 tbsp onion/garlic mixture
2 to 3 cups plain yogurt
1 tsp each cumin, cinnamon, ground clove
1/2 tsp each ginger, coriander
A pinch of nutmeg
3 to 4 garlic cloves sliced
About 10 whole cloves
Salt and pepper
In a small bowl mix the onion/garlic mixture with all the spices. Put the meat in a large bowl. Rub the mixture onto the meat. Add salt and pepper to the yogurt and slather it all over the meat. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, transfer the meat to the cooking pan, making sure that it is not overwhelmed by the yogurt. Discard all remaining marinade. Insert a slice of garlic and a clove in the folds of the meat. Cover with foil and let stand at room temperature until ready to put in the oven. My guests were coming at 5 pm, so I turned on the oven at 2:30, at 375 degrees. Give the meat about 30 minutes, then remove the foil. Let cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, then turn it and give it another 15 to 20 minutes. It should have a nice brown crust and the sauce should still be liquid. Remove the meat from the pan and keep it covered with foil.
MUSHROOM SAUCE:
2 lb white mushrooms
1 tbsp onion/garlic mixture
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flour or brown gravy powder (we can cheat a little)
Clean and slice the mushrooms. Cook the onion/garlic mixture in the oil until translucent, then add the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until wilted down. Dissolve the gravy powder in some water and add it to the mushrooms. Stir. Remove the cloves and garlic slices from the meat pan and add the liquids to the mushroom pan. Stir and let cook until the gravy thickens. Transfer to a serving bowl.
TWICE COOKED POTATOES:
The night before your party, while you are preparing other dishes, put some potatoes in a large pot with salted water and boil them. When they are done, drain the potatoes and keep them covered for the next day. When you are ready, peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Fry the potatoes in vegetable oil until golden brown, drain over paper towels, sprinkle some salt.
Just before your guests arrive, slice the meat, arrange the slices on a large serving dish, and put the potatoes in the middle or to the side.
MIXED VEGETABLES
I have been saying this forever: don't boil your veggies. You'll loose all the vitamins and nutrients. The best way to sautee vegetables is to cook some onion/garlic mixture in a drop of oil in a large skillet until translucent, add the veggies and a sprinkle of salt and pepper, or some granules if you prefer, stir, then add a drop of boiling water. Not too much, just enough to wet the vegetables and help them cook until tender or al dente (asparagus), depending on your taste and the veggies.
YOGURT SALAD
Some call it tzatziki, but this is Greek for the same salad. It's the easiest dip or salad you can make. I stopped using Greek yogurt since I discovered the creamier, smoother Indian plain yogurt. Just peel and chop a seedless cucumber, add it to the yogurt in a bowl, add some chopped dill and stir. Season the salad with salt, pepper and garlic powder. You can of course use very finely chopped fresh garlic, if you are sure that you can chop it so fine that no one will end up with a chunk of garlic under his tooth. If you don't have dill, you can use mint, fresh or dried. Or both.
INDIAN INSPIRED CHICKEN AND YELLOW RICE
I posted the recipe for this dish before (6/6/12). Today I tweaked the recipe a bit, using the Indian yogurt and some of the spices I had at hand to marinate the lamb. I added some ginger, coriander, cumin and celery salt. You can experiment with different spices, but stay in the same palette, meaning use spices used in that particular kitchen and don't go overboard. Just make sure that you keep the thighs and breast pieces separate, in case you guests have preferences.
SALSA WITH AVOCADO
You can find this recipe in a blog dated 3/1/14. People loved it so much that I made again with great success. This time I added some chopped cucumber.
No comments:
Post a Comment