by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Meats, Restaurants
I love lamb and especially a crown roast. They are like lamb popsicles. A crown roast can be created by taking two 7-rib racks of lamb and tying them together (or ask your butcher to prepare for you). It’s a great easy meat to serve a small group of people (5-6 adults). It goes nicely with rosemary & garlic or parsley & mint. I like to marinate the lamb for at least 6 hours before cooking. I have made this roast several times, pairing it with Flageolet beans, seared greens and garlic mashed potatoes, as well as with (see below) roasted rosemary new potatoes with Chive Creme Fraiche sauce.
INGREDIENTS
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
- 12 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 crown roasts of lamb, consisting of 14 chops
- ¾ cup Olive oil
PREPARATION
Mix chopped rosemary, minced garlic, salt and black pepper in small bowl. Add in the olive oil to the mix. Place crown roasts of lamb, spaced apart, in a large plastic bag and add half of the mixture. Making sure all section of the lamb are covered. Store in refrigerator to marinate for 6 hours. Preheat oven to 450°F. Remove lamb and brush with remaining era/olive oil mixture. Cover bones loosely with sheet of foil. Roast lamb until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of lamb registers 125°F to 130°F for rare, about 20 minutes (or 130°F to 135°F for medium-rare, about 30 minutes; or 135°F to 140°F for medium, about 35 minutes).
Transfer lamb to platter; let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Remove foil and string. Cut lamb between ribs into chops and serve.
This one I served with roasted rosemary new potatoes. I made a chive-Crème fraîche sauce for the potatoes which ended up going pairing really well the lamb.
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Fish, Vegetables
Here is another Cobia recipe I created using Open Blue’s sustainable fish. The family loved it!
What is Cobia? Cobia is a mild flavored white fish, and a great sustainable substitute for salmon or sea bass. It has also been called black kingfish. There is more info on this fish on my previous post (click here). If you want to buy Cobia you can find it at this website: http://www.chefsfreshfish.com/Cobia-Fillet-p/e725a.htm
Ingredients for Sweet Potatoe Puree
- 2 large sweet potatoes peeled
- 1 cup of chicken broth (I recommend organic bone broth for a little extra protein)
- ¼ tsp of grated nutmeg
- ½ cup créme fraîche
- ½ tsp of salt
Ingredients for tomato “bruschetta”
- 3 tbsp of olive oil (EVOO)
- ½ cup of shallots (diced)
- 4 garlic cloves (minced)
- 3 plum tomatoes (deseeded and finely chopped)
- ½ lemon zest (finely grated)
- pinch of salt
- 4 basil leaves (thinly sliced)
Ingredients for Cobia fish
- 4 (4-6 oz) pieces of Cobia filets (Open Blue’s)
- 1 lemon
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp of organic butter
Directions for Sweet Potato Puree:
Cut sweet potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Steam for 10-15 minutes until soft. Place into food processor and puree, slowly adding in the chicken broth. Add in the nutmeg and salt. Puree until smooth. Add in the creme fraîche and puree briefly until you have reached a smooth creamy consistency.
Directions for Tomato bruschetta:
In a small sauce pan on low heat, add in the oil, shallots, garlic, tomatoes, and lemon zest. Salt to taste. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes on low heat, until tomatoes have softened and garlic and onions are clear.
Directions for Cobia Fish Fillets:
Pat the Cobia Fillets dry, squeeze lemon and add the salt and pepper. Can be done 30 minutes prior to cooking. In an iron skillet on medium-high heat, melt butter and sear the fish filets on both sides, making sure it is cooked all the way through and opaque.
Plating:
Place several spoonfuls of the sweet potato puree on each plate. Add the fish to the center and drizzle with the tomato bruschetta. Top with basil for decoration.
This also goes great with a side of kale salad.
Enjoy!
Serves 4
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Meats, Sauces, Vegetables
With recommended pairings from my favorite book, The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg, I combined Lamb with rosemary & garlic; Potatoes with rosemary, garlic, sour cream and chives, and added in “pea puree”, combined with cooked onions, garlic, chives and creme fraîche.
For the lamb:
- 3 lamb tenderloins
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp on chopped fresh rosemary
- 5 cloves of garlic
- salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Place all of the ingredients in a plastic bag and add the lamb and move around to make sure the lamb is covered evenly with marinade. Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. To cook the lamb place 2 tbsp of butter in iron skillet on high heat. Add salt and pepper to the lamb, and place lamb in skillet, sear all sides and cook until internal temperature reaches 135 degrees (for medium rare). Remove from skillet and allow the lamb to rest for 5 minutes. Internal temperature should be around 140-145 degrees.
For the potatoes:
- ⅓ cup of olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 tbsp of rosemary
- 3 cups of new potatoes cut in half
- salt
- ½ cup sour creme
- 1 tsp chopped chives
Set oven to bake at 400 degrees. Mix olive oil, rosemary and garlic in large mixing bowl. Add the potatoes and toss so potatoes are covered with oil mixture. Add potatoes to cookie sheet or large oven proof pan. Sprinkle salt on potatoes. Place in oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked. If you want to crisp them a bit, turn oven to broil and broil them for a few minutes until browned.
For the Pea Puree:
- 1 bag of frozen sweet peas
- ½ yellow onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp chopped chives
- ⅓ cup créme fraîche
- salt
Cook the peas in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Melt butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook stirring 3 -5 minutes until softened. Add in strained peas and cook for another minute. Transfer all ingredients including the chives to a food processor with an S blade. (my favorite is the Brevile Sous Chef) and puree until smooth. Place into a bowl, and slowly fold in the crime fraîche. Add salt to taste.
Plating:
Place a nice smear of the pea puree onto the center of the plate. Add the roasted potatoes on top of the puree on one side, and the lamb on the other side. Sprinkle lamb with parsley, add a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of chives to the potatoes. And voilà! Dinner is served!
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Meats, Sauces
This is probably one of the best Swedish Meatball recipes that I have ever tasted.. mainly because it comes from an authentic Swede… My mom! Who was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden! I sometimes make this recipe in large batches and store the mixture (prior to cooking) in the freezer. It’s a little time consuming but well worth it. The meatballs can be eaten with ketchup or you can go for gold… and make the cream sauce to go with it.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground beef (I prefer the 90% grass-fed)
- ½ lb. ground pork
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp milk
- ⅓ cup plain bread crumbs (unflavored)
- ½ cup pureed onion
- ⅓ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley (leafs only)
- 1 tsp salt to taste + 1 tsp for flour
- ½ cup flour
- butter (1 tbsp per batch of 20 meatballs)
Materials:
- Food processor with S-blade
- large plastic bag
- measuring cups
- Tsp and Tbsp
- 12″ Iron Skillet
- Small Sauce pan
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
- Mix the egg together with the milk, stir in breadcrumbs and let sit for 5 min.
- Place onion in food processor till pureed
- Stir the onions into the milk and breadcrumb mixture
- In a separate bowl, blend the two meats using hands or fork to mix
- Add the chopped parsley to the meats – mix well
- sprinkle in salt and mix well
- Add meats and onion/breadcrumb mixture together
- In a plastic bag, add ½ cup flour and 1 tsp of salt – shake well
- Make round balls of the meat mixture no bigger than 1 inch for each ball
- Place 10-14 meatballs in the bag with flour and gently turn bag to coat meatballs
- Remove each meatball by rolling in hand to remove any excess flour
- Place the coated meatballs a large platter
- Repeat above steps to complete entire batch of meat
- Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a 12″ iron skillet at medium high heat
- Add 14-16 meatballs at a time, making sure not to crowd the pan
- Roll the meatballs in the pan every minute so that they keep their round shape and don’t get burnt on one side
- Fry until cooked through and evenly browned
- Remove meatballs to a oven proof platter and scrape the drippings into a separate sauce pot
- Repeat about directions to cook each of the 14-16 meatballs
- with the last batch of meatballs – remove the meatballs and add in the reserved scrapings from saucepan
- Place meatballs into the oven while you make the sauce
Now for the Swedish Cream sauce!
Ingredients:
- ⅓ cup Crème Fraîche
- 16 oz beef stock
- 1 tbsp “Better than Beef Boullion” paste
- 1 tbsp flour
- ¼ cup beef stock
- drippings from saucepan
Combine the drippings from sauce pan back into the iron skillet and add the beef stock, and bouillon paste. Cook down for 5 mins stirring occasionally. Add in the Crème Fraîche stir until well incorporated. In a cup, add the flour and slowly stir in the ¼ cup beef stock to form a paste. Add the flour paste to the iron skillet and whisk constantly to make sure there are no clumps of flour. This will thicken the sauce. Cook for 3 more minutes. Remove the meatballs from the oven and pour the sauce over them. You can sprinkle with a little chopped parsley for decoration. You are now done and ready to enjoy my mom’s traditional Swedish Meatballs. (Goes well with traditional mashed potatoes).
