Martha please don't leave me

My mother has informed me recently that Martha Stewart is moving to the hallmark channel.

WHY DEAR GOD, WHY????

I have finally found a mission in my mornings. My entire morning centered around the morning Martha Stewart show. If I woke up late, I would run in the living room, turn on the tv and sit mesmerized by her show. Actually, if I remembered I would make sure that BEFORE I went to bed, my tv would actually get reception on the channel so I was ready. If the stupid antennae messed up I would stand there, for 60 minutes, holding it up so I could watch the entire thing. Coffee would wait, cereal would wait. It was all about Martha.

And now, my five channels are not good enough for her?!?!?!?

Martha Monday

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.

I heated up the pork, toasted the bread and made a sandwich melt then ate it with leftover potato salad. YuM!

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.

Martha I am not, but at least I'm trying

I got this crazy idea earlier this week to cook something.

And I don't mean throw some crap in the crock pot.

And I definitely didn't mean call Saint and ask him to throw something on the BBQ.

No I meant, pull out my Martha Stewart Cooking School book (thanks mom) and cook something that took time and preparation.

Which is code for eating after cussing and burning of the skin. My skin that is. Not the meat's.

After a day of pampering for my mom (pedicures and manicures, eyebrow waxing, lunch and Target) I got home, picked up the eight ton book and started flipping. Because it was after 3pm, closely rounding 3:30 I figured something quicker was more appropriate.

I chose Roasted Pork Loin with Pancetta and Sage (the recipe on Martha Stewart's website is a bit different than the one from my book) and sided with double baked potatoes (Saint's recipe). It sounded good and right up my alley - simple ingredients, few ingredients and enough work that I would feel accomplished.


When shopping, the store had all but butcher's twine which was okay because they ended up just giving me a good long piece of it for free. Whoot! Another reason why Martha is correct in saying "Making friends with your butcher is a good thing!"

The pork roast they had to choose from with either, over 5lbs or under 1.5lbs. Since there was only the two of us, I went for the smaller of the two. (and the cheaper) The pancetta was fun to locate because I had no idea what it was. I assumed it was some sort of bacon or similar to it, but the butcher cleared it up for me. (he was so helpful) I even filled out a guest comment card!

My biggest problem when cooking is figuring out how to make all the pieces come together at the same time. I usually end up with one item coming out, ready, about 15 minutes before the other(s). This time I tried to coordinate it, but didn't realize til later that the potatoes took about an hour to cook just to get ready to scoop and fill, then cook. (are you laughing yet?)




I sprinkled the meat with salt and pepper and then put it in the pan to sear all sides. It said brown all sides, but I wasn't sure exactly what brown meant til it started to really cook. Brown meaning: slightly brown? dark brown? different shades of brown? (but I was excited when it turned out to look brown)


I was trying so hard to make it look like the photos in the book that I cut the strings too short. After much cussing, I tied the strings together and then recut so they barely fit around the edges. (I had forgotten that my cut of meat was smaller by quite a bit) Thankfully, I am resourceful so I was able to make it work.



Once again, thanking mom, for her awesome pans that can go in the oven, I was pretty pleased that the pork loin looked like the picture. (close enough anyway after it had been beaten up a bit)


I then focused my attention to the potatoes that I pulled out of the oven and put in the microwave to cook a bit quicker. (again a mom trick) I cut each one in half, cutting off the top of the potato, scooping it into the bowl, then scooped out the inside of the half of potato and then mixing it with cheese, sour cream and half and half. (notice my mistake here? I didn't) Mixed, scooped back into the two halves and put in the oven for baking.

I checked the pork loin a few times, spooning the little bit of the juice on to the top. (seriously how did I end up with little to no juice in the bottom of my pan - it wasn't even at full med-high heat?) I burned my hand twice on the metal piece on the handle. OUCH!!

Mental note: buy more pot holders because holy cow the one I have isn't enough!! Also, very much appreciate the book and movie, Julie & Julia, because it is crazy hard to cook sometimes. (or all the time in my case)


First time I pulled out the potatoes to check the baking, Saint came over to observe and give the ever needed kisses of support and says, "where are the other halves of the potatoes?"

Me: "What other halves?"

then it dawned on me

Me: Oh crap, I cut it in half and then mixed it in, like deviled eggs. Oh crap, I don't do that with deviled eggs either. Since I had two potatoes, there should have been four halves. I had two. Heavily filled, I might add.

He smiled and I had to laugh.


This is so me and cooking. We don't go together so well, but I manage to keep a some-what healthy some-what distant relationship. Which I try so hard to limit the gap, but we have a bit of a low tolerance relationship.

After about twenty minutes of the pork loin cooking, I pulled it out to check the temperature to make sure it was good. It hit 130 degrees and then started to slow. I am silently praying it would hit the required 138 degrees. I turn around for two minutes and all of a sudden Saint starts telling me the temperature - 137, 140, 145 - and still rising.

Okay, it's done. Yes? Uhm, yes.

It requires 10 minutes to sit and . . . whatever it does for that time. So technically the meat was done with the potatoes.

They turned out yummy and despite the fact that I burned my hand three times - once badly enough to require neosporin and a little lovin' from Saint. (the man wanted to go out and get a gauze wrap to maintain my lovely hand)

Here's the Martha link for the recipe, but you should really get the book. Really. Seriously, I would love for a personal lesson from Martha. Course, she'd probably not survive.




Or it could be the funniest episode she's ever had.