Coconut Lamb

Story of my life: We  didn't have some ingredients. So, I added from there, subtracted from there, did a different preparation with that, and came up with something edible. The base recipe for this lamb comes from Matt's mom's Indian cookbook, Madhur Jaffery's Indian Cooking. The original recipe, calls for chicken, but we never liked that idea. So, Matt and I decided on lamb and as stated above, this is what happened a few incarnations later..


4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick (broken into pieces)
1 whole nutmeg
1 1/2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

2 cups shredded coconut

6 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon onion relish
1 glove garlic
1-inch chunk fresh ginger
6 sprigs mint
red pepper flakes

2 pounds lamb
1/2 onion
1 can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Dry-roast spices in a skillet over medium flame until fragrant and grind in coffee grinder until fine. Place aside.
2. Toast coconut in same skillet until edges are brown. The coconut should pick-up some of the flakes from the spices.
3. Process tomatoes, onion relish, garlic, ginger, mint, red pepper flakes and 4 tablespoons water into a paste.
4. In a 12-inch saute pan, on medium-high heat, saute onions.
5. Pour Paste into onions and stir once. Reduce into medium and cook together with lamb, water, tomato paste, coconut and spices.

Butternut Rav

Not sure how you feel about your veggies, but I love butternut squash. Back in college, I was in a co-op. Thank you for your condolences. My taste for meat grew because, as a separate community who didn't eat in the dining halls, meat was to expensive. Since we would only have meat on very special occasions, ate out a bunch.
Not only could we not afford meat, we did not recklessly spend on good veggies. In my first year though, a gem in the sea or weird vegetarian foods, was the sweet potato. Needless to say, I feel in love and that's about the only thing I ate.
When I got out of college, I discovered more sophisticated veggies, but with the same taste I came to know and love. Butternut squash tastes like sweet potato but feels more grown-up.

Filling:

¼ Butternut squash
1 egg
2 oz. goat cheese

1 teaspoon Orange Juice
Fresh rosemary leaves

Wonton wrapper

‎1. Bake squash in microwave or roast flesh (if rind is on) on baking sheet.
2. Puree filling ingredients in blender.
3. Spoon filling into wonton wrappers. About 1 1/2 teaspoons.
4. Seal wonton wrappers by wetting your fingers and 'painting' water around the edges of the raviolis. Carefully pat down tightly seal, so that the filling does not come out.

5. Cook pasta for 8 mins or until they rise. Make sure not to crowd the ravioli or it will stick. Probably about four per pot is the safest.

6. Top with marinara and crumbled goat cheese.
7. Enjoy!

Drunken Sweet Potato

1 med butternut squash, cubed
1 sweet potato, cubed
1/4 cup sherry
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 apple, chopped
2 teaspoons cinnamon sugar
1  pinch nutmeg
1 pinch allspice
2 cups chicken broth

1. In med saucepan, cook veggies and garlic for 5 min. at medium heat to sweat them.
2. Add liquid making sure to cover the veggies and turn down heat to simmer for 45 min.
3. Transfer to blender to remove any lumps. Garnish with shredded blue cheese.