Follow The Recipe

Lamb Chops in Vinaigrette Reduction and Country Potatoes and Onion

Posted on December 10th, 2007 by Danielle.
Categories: breakfast, chops, dinner, Intermediate, lamb, onion, potatoes, reduction, vinegar.

Well hi everyone. So sorry that I haven’t posted in two weeks. To make up for it, I’m posting a double recipe. And it’s a big one! This is one of those “looks-impressive-but-really-isn’t-hard-to-make” recipes. So make it when you need to impress someone.

Lamb Chops in Vinaigrette Reduction

4 lamb chops (3/4″ thick)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon of butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-mix the salt, pepper, and thyme in a bowl. Use as a rub on the lamb chops. Season both sides of each chop and then place the chops, covered in the refrigerator for 15 minutes at least so they can absorb the spice (no longer than 20 min.). Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. The stove should be on high to medium high. Place the lamb chops in the skillet and cook for about 3 min on each side (for medium rare to rare). Remove when cooked to your liking and place on a separate plate covered with foil to let the juices redistribute.

In the pan add the shallots and cook until just browned (pan should still have a tbs. or so of oil, if not, add a little before adding the shallots). Stir in the vinegar and scrape up the bits of lamb that were left in the pan as the vinegar loosens it. Stir in the beef broth. Let the sauce reduce by half, about 5 minutes. Take your skillet off the heat and stir in the butter to cut the bitterness of the vinegar. Pour reduction over the chops and serve.

Country Potatoes and Onion (For 2 people)

3-4 Medium to large New Potatoes
1 cup of Onions sliced largely
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
2 tbs Olive Oil

Slice each potato in half and then into wedges. Cut onion into large quarter sized wedges. Put a skillet on the stove on medium high heat. Put oil in the pan and then toss in the potatoes and onions to get them coated in oil. Cook potatoes and onion until onion is fragrant and soft and potatoes are just getting brown (about 10 minutes). Drain excess oil. Place back on the heat and add salt, pepper and parsley to taste. Continue to cook until potatoes are golden brown and onion is almost translucent.

Follow The Recipe Extra:

Lamb: You want to put a nice sear on the chops so the oil needs to be very hot. The oil should be thin and have a glassy sheen, then it will be hot enough. When you drop the chops in, do not be panicked by the immediate cloud of “smoke”. You are not going to light your kitchen on fire! If you sear it just right each side should come out a dark perfect brown. Also, balsamic vinaigrette is bitter so if you’re sensitive to that kind of taste you can do one of two things to cut it: 1) reduce the amount of vinegar to 1/4 cup (this will reduce your reduction time though), 2) add more beef broth or 3) add more butter.

Potatoes: This is a recipe that’s all about personal taste and timing. There aren’t really any spice increments because everyone likes things differently. This is also an awesome addition to breakfast that can be made while preparing eggs or pancakes or whatever. For breakfast though, it’s usually good to cube the potatoes into smaller pieces though.

Comments Off

Mexican Casserole

Posted on November 11th, 2007 by Danielle.
Categories: casserole, cheesey, dinner, mexican.

This recipe is part of my childhood. Along with Gumbo sandwiches (PB&J premixed in a bowl then spread on bread) and chicken soup. My mom used to make this dish and we’d all be very excited to eat it. I made it for my dad for his last birthday because it’s his favorite meal. Then I married a guy who had never had it. In our first few weeks of marriage I made it for the first time and he thought I was nuts and that all that cheese and sauce couldn’t possibly be that good, but since then he has grown to love this meal and requests it often. Give it a chance…you’ll love it

Mexican Casserole

1-2 lbs ground beef
16 oz bag of mexican style cheese
3 small cans of hot enchilada sauce (red) / or 2 big cans
1 can of large black olives sliced
1 or 2 small cans of diced jalapeños
1 can of corn
1 small package of corn tortillas

Optional:
1 diced onion
1 cup salsa
1 diced avocado
2-3 diced roma tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Begin by browning the ground beef, set aside. Pre-open all cans. Slice olives if not already sliced. In a 9×13 glass pan lay down enough corn tortillas to cover the bottom one time. On top of the tortillas, spread some ground beef to cover the bottom (you can leave some space since there will be two layers). Sprinkle corn over the beef so it’s evenly spread. Lay sliced olives over the corn so they span the bottom. Throw some diced jalapeños across the layer. Cover all with cheese. Top with Enchilada sauce (1 small can), the sauce doesn’t have to drench, just season. Repeat the process adding a layer of tortillas one more time. When finished with your second layer you should’ve used all of the ground beef, corn and 2 out of 3 cans of the enchilada sauce. For the top layer one final layer of tortillas, top those with cheese, jalapeños, olives and cheese. Finish off with the last can of sauce.

Cover the pan in foil and place in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until you can see bubbles rising in the bottom of the pan from the sauce. Pull off the foil and bake for an additional 10-15 so the cheese on top gets crispy. Let it cool for 30 min before serving (if you serve before that, serve it in a bowl. It’ll taste great, but it’ll be mushy)

Follow the Recipe Extra:

You can add all sorts of things to this casserole that will be great. Onions with the ground beef, avocados and diced roma tomatoes are good addition. This dish is a lot like pizza, you can add lots of different things to it and it’s almost better reheated from the refrigerator the next day. Hope you like it.

0 comments.

Beef Stew

Posted on October 23rd, 2007 by Danielle.
Categories: Beef, dinner, Stews.

Today it snowed for the first time this fall in Colorado. It was cold and wet and I was hungry. Nothing sounds better than Beef Stew on this type of day. Here’s the recipe

Ingredients:

Steak or beef (a lot of different kinds of beef work for stew, but mostly just make sure you get something nicely marbled, but not fatty. I used top sirloin.)
vegetable or olive oil

1 white or yellow Onion
1 large or 2 small carrots
3 cloves garlic minced
4 or 5 red potatoes diced
1 pkg of mushrooms
1 can green beans
1 can diced Italian style tomatoes
3 cans beef broth
water
1 tbs rosemary
Salt
pepper

Optional:
Celery
squash
bell peppers
red wine

To Make:
pour 2 tbs of oil into a large stock pot. Cube beef and put into pot to brown over medium heat. When beef is browned, remove from pot and set aside. Drain excess fat. Add 1-2 tbs of oil back into the pot. Add onions carrots and garlic, and stir over medium-high heat until soft (about 5 minutes). Add in potatoes and mushrooms and return the beef to the stock pot. Stir over same heat for 5 minutes. Add green beans, tomatoes and first two cans of beef broth plus one can of water. Add rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Cover Bring stew up to boiling for 20 minutes. You will lose a lot of liquid in the steam. Turn the heat down to medium or until you have a rapid simmer. Add last can of broth and 1/2 can of water. Simmer for 1 hour or until beef proteins have been broken down and beef is soft.

Follow the Recipe extra:
For me, Beef Stew is all about knowing how things cook. The beef needs to boil for a long time to be soft and not chewy. The lower the quality of beef, the longer it will need to cook. Softer foods should be added later on in the process so as not to get too soggy. Potatoes can be added later in the simmering process to leave them a little crunchy. Try different things and taste a lot as you go. Also, if you’re like my husband and I and you can’t stand rosemary floating in your soup, use a coffee filter and some cooking twine and make a baggie. Take the baggie out of the stew before serving

You kinda can’t screw up beef stew.

2 comments.

« Previous Page « Newer