Julia’s Roasted leg of lamb with vegetables

Julia’s Roasted leg of lamb with vegetables
From Mastering the Art of French Cooking

A leg of lamb
Olive oil
Red Rock Salt and pepper
Garlic slivers
Rosemary, thyme chopped
2 carrots
2 onions
3-6 cloves unpeeled garlic

Preheat the oven to 450. Cut as much of the fat and skin off of the lamb as you can, rub the skin with olive oil, cut little slices into the meat and stick garlic slivers, rub the meat with the salt, pepper, and chopped herbs. Place it in the top third of the oven, let it brown slightly on all sides—for 15 to 20 minutes.
Reset the oven to 350, put the vegetables in the bottom of the pan. Roast for 20 minutes for every pound of meat, or until the internal temp is 145 degrees, for medium.

Rating: A. So, so delicious. Hearty, lamby greasy vegetables, amazing sustaining meat— enough to feed us all week with shepherd pies and cold lamb salads. This was great.

Joy’s Orange Ice Milk

Joy’s Orange Ice Milk

Combine in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved:

1 ½ tsp orange zest

1 ½ c. sugar

1 ½ c. orange juice

¼ c. lemon juice (my oj was really tart already—I just subbed OJ for the lemon juice)

¾ c. mashed bananas

Stir the mixture gradually into:

4 c. very cold whole milk

Pour into your ice cream maker. Voila!

Rating: A

Notes: Custard ice cream always works better for me—they freeze better, thaw better—but this is VERY good, and firmed up very nicely after a night in the freezer.

How To Cook Everything Lightning-Quick Fish Soup

How to Cook Everything Lightning-Quick Fish soup

5 c. fish stock (Joy’s Fumet)

1 onion

1 tbsp garlic

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp olive oil

1 c. canned tomatoes with juice

Salt and pepper

1 ½ lbs seafood (I used shrimp)

Minced fresh parsley for garnish

Combine all ingredients except for fish and parsley. Boil, then turn to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Add the seafood and cook through—about 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley!

Rating: A, easy, yummy, hearty.

Julia's Cheese Quiche

Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Cheese Quiche
I saw this recipe and decided it would be the ideal one to use my manna eggs in. When I cracked them open, there were so beautiful. The yolks were dark orange and very solid—as small as nickels. They were tiny so I used all four of them where this recipe calls for only two. Merci, wild chickens!
3 oz cheese
6 oz. cream cheese
2 tbsp softened butter
3 tbsp cream
2 eggs (or four, if you found them under your coconut tree)
Salt and (white) pepper
Cayenne to taste
½ tbsp minced green onion tops (or chives)
An 8” partially cooked pastry shell placed on a baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 375. Blend the cheeses, butter, cream and add the eggs. Force through a sieve to get rid of the lumps. Stir in the herbs and spices. Pour into the pastry shell and set in the upper third of the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the quiche has puffed and the top has browned.
Rating: A. Yummy! The quiche was so fluffy and rich.
Note: The recipe suggests using Roquefort, camembert, brie, or Liederkranz cheese. But I had a block of soft sheep cheese on hand, and used that, with tasty results. I also used LOTS more green onion tops, and still couldn’t hardly taste them.

Joy's Chicken Stock

Joy’s Chicken Stock
I came down with a cold this week and kept obsessing about chicken soup. I finally made this and filled my fridge with quart jars of the lovely golden stuff.

4-5 ½ lbs of chiekcn parts or one whole bird.
Cold water to cover
1 unpeeled onion coarsely chopped
1 carrot
1 celery rib
8 peppercorns
1 bouquet garni (I cheated and just used a big handful of the hard herbs from my potted garden and a couple of bay leaves)
(I added 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar for color)

Put the chicken in a stock pot and cover in cold water. Bring slowly to a boil, reduce the heat at once, and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Skim often. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer partly covered for 3-4 hours, skimming often and adding water if needed. Strain and cool uncovered, then refrigerate covered. Remove the fat when ready to use.
Rating: A

Deceptively Delicious Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili
From: Deceptively Delicious

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 lb ground turkey
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sweet paprika
pinch pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 liters chicken broth
1/2 c. red pepper puree
1/2 c. carrot puree
1/4 c. cornmeal
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1 can kidney beans

Cook the onion in the olive oil in a large pot, till it softens. Add the Turkey to the pot, and sprinkle with the spices. Stir until the meat is cooked through, 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, beans broth, purees, cornmeal, flaxseed meal, and stir. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes, until it's nice and thick.

Rating: A
Notes: I like adding the beans with the tomatoes, earlier than the original recipe suggests , so that the beans can absorb all those flavors.

Joy's Quick Coffee Cake

Joy's Quick Coffee Cake

1 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/4-1/2 c. sugar
1 large egg
2/3 c. milk
1/2 tsp vanilla or 1 tsp lemon zest

Struesel:
combine until crumbly:

1/3 c. sugar
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon,
1/4-1/2 c. ground nuts

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a pan-- cake or cupcake. Sift together the flour, powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter and add the sugar till fluffy. Add the egg and milk. Add the dry ingredients and the vanilla. Stir until smooth. Spread in the greased pan. Top with the Struesel. Bake about 25 minutes

Rating: A. Why do I bother with these ratings? If I put it on here, I thought it was delicious. So. A. So good, so buttery-- in fact, maybe (dare I say this blasphemy?) a little too buttery. Next time I might halve the butter. But amazing with tea for a Sunday brunch.

Joy's Spicy Seafood Stew

Joy's Spicy Seafood Stew

Olive oil
onion
celery
1 jalapeno pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 28 oz. can of tomatoes
2 cups clam juice
1/2 cup red or white wine or additional clam juice
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb skinless cod fillets, cut into 1" cubes
8 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined.
salt and pepper
1/4 c. chopped basil or parsley

Heat the olive oil and brown the onion, celery, pepper and garlic in a skillet for 3 minutes.
Transfer to a slow cooker, add the tomatoes, liquid, and red pepper flakes.
Cover and cook on the low setting for 4 hours. Turn the setting to high. Add the seafood. Cover and cook until the fish is opaque-- 10 minutes. Add the chopped herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Rating: A
It would be lovely with some crusty bread, and a drizzle of olive oil over the finished soup.

Joy's Vanilla Ice Cream

For Christmas I got my husband two vials of vanilla beans and we've been carefully hoarding them until we can find some recipes worthy of the black beauties. This seemed to be a good one to start on...

Joy's Vanilla Ice Cream

1 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. sugar
pinch salt
1 vanilla bean
2 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk

Combine one cup of cream, the sugar and the salt in a saucepan. Split and scrape the vanilla bean in, and add the open bean. Bring to a simmer and dissolve the sugar.
Pour into a bowl and add the remaining cream and milk.
Refridgerate overnight, remove the bean, and freeze in a ice cream maker.

Rating: A. Totally easy and very yummy.

Roy's Banana Pancakes with Raspberry Coulis, (with plantains and strawberry-blueberries instead)

Roy's Banana Pancakes with Raspberry Coulis

Raspberry Coulis

4 oz fresh raspberry (or strawberries, papayas, mangoes-- I used strawberries and blueberries
3 tbsp simple syrup (I used honey)

Puree the fruit and syrup in a blender, and strain.

1.5 c. flour
t tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 egg plus 1 egg white, beaten
1.5 c. whole milk
3 tbsp canola oil
5 bananas (I used 3 ripe plantains)
granulated sugar
confectioners sugar
also: mint, kiwis, strawberries, candied pecans, maple syrup.

Prepare the fruit coulis.
Combine dry ingredients, make a well and add wet ingredients. Don't overmix.
Cut the bananas (or plantains) into wedges, sprinkle with granulated sugar and broil until they brown.
Heat a griddle to 350. Add pancake batter. When bubbles start to form, place banana slices on each pancake, flip and cook the other side.
Decorate each plate with the coulis, and serve with the mint and fruit and syrup. Or just with the coulis and powdered sugar.

Rating: A

Roy's Tuscan-Style White Bean Soup

Roy's Tuscan-Style White Beans

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 c. onion, diced
1/4 c. pancetta (I used bacon), diced
2 tbsp celery, diced
2 tbsp red pepper, diced
2 tbsp carrot, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 c. dried white navy beans
5 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Note: I presoaked the beans by placing them in cold water, boiling them for 5 minutes, then letting them soak till cooking time.

Heat the oil, saute the garlic, onion, pancetta (bacon), celery, pepper, and carrot (*I add a pinch of salt here) over medium heat for till the bacon becomes a little crispy. Add the tomato, thyme, and rosemary and stir to combine. Add the beans and the stock and simmer until the beans are soft but still firm in texture (45 minutes to an hour). Season with salt and pepper.

Rating: A. This was easy and simple and delicious.