some dang good lamb rendang

After upwards of 4 hours of simmering, the lamb was falling right off the bone. After a quick caramelizing, I just put the whole pot on the table with some warm naan and let my little brother Spencer, my friend Chandra, and husBen dig right in...and needless to say, we finished off the Lamb Rendang. 

seared shanks resting

curry paste reducing

dig in, boys!

my last efforts at making this dish aesthetically pleasing

Lamb Rendang

My eyes are crying stinging tears and its not even 7 AM yet. I just keep chopping the onions, though, because I am on a mission. As the morning wakes up, the smoke from my efforts to brown the lamb shanks catches the rays of sunlight streaming through the kitchen window. Fragrant spices like curry and ginger rise out in the steam as I stir, and the puppy at my feet seems to like it, as she sniffs upwards and even licks the air for what she must view to be tangible flavors.

It’s just a Wednesday, but I woke up this morning with a task, and I object to being overwhelmed by it. Lamb Rendang…I got this.

I just turned 26, and while I don’t love birthdays, I do love that mine so closely follows NYE as to offer me a second chance at New Year’s resolutions. So, my revamped intention for this year is a refusal to be overwhelmed. I just want to see an elephant and get my fork out.

Let me explain. When we started medical school, our professors tried to equate the impending onslaught of material to learn with drinking out of a fire hydrant or my more favored expression, with eating an elephant: one bite at a time. They did not expect us to take lightly the responsibility set before us, but they also did not want us to be paralyzed by it. I understood that we just start somewhere, persevere, and work out our worry in action (okay, I added that last part, but it seems like a valiant game plan).

I realize nothing I do in the kitchen is of major consequence, but my free time in this space can fortify a mentality that cherishes the opportunity to learn new things, and does not let the possibility of failure keep me from trying in the first place. It also teaches me a methodology to use in approaching those “elephants:” just start chopping, just stir, just do all the necessary small steps diligently until your major accomplishment comes to surprising fruition.

I don’t know what your elephants are, but we all have them. Sometimes they are unrelenting and sometimes a singular task, but whatever it is that threatens to overwhelm you, just look it straight in the eye, say a little prayer, and get your fork out.

Lamb Rendang 

 From The Crepes of Wrath

For the Paste:

            1 onion, chopped

            6 cloves garlic, chopped

            2 teaspoons curry powder

            1 teaspoon kosher salt

            1 teaspoon ground coriander

            ½ teaspoon ground ginger

            ½ teaspoon ground red pepper flakes

            zest of 1 orange

For the Lamb:

            3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

            2 1-pound lamb shanks

            1 teaspoon kosher salt

            ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

            juice of 1 orange

            1 14-ounce can coconut milk

            3 teaspoons brown sugar

            rice or bread, for serving

Combine all of your paste ingredients in a food processor or blend with a mortar and pestle (or just chop incredibly finely) and mix until a paste is formed. Set aside.

Rub your lamb shanks with salt and pepper, and heat a heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Add in your oil and heat, then add in the shanks and cook for 5-6 minutes or so, turning, so that all of the sides become a little browned. Remove the shanks to a plate and set aside.

Add your paste to the pot, reduce the heat to medium and cook until fragrant, stirring frequently, for about 8-10 minutes, until the paste’s liquid has reduced by half. Add in the orange juice, orange zest, coconut milk and sugar and stir to combine. Add the shanks back to the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low, loosely cover (I put my lid on my pot a bit askew so that some of the evaporating liquid can escape) and simmer for 4 hours or so, until the meat is falling off of the bone.

Once the meat is tender, remove the bones from the pot and begin stirring the meat over medium-high heat, so that the liquid continues to evaporate and the meat caramelizes and fries. When almost all of the liquid is gone and the meat is nicely browned, you are ready to eat. Serve it with over rice or with vegetables, or even with a fried egg.

Pictures tomorrow; my Rendang is still simmering!!

plan A: surgeon

Confession: I never make a plan B. I pray/think/consider well my plan A, but I cannot attest that my confidence in this said plan rests entirely on such “preparation.” I suppose it is a gut feeling/peace about plan A (or a wholehearted fixation on my perceived best option) that drives me so rapturously towards it. I realize that it is not only an avoidance of failure, but a perhaps failure in itself to acknowledge that possibility at all. If something is just so right, why would there need to exist a lesser option?

I am not sure if you can tell, but most of my life has gone according to plan…but not a plan I once indisputably carved out, as it has, several times, been commandeered. Now please, I am not without hardships, but none such obstacle has yet so rocked my world as to discourage me from a relentless approach to life on plan A terms. Subconsciously adaptive? Maybe. My Christianity constantly reorients the perspective from which my adherence to plan A functions so well. I make whatever life befalls me my best possible outcome.

So when I fret about Match Day, don’t pay me much heed. Just give me a few months, and I will realize what Plan A was all along (and man, do I sure hope it matches my current plans to be a surgeon one day).

I made this soup in order to get a few people to come sit at my table. I plan to do this more in 2014: make dinner with the intention of attracting guests, in from a cold night, out from a funk, over for some sustenance. No production necessary, just simply to create a forum for conversation and comfort. 

French Onion Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 medium onions, thinly sliced

kosher salt

¼ cup dry white wine

1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce

6 cups beef stock

Four ½ inch thick slices of baquette

¼ cup shredded Gruyere cheese

In a large cast iron pot, heat the oil on medium-high. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and pieces are beginning to brown, about 7-10 minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt and turn the heat down to Low/medium Low, and continue to cook until onions are golden, about 25-30 more minutes.

Add in the wine and soy sauce and cook over moderate heat until evaporated, using the liquid to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. add in the stock and bring soup to a boil for about 1 minute. Turn heat down to low, and simmer soup, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until slightly reduced. Taste the soup and season as needed with salt.

Preheat your broiler with an oven rack about 6 inches away. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and top each piece with 1 tablespoon of cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and just starting to brown (watch this step carefully as it will only take 1-2 minutes!). Ladle the soup into 4 bowls and top each with a piece of cheese toast. Serve hot!

idealist

“He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”

-Saint Francis of Assisi

I esteem highly those words (as I do the man who wrote them) and affix my future to its maxim... so while I am waiting on the envelope revealing the location of that future, I will just employ these hands in the kitchen.

Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies

From Tartine Book No. 3

2⅔ cups (1 pound) chopped bittersweet chocolate (70%)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

¾ cup whole-grain dark rye flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon fine salt

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1½ cups muscovado sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Good quality sea salt, such as Maldon or flaky fleur de sel, for topping

1. Place a saucepan filled with 1 inch of water over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Set a heatproof bowl over the simmering water, taking care that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water, and melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally. Once melted remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the rye flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

3. Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed, adding the sugar a little bit at a time, until all the sugar is incorporated. Turn the mixer to high and whip until the eggs have nearly tripled in volume, about 6 minutes.

4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the melted chocolate-butter mixture and the vanilla. Mix to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, then add in the flour mixture just until combined. At this point the dough will be very soft and loose, which is normal; it will firm up as it chills.

5. Refrigerate dough until it just firm to the touch, about 30 minutes. (The longer you chill the dough the harder it is to scoop.)

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the fridge and scoop with a rounded tablespoon onto the baking sheets, shaping the balls of dough into rounds and spacing them 2 inches apart. Top each mound of dough with a few flakes of sea salt, pressing gently so it adheres.

7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies have completely puffed up and have a smooth bottom and rounded top. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and let cool slightly (the cookies may flatten a bit), then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. The cookies with keep up to 3 days in an airtight container.

NYE, a little late

Lets back up a few days…

I am running from the kitchen to the closet for a quick stir of the risotto then to dig through my clothes for anything sequined; I dash back in to flash fry eggplant then step into my red suede heels. My fingers are stained with berries and I have meringue in my hair, but I have a good 10 minutes before I am supposed to be anywhere with 3 dishes in hand. I always enjoy the hustle and our plans to both dine with close friends and stop by a party at husBen’s boss’s house in between our appetizer and main provide me adequate track for the few hours left of 2013.

It’s New Years Eve, after all.

Looking back, that night was an absolute blur. No wonder I lost touch with temperance and all adherence to moderation. Honestly, wherein our busy lives are we supposed to practice such virtue, when the clock requires of us a constant mad dash (true concern of a self-acclaimed workaholic)?

Moral virtue is formed by habit (according to Aristotle* anyway) therefore in order to possess self-control, I must repeatedly exercise self-control; through this action, I become a person of stronger will. Simple enough, eh? Note the importance of the mean/moderation here: 

“First of all, it must be observed that the nature of moral qualities is such that they are destroyed by defect and by excess. We see the same thing happen in the case of strength and of health, to illustrate, as we must, the invisible by means of visible examples: excess as well as deficiency of physical exercise destroys our strength, and similarly, too much and too little food and drink destroys our health; the proportionate amount, however produces, increases and preserves it. The same applies to self-control, courage, and the other virtues: the man who shuns and fears everything and never stands his ground becomes a coward, whereas a man who knows no fear at all and goes to meet every danger becomes reckless. Similarly, a man who revels in every pleasure and abstains from none becomes self-indulgent, while he who avoids every pleasure like a boor becomes what might be called insensitive. Thus we see that self-control and courage are destroyed by excess and by deficiency and are preserved by the mean.”

These words harbor great truth for me in 2014. I approach a year more dichotomous than any yet: almost complete freedom (in these last months of medical school) then my first real job (residency starting in July). I suppose I can begin practicing that virtue-building moderation in anticipation of the struggles to come next time I am in front of a bowl of risotto or a flute of champagne…

*excerpt from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

NEW YEAR’S EVE

Caroline made the most stylish menus

Prosciutto-wrapped Shrimp with barbeque sauce

the shrimp and Caroline's avocado pesto

20 extra large shrimp, shelled and deveined

10 slices thin prosciutto, halved lengthwise

2 tablespoons barbeque sauce

olive oil, salt, and pepper

flat parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After peeling and deveining the shrimp, brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt (just a touch) and pepper. Wrap each shrimp with one piece of prosciutto and arrange on a baking sheet. Brush each shrimp with barbeque sauce on one side. Place in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove, flip the shrimp and brush the opposite side. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Turn oven to broil on high. Place shrimp under broiler for 1 minute or until prosciutto is crisp (watch this step carefully). Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Lemon and Eggplant Risotto

From Yotam Ottolenghi’s PLENTY

absolutely fabulous

2 medium eggplants

½ cup plus 1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

7 oz good quality risotto rice (I used Arborio)

½ cup white wine

3 ¼ cups hot vegetable stock (use the highest quality you can find) 

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 ½ tbsp butter

½ cup Parmesan

black pepper

½ cup shredded basil leaves (I julienned about 4 leaves)

Start by burning one of the eggplants: pierce eggplant with a sharp knife in a few places. Put it on a foil-lined tray and place directly under a hot broiler for 1 hour, turning a few times along the way (the eggplant will deflate and the skin should burn and break). Remove eggplant from oven and cut a slit down ithe center in order to scoop out the soft flesh. Chop roughly and set aside.

Cut the other eggplant into ½ inch dice. Heat up 1/3 cup of the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the eggplant dice in batches until golden and crisp. Transfer to a colander and sprinkle with salt.

Put the onion and remaining oil in a heavy pan and fry slowly until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further 3 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the rice, stirring to coat it in the oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine (it should hiss) and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until nearly evaporated. Turn the heat down to medium.

Now start adding the hot stock to the rice, a ladleful at a time, waiting until each addition has been fully absorbed before adding the next and stirring all the time. When all the stock has been added, remove the pan from the heat. Add half the lemon zest, the lemon juice, grilled eggplant, butter, most of the Parmesan and ¾ tsp salt. Stir well, then cover and set aside for 5 minutes.

Taste and add more salt if you like, plus the black pepper. To serve, spoon the risotto into shallow bowls and sprinkle with the diced eggplant, the remaining Parmesan, the basil and the rest of the lemon zest.

Myra's Pavlova With Fruit



thanks for the recipe Mom!

4 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. white vinegar

½ Tbsp. cornstarch (corn flour)

Topping

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 ½ teaspoons sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Fresh fruit: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, passion fruit, blueberries, or other fruit of your choice tossed in 1 tablespoon cognac and 1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. You are going to mound the whipped egg whites on the parchment paper and bake. You can draw a 5-inch circle on the paper to make it easier to gage the size. Be sure to turn the paper over so that the pencil lines are not coming in contact with the egg whites.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until they hold soft peaks. Start adding the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue to beat, on high speed, until the meringue holds very stiff and shiny peaks. The meringue should feel smooth, not gritty. Beat in the vanilla extract. Sprinkle the vinegar and cornstarch over the top of the meringue and, with gently fold in with a spatula. Spread the meringue on parchment paper in a circle with a well in the center. You will place the whipped cream and fruit in here right before serving.

Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the outside is dry and is a very pale cream color. Turn the oven off, leave the door slightly ajar, and let the meringue cool completely in the oven. (The outside of the meringue will feel firm to the touch, if gently pressed, but as it cools you will get a little cracking and you will see that the inside is soft and marshmallow.)

The cooled meringue can be made and stored in a cool dry place, in an airtight container, for a few days.

Just before serving gently place the meringue onto a plate. Whip the cream in a mixer with a whisk attachment and sweeten with sugar and a dash of vanilla. Mound the pavlova with soft whip cream and then arrange fruit on top. Garnish with mint. Serve immediately.