Monday Martha is a reflection on something (anything) creative that you accomplished. It can be cooking, scrapbooking, sewing, gardening, home improvements, etc. Celebrate the time you took just to do something you love.
I wanted to do this because I love to be creative and I love all the awesome ideas that Martha Stewart comes up with. Last year I was given the book Martha Stewart Cooking School book. It has taken me this long to crack it open and start spending time learning something I love - cooking.
Feel free to GRAB THE BUTTON at the top of the post (right click & save) and link up (mr. linky at bottom of post). Express yourself and share your creative vibes.
Last week I made Roasted Pork Loin with Pancetta and Sage (pg 142 in the MSCS book). Here is what I did with my leftovers.
This past week, I decided to conquer a BIG item that has always been on my list of things to cook.
RACK OF LAMB
When I went shopping, I know now to always walk into the grocery and go straight back to the meat department because if they do not have what I want I know I will have to go somewhere else. I do not want to buy all of my goodies without the main course. And since I have yet to become proficient in what is in season (maybe next lesson), I am just picking out a recipe I want to cook and then going from there.
The problem I had this time was I couldn't find the right spices. I have owned a spice rack for about six years now and I have only used two of the spices - cinnamon (for cinnamon and sugar toast) and paprika (for deviled eggs). This time the recipe required fresh mint leaves and fresh flat leaf parsley leaves. I did have crushed parsley, but no mint. I knew I could probably get away with the crushed parsley, but since I had to look for the mint . . . . I wish I could go online and create a spice rack that only sold the items I needed and used on a daily basis because obliviously the ones the pre-arranged rack don't work.
I made the lamb coating first which contained parsley, mint, lemon, lemon zest, EVOO, salt and bread crumbs.
I purchased TWO rack of lambs each a little over 1.5 lbs, but I was serving 4 people and two of them were men. I didn't want to short change my guests so I went for the two, instead of one rack.
I patted them both dry with paper towels then showered them in pepper and salt. I then, put them in the pan on the stove and seared both sides on med-high heat for about 2 minutes.
When they were done and cooled a bit, I covered them in greek-style yogurt (pretty liberally) and then poured the coating over it I patted it into the yogurt to make it compact. I then put them both in the oven for 24 minutes.
Peeking in the oven.
For the side, I decided on corn on the cobb. It is Saint's favorite recipe and I thought it would be a healthier choice than potatoes. I really wanted asparagus, but didn't want to cook two veggies. I bought corn on the cobb with the husks but because the husks wouldn't all fit in the pan at once, I peeled them. My dad says to let the corn on the cobb soak in water for 10 minutes before cooking.
Corn on the cobb was a lesson for me. I STARTED THE STOVE ON FIRE. Apparently, there was something on the burner. As the corn water boiled over a bit, a flame shot up and over the pot. I screamed and started hopping from foot to foot. I looked at Saint who was in the living room and while still hopping yelped, "FIRE!! FIRE, FIRE FIRE!!!" He jumped up and asked where. I pointed to the back of the boiling pot of water and he just kind of waved it off and said it would burn out. I, on the other hand, was freaking out. I looked at him and said, "well now that we are on the subject. WHAT DO I DO IF THERE IS A FIRE?" And he proceeded to show me where the fire extinguisher is in my new apartment (noting that it is ok to break the glass, better than the building burning down. He told me water is good for normal fires, but powder (like flour) is good for electrical fire. Again, emphasizing that clenaing up powder and water or ruining the food is not as bad as the place burning down.
The two racks actually took almost twice as long to cook being that I cooked them at the same time.
Saint was kind enough to cut them for me. There was a small bone that connected all the lamb together. It was very hard to cut through. Mental note, maybe pick up a meat cutter or knife.
Here is how pretty the table turned out. Now I really want to take some sort of table etiquette class so I know how to set a table. Along with the rack of lamb, corn on the cobb. I provided a make your own salad with tomatoes, cheese, avocado, nuts and craisins. My mom brought oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We had a few glasses of wine before dinner (waiting for the meat to cook) and during because it was so pleasant.
1 comment:
I love your Martha Monday idea and will have to figure out what I could do. Rack of lamb is so impressive ... good for you!
Post a Comment