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Going on the Lamb

YumSugar — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:33:31 -0800

I'm not sure when it happened, but lamb has become one of my favorite meats to eat. I used to be weird about it, thinking it was far too gamy. However, I realized I was wrong. When prepared correctly, lamb can be absolutely delicious and positively tasty.

I've had this recipe for Cardamom-Scented Lamb With Mashed Sweet Potatoes in my to-make file for quite some time, and last night I finally got around to making it. It takes a little bit more time than a Fast & Easy Dinner, but if you're willing, it can definitely be accomplished on a school night. The meat is seared then finished in the oven, and the whole thing is served with a red-wine sauce. To get the recipe, read more.

While perfect on its own, I accompanied mine with the suggested mashed sweet potatoes and some lightly sautéed bok choy.

Cardamom-Scented Lamb With Mashed Sweet Potatoes
From Bon Appétit, December 1999

1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. tomato paste
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 cups dry red wine
1 cup canned beef broth
1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth

2 tbsp. shelled cardamom seeds
2 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 lb. racks of lamb, trimmed
2 tbsp. olive oil

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 tsp. coarse-grained mustard
salt and pepper for seasoning
Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add tomato paste, garlic, and thyme; sauté 1 minute. Add wine and boil until reduced by half, about 8 minutes. Add both broths; boil until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 10 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Preheat oven to 450°F. Toast cardamom seeds in heavy small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Cool. Transfer to spice grinder; grind coarsely. [I used a mortar and pestle.]
Sprinkle lamb with cardamom, salt and pepper.
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add 1 lamb rack; sear until brown, turning occasionally, about 6 minutes. Transfer lamb, meat side up, to baking sheet. Repeat with second lamb rack. [I was actually only using one lamb rack and so I seared it in my heavy oven-proof skillet, moved the lamb out, drained some of the oil - careful it's hot! - and then put the lamb back on the skillet instead of a separate baking sheet.]
Roast until meat thermometer inserted into center registers 125°F for medium rare, about 18 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Cut lamb between bones into chops.
While chops are roasting: Bring sauce to simmer. Reduce heat to low. Add butter and mustard; whisk just until butter melts. Season with pepper.
Spoon sauce onto plates.
Top with sweet mashed potatoes and lamb and serve. [I also lightly sautéed thin strips of bok choy, and wrapped them around the plated sauce. Seen in top photo.]

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Sunday Dinner: Algerian Lamb Shanks with Cardamom and Orange

YumSugar — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 02:19:48 -0700

As a kid I was exposed to a lot of interesting foods, but for some reason I never had lamb until I was in college. These days it's one of my favorite meats, I absolutely love the sweet yet gamey taste it has. So whenever I think of slow roasted meats, my mind immediately leaps to lamb, especially since it really holds up nicely against a variety of spices, such as saffron, cardamom and curry. For tonight's Sunday Dinner I thought I'd present a recipe for Algerian Lamb Shanks with Cardamom. I am super excited to give this recipe a try - if it sounds like a good idea to you, read more

Algerian Lamb Shanks with Cardamom and Orange
From Williams-Sonoma

4 lamb shanks, external fat trimmed
Salt, to taste, plus 1 Tbs. salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more
for serving
1 lb. yellow onions, diced
1/4 cup peeled garlic cloves
1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh ginger
2 cardamom seeds, skins removed
Pinch of saffron
1 tsp. chili flakes
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. caraway seeds
2 tsp. fennel seeds
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 Tbs. curry powder
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 cans (10 oz. each) diced plum tomatoes
1 bottle white wine
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 lb. carrots, peeled and coarsely diced
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and
coarsely diced

Preheat an oven to 350°F.
Generously season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper. In an ovenproof deep sauté pan or Dutch oven over high heat, warm 2 Tbs. of the olive oil until nearly smoking. Working in batches, brown the shanks, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter.
Add the remaining 2 Tbs. olive oil, the onions and garlic to the pan and sauté, stirring, until the onions are tender and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the ginger, cardamom, saffron, chili flakes, cloves, caraway, fennel seeds, cinnamon, curry, the 1 Tbs. salt, almonds and raisins. Sauté, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes more. Add the tomatoes, wine, orange zest and orange juice and stir to mix well. Submerge the shanks in the liquid and bring to a simmer. Cover, transfer the pan to the oven and cook until the meat nearly falls off the bone, about 2 hours.
Stir the carrots and fennel bulb into the stew, cover and bake until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes more. Drizzle each serving with olive oil. Serves 4.

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Padma Lakshmi's Jewelry Line Debuts Tomorrow

partysugar — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:30:19 -0700

Model. Top Chef hostess. Cookbook author. Now Indian beauty and culinary world darling, Padma Lakshmi can add jewelry designer to her résumé. Her high-end (prices range from $300-6,000) namesake collection of gold jewels debuts tomorrow at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City and I've got a sneak preview! The line combines Padma's love for food and fashion.

She was inspired by cardamom, lentils, and cloves: "In hunting for the most precious spices, I found the shapes of seeds and pods exquisite, a purity of proportion and form that had an inherent sensuality to them." Entitled "Padma" the collection consists of 40 pieces including rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. I'm a fan of bohemian gold jewelry and if I could afford it, I might purchase of one Padma's pieces. What do you think of her designs?

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Does Coffee Dream of Electric Chocolate? New Starbucks Chocolate Reviewed

YumSugar — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:30:31 -0800

This summer a press release went out with limited fanfare. The folks at Hershey's were teaming up with Starbucks. At the time there was very little news available, other than an upcoming Starbucks-branded premium chocolate. The news piqued my interest, but there was no word on when the products would hit the shelves. Turns out it's today.

Using the expertise of Artisan Confection Company - a division of Hershey's that includes Scharffen Berger and Joseph Schmidt - Starbucks has created a line of products to sell in stores. There are three types of chocolate bars, tasting squares and filled truffles. Thanks to FabSugar - who hand-carried these samples back from New York - we were lucky enough to give them a try. If you want to learn more about each flavor, as well as what we thought of them, read more.

The box the samples arrived in was dramatic. It was a high quality brown box filled with all sorts of goodies. There were six different tasting squares, four truffles, three chocolate bars and covered coffee beans. I thought the bars were better than the squares, and that the truffles were a bit overpowering. The beans on the other hand, were absolutely delicious. Overall, the flavors that paired coffee with chocolate were highly successful, the other tea-inspired flavors, not so much.
Truffles

Dark Chocolate Vanilla Bean Truffle: A rounded chocolate-covered-cherry sized truffle with a large dollop of vanilla bean cream in the middle. It was creamy and smooth, slightly buttery. Overall very nice.

Milk Chocolate Chai Truffle: This was the least favorite truffle. It was super heavy-handed with the cardamom and tasted more like sucking on chocolate covered cardamom pod, than it did like chai.
Milk Chocolate Caffe Mocha: The chocolate is slightly waxy. I thought it seemed rather Hershey's-like. Reminded us of the Hershey's Treasures, only better.
Dark Chocolate Espresso: This was by far our favorite truffle. The dark chocolate was smooth - almost too smooth - and it had a great melt, with a hint of smokiness. The espresso really came through, but was not overpowering. We'd definitely eat this again.

Milk Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
This was my favorite thing in the box. FabSugar - who is a bit of a chocolate snob and hates on milk chocolate - even thought they were delicious. Unlike most chocolate covered beans, these are more like ground up beans covered in chocolate. It's a big coating of chocolate on a lovely amount of crunch.

Tasting Squares

Milk Chocolate: This was sort of generic. It would hit the spot if you craved chocolate, as it was tasty, but there was nothing special about it.
Dark Chocolate: Strangely, we liked the milk chocolate better. We thought it was a bit waxy. Again, tasty, but nothing special.
Mocha Dark Chocolate: This was our favorite square, the flavor pairing was really nice. There were bits of beans in it. I almost wished they offered this in a milk chocolate version too.
Chai Milk Chocolate: Like the truffle, there was way too much cardamom going on. Some of the folks here liked it because of that, but I was disappointed by how much it didn't taste like chai.
Passion Dark Chocolate: This was the worst thing in the entire box. Some of the folks thought it was okay, but I hated it. It was highly floral in taste, and there were bits of things in it that were just too much. It sort of tasted like artificial powder stuck inside of the chocolate. I say pass this one off to your friends, so you can eat the others.
Citron Dark Chocolate: Like the passion square, this one is also infused with tea. It was nicely flavored and okay. However at the end, it started reminding me of cleaner. If you love lemon/chocolate pairings you'd probably like it, but once again I say pass this one and eat the others.

Chocolate Bars
There are three flavors of chocolate bars - milk, dark and mocha dark - the flavors are reviewed above, but it should be mentioned that they tasted much better in a thicker bar format. It was nice to have something to sink your teeth into.

So, have you seen the new Starbucks Chocolates - they'll be in large grocery and drug stores retailers soon. If so, have you tried them?

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Top 5 Flavor Pairing Predictions for 2009

YumSugar — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:16:02 -0800

At the onset of each year, American spice company McCormick offers its prediction for the top spice combinations. When we shared the company's top picks with you last year, your vote went to the vanilla and cardamom combo. Incidentally, throughout 2008, I encountered that flavor pairing in recipes and menu items from flan to peach pie. McCormick recently released its forecast for 2009. To see five of the new flavor combinations predicted to explode onto the food scene (and your tongue) this year, read more.

Toasted sesame and root beer
Chinese five spice and artisan-cured pork
Dill and avocado oil
Mint and quinoa
Smoked paprika and agave nectar

The Peruvian grain quinoa has been gaining popularity, and I've already seen recipes for it tossed with mint and other herbs. With the shift away from high-fructose corn syrup and toward natural sweeteners, I could see agave nectar and smoked paprika being a big hit. Toasted sesame and root beer? That's an interesting idea, but I'd have to try it in order to believe it will take off.

What are your thoughts on the flavor forecast?

Source

Grind Spices the Easy Way

partysugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:54:31 -0800

Last weekend when making YumSugar's lamb - which was to die for! - my dad and I ran into a little problem. After toasting the cardamom seeds, the recipe asked you to grind them in a spice grinder. Yum used her mortar and pestle, but our mortar was missing! How on earth were we supposed to grind spices without a spice-grinding machine or a mortar and pestle? The solution is super simple, something that you can do at home! To find out what we did, read more.

Most kitchens have a black-peppercorn hand grinder. We removed the black peppercorns and filled the grinder with toasted cardamom seeds. To ensure that the spices end up in the grinder pour them into a small measuring cup. Next grind the seeds onto the lamb as you would black pepper. This technique can be used with other seeds or spice blends.

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Taste the Future of Flavor - The Top 10 Flavor Pairings For 2008

YumSugar — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:20:51 -0800

Each year, the folks at McCormick put out a list of 10 flavor pairings. Last year things like clove and green apple reigned supreme, but this year it's more intriguing like vanilla bean and cardamom. To see all 10 of their food-pairing predictions, click the "Start Slideshow" button below.

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Happy Hour: Moroccan Vodka Cocktail

partysugar — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:13:18 -0700

I don't think this is an authentic Moroccan recipe, but it certainly sounds delicious. This cocktail is made with cardamom - a slightly sweet floral spice that smells heavily of eucalyptus- infused simple syrup. Although the name may be unfamiliar, this is actually a pretty common, kosher spice that they sell at your local Safeway. Mixed with pomegranate vodka, lemon juice, and fresh pomegranate juice, this is a cocktail that will take you to an exotic place. Come away with me to Morocco, to find out how, just read more

Charbay Moroccan Cocktail
From About Cocktails

2 oz Charbay Pomegranate Vodka
1/2 oz cardamom-infused simple syrup, recipe follows
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz pomegranate puree or juice

Pour the vodka, cardamom simple syrup, lemon juice and pomegranate puree in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

Shake well.

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Serves 1.

Cardamom Simple Syrup

1 cup water
1/4 cup whole cardamom
2 cups sugar

Bring water and cardamom to a boil.
Stir in sugar until fully dissolved.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Keep in the refrigerator for 3 days, then remove the cardamom.

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Know Your Teas - Part 2

YumSugar — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:58:39 -0700

Somehow this week has ended up as the unofficial YumSugar tea week. We've had tea party plans, tea definitions and all sorts of things tea related. The other day I broke out the difference in standard tea types, and today I thought I'd talk about a few of the more common tea blends.

Chai - The style of preparing black tea (although it can be made with green or oolong) with milk, sugar, and spices (including cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, pepper and allspice).

Roobios - A flavorful, caffeine-free herbal tea made from a South African shrub. Also known as red tea.

English Breakfast - A full-bodied, robust black tea blend.

Irish Breakfast A full-bodied, malty black tea. It has a strong dark potent character, sometimes compared to stout beer.

Earl Grey - A tea blend with flavor and aroma derived from oil extracted from the fragrant bergamot orange.

Yerba Maté - An herbal tea that is popular in South America, made by steeping dried leaves of Yerba Mate.

Darjeeling - Strong bodied black tea from the province of Darjeeling in India.

What's your favorite kind of tea? Let us all know about it below!

To the 5 Boroughs Ice Cream

YumSugar — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 13:51:19 -0800

Attention New York readers, forget those trendy tees stating which borough you're from, there's now a tastier way to represent. 5 Boroughs Ice Cream is a new brand born out of a hobby turned obsession. Made from local ingredients, there is a handcrafted flavor for each borough (and then some, including one for NY's finest called NYPB: chocolate with a peanut butter swirl and fudge filled chocolate hearts). I personally can't wait to try the Jackson Heights inspired Mangodesh: mango ice cream spiced with cardamom. However it looks like I'll have to wait a while, 5 Boroughs is currently only available in New York.