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.

Quiche

Among the ingredients I had to choose from today included about 5 pie crusts. I was thinking about lunch, and thought those pie crusts shouldn't just go toward fat pills. And I think I'm liking quiche more and more

1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 red pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon chives, chopped
6 eggs
1 pie crust
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup ham-steak

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Saute onions and peppers.
3. Wisk half and half into eggs in large bowl.
4. Stir in all other ingredients and pour into pie crust.
5. Place quiche on cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes.

Jumbalaya

DUDE!!!!!!! We sooooooooooo have stuff for dinner, just let me at that kitchen!!!!

2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons hot sauce
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups wild rice
1/2 pound shrimp
3 cups spinach
4 scallions
1/4 a red pepper
1/4 a green pepper
1/4 a white onion
1/4 red onion
2 andouille sausages
1 can black beans

1. Start rice first.  Combine broth, seasoning,  hot sauce and rice. Bring mixture to a boil and turn down to simmer immediately after for 50 minutes.
2. Chop pepper and onions and cook in saute pan until onions have browned.
3. Add spinach and cook until wilted.
4.  Boil shrimp for 5 minutes.
5. When rice is ready, combine and serve.

Switzerland

When we arrived in Switzerland (later than we were supposed to because of a 4 1/2 hour delay) we went immediately to Matt's godmother's house.  Her children greeted us warmly and we sat down to brunch. As typical of the region, we had assorted meats and cheeses with croissant and a milky bread.

For dinner we had sausages, salad, kabobs and pasta followed by plum tart with plums from the garden.

We spent the next day touring Genevea scouting out Matt's university, lake Geneva and the new Frankenstein statue. We stopped for a drink in town and decided to end our tour with gelato.

Syrups are very popular in Switzerland to flavor beverages-water, seltzer or even white wine. Matt loves to popular mint flavor and i usually get pomegranate. On that day, i tried violet and quince syrup with water. Both flavors don't seem to be at all popular in the United States so that admittedly I didn't recognize the quince fruit when it was presented to me. I have been exposed to violet before and liked the violet better, but would've preferred less syrup, or maybe more blended.

But the gelato was better! Paralleling my reading choice, I found two atypical spicy flavors which I urge everyone promote in their communities.  GINGER and CINNAMON!  God they were good!

On the third day, I SAW IT. On Matt's birthday I finally saw melted rachlette slide off the halved  cheese wheel. The cheese is traditionally served with potatoes, pearl onions and small pickles with either white wine or hot tea so it doesn't solidify in the stomach. There was Italian meat for an appetizer and the lactose intolerant, but Katie, her friend Nancy and I got a big plate to eat with the cheese.

..... 

After the third day, I stopped taking notes. However, this was not for lack of scrumy food.

We continued to eat great- Italian food. Yeah, I know,  its confusing, especially if you eat pizza in Zermatt. Why was the first restaurant we went to Italian?  Everyone knew I was looking forward to real Swiss food, geez. Just more evidence that everyone loves Italian. And Switzerland IS right next to it. We had pizza with goat cheese, panchetta and Gorgonzola.

On the Friday before we left,  we redeemed one of Matt's best birthday present.  We got the gourmet package at St. Christophe, which included a gourmet meal and a one night stay in the castle.  For the amuse-bouche, a triangle of toast with sun-dried tomato yogurt and a thick potato chip. Then we had salmon trout with fennel and grapefruit in a balsamic reduction, a entree of beef with broad beans and scallion crepes, and dessert of apricot parfait with chewy meringue and sugar work.  Saving the best for last, homemade pear liqueur.

In the morning,  we woke up to breakfast overlooking the medieval courtyard with a backdrop of mountains.
With all that good food, it might be a wonder why my favorite day surrounded a very rustic meal. On Sunday,  we went to Matt's hometown and had a day long meal with his aunt. We had the traditional Rachlette meal, this time all of it. The first course was rice, string beans and grilled meat. Then the cheese course followed by ice cream with black currant jam from the garden. We also had dried sage tea.

Passion fruit lassi

1 tablespoon monkfruit sugar
1 teaspoon ginger
1 cup passion fruit yogurt
1/2 cup milk

1. Blend and enjoy!

Dutch

This took me a bit...but just a hour or so. We were having burgers for dinner; but how should I dress it up? Which country should I choose? We had gouda and I wanted to use that.  So, dutch. The Netherlands is historically connected to Indonesia, so the burger now had to include Indonesian spices. I also suggest eating them with fries slathered in mayonnaise.

3 pounds ground beef

1 cup Heineken

1/2 onion

1 teaspoon ginger, cardamom, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, gloves, turmeric

1. Marinate separated meat in beer, onion, spice mixture for 1/2 hour.

2. Form patties and cook.

Substitute Shortbread

I did it! Matt pushed me to be healthier, plus i don't want a tummy for the wedding (his sister's), so i made a substitution list. I 5hen got this aborable heart cookie cutter with a cut-out to put on a coffee cup. It came with a recipe for shortbread. I subbed ground oats for flour, honey for sugar and bannanas for butter.

2 cups mashed bananas
1 teaspoon rum extract
1/4 cup honey
4 cups oats

Warning: these cookies taste too healthy.  Matt and I will figure it outn but in the meantime I suggest 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas and 1/2 cup butter or slathing the cookie with jam. Perhaps both.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Grind oats in food processor and mash bananas.
3. Mix all together and roll out to disired thickness.
4. Cut and bake 14 mins.

Try this at home