Ethiopian-Spiced Lamb Stew and Red Lentils

One of the worst feelings in the world for me is to be three-quarters of the way through a shopping trip only to realize that you are not able to find one of your key ingredients. This doesn’t happen very often, as American interest in ethnic food has led to the widespread availability of many previously hard-to-find ingredients. Then again, I don’t know that Ethiopian food has enjoyed such popularity. In my quest (and it DID end up being a quest) to make these dishes–a rich lamb stew and a warmly spiced red lentil dish–I ended up going to four different stores looking for the African spice blend known as berbere. Upon realizing that obtaining it was not going to be possible (except maybe through an online order) I decided to do the next best thing and, as the resourceful cook I like to think of myself as, I sought to not buy berbere, but to make it. The recipe I used comes from Chef Marcus Samuelsson, an Ethiopian raised in Sweden. I had to pull out half the spice cabinet to do it, but I had my berbere, floral with cardamom and coriander, warm with ginger and cinnamon and clove, savory with dried onion and paprika, fiery with chiles de arbol. It lent flavor to both the lamb and the lentils, and I even had enough left over to save for next time, hopefully preventing future grocery shopping-induced panic attacks…

Ethiopian-Spiced Lamb Stew and Red Lentils

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons red wine
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon berbere (recipe below)
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3 1/2 pounds trimmed boneless leg of lamb, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 red onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped thyme
• 2 plum tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch dice
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced

Method

• In a small bowl, whisk the wine with the lemon juice, berbere, paprika and mustard
• Season the lamb with salt and pepper. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add half of the lamb to the casserole and cook over moderately high heat, turning, until browned all over, 6 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the lamb to a medium bowl. Repeat with the remaining lamb
• Add the onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper to the casserole and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened, about 8 minutes
• Add the lamb and any accumulated juices to the casserole along with the wine mixture, tomatoes, bell pepper and shallot. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the tomatoes and bell pepper have softened and the lamb is just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve

Spiced Red Lentils

Total Time:

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 medium red onions, finely chopped (2 cups)
• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• One 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 3 tablespoons berbere, plus more for sprinkling (recipe below)
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 3 cups red lentils (1 1/4 pounds)

Method

• In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and just starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, berbere, cardamom and a generous pinch each of salt and black pepper and cook until fragrant and deeply colored, about 10 minutes
• Add the red lentils with 8 cups of water to the casserole and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the lentils have cooked downand thickened, 25 minutes. Season the lentils with salt and pepper. Ladle the lentils into bowls, sprinkle with berbere and serve

Marcus Samuelsson’s Berbere

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 1⁄2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1⁄4 tsp. whole allspice
• 6 white cardamom pods
• 4 whole cloves
• 1⁄2 cup dried onion flakes
• 5 dried chiles de árbol, stemmed, seeded,
• and broken into small pieces
• 3 tbsp. paprika
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Method

• In a small skillet, combine coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, black peppercorns, allspice, cardamom pods, and cloves. Toast spices over medium heat, swirling skillet constantly, until fragrant, about 4 minutes.
• Let cool slightly; transfer to a spice grinder along with onion flakes and grind until fine. Add chilies, and grind with the other spices until fine.
• Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in paprika, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months

Harissa-Rubbed Roasted Lamb

When thinking about what to cook for my next meal, I’m usually motivated only by how the food will taste. But sometimes, I’m reminded of the interactive, playful aspect food can have, like the roasted lamb shoulder I made last night, eaten with naan bread and lettuce leaves. It’s a dish meant to be eaten with your hands, which just feels more fun than any meal eaten with a knife and fork. The meat had a sweet, smoky flavor, thanks to a homemade harissa paste with ancho chiles, smoked paprika and lots of garlic. The mild spice and the fattiness of the lamb is complemented by a tangy, cilantro-flecked yogurt sauce.

A fresh, Mediterranean-inspired chopped salad for accompaniment

Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Harissa

Total Time: 8 hours

Ingredients

• 1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 ounces ancho chiles (about 4) stemmed and seeded
• 1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 large garlic cloves, 1 clove mashed to a paste
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• One 3-pound lamb shoulder roast on the bone
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• Freshly ground pepper
• Lettuce leaves and warm naan, for serving

Method

• In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, finely grind the caraway, coriander and cumin seeds. In a microwave-safe bowl, cover the ancho chiles with water and microwave at high power for 2 minutes. Let cool slightly, then transfer the softened chiles and 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid to a blender. Add the ground spices, paprika, lemon juice, the 2 whole garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of salt. Puree the harissa until smooth
• Set the lamb in a medium roasting pan and rub 1/2 cup of the harissa all over the meat; let stand at room temperature for 2 hours or refrigerate overnight
• Preheat the oven to 325°. Add 1/2 cup of water to the roasting pan and cover the pan loosely with foil. Roast the lamb for 2 1/2 hours, adding water to the pan a few times to prevent scorching. Remove the foil and roast for about 2 1/2 hours longer, until the lamb is very brown and tender; occasionally spoon the pan juices on top. Let meat rest for 20 minutes
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the yogurt with the cilantro, mashed garlic clove and the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper
• Using forks or tongs, pull the lamb off the bone in large chunks. Using your fingers, pull the meat into smaller shreds and serve with the yogurt sauce, lettuce leaves, naan and the remaining harissa

More Noodles!

Hey guys, sorry it’s been a while since my last post…I haven’t had much time for cooking lately, as it seems my mercurial, obsessive nature leads me to commit my full energy to one pursuit at a time while ignoring all others, and I’ve been cycling through some of my other interests, like learning blues guitar, getting back into still-life/landscape drawing, improving my chess game, getting myself to the gym, finishing the Hunger Games trilogy, and sorting out the whole grad school/career thing.

I actually have been keeping up on my food writing, though. I’ve had the privilege of taking a food writing course at Stanford with esteemed food journalist/author Jeannette Ferrary, so I’ve been trying to think of ways to improve  Noodle Therapy, and to take something away to contribute to the site. In our latest assignment, I wrote about the science behind comfort food, for all you science-y types who may be wondering why food can make us feel so good physiologically. I posted the essay, titled “Sugar, Salt, and Serotonin: The Psychobiological Approach to Comfort Food” on its own page for anyone interested. I promise it’s not as boring as it sounds…

So this week, we tried a take on a Michael Mina recipe that I’d been sitting on for quite some time: strozzapreti with lamb ragu. Strozzapreti is a hand-rolled pasta similar to cavatelli, but in long pieces, like penne. The ragu featured both canned and fresh cherry tomatoes, and lamb’s ubiquitous partner, mint, to create an interesting savory combination full of sweet bursts of tomato, the menthol hit of mint leaf, all with an undercurrent of rich, gamey lamb. It wasn’t the best ragu I ever had (or even made) but for lamb-lovers, this seems to be a popular dish at the moment, and with cherry tomato season coming up, now’s the time to try this one out!

Strozzapreti with Lamb Ragu

Total Time: 2 hrs. 15 min. (45 min. prep; 1 hr. 45 min. simmering)

Yield: 8 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon Aleppo pepper or 1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds ground lamb
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 large fennel bulb—halved, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons harissa
• One 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped, liquid reserved
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 pound dried strozzapreti pasta
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced mint leaves
• Freshly grated sheep milk cheese, such as Everona Stony Man or pecorino, for serving

Method

• In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, combine the fennel, cumin, Aleppo pepper and peppercorns and cook over moderate heat until fragrant, 2 minutes. Let cool, then wrap in cheesecloth and tie into a bundle.

• Add the oil to the casserole and heat. Add half of the lamb, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat, breaking it up with a spoon, until browned, 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the lamb to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining lamb.
• Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the casserole. Add the garlic, onion and fennel and cook over moderate heat until softened, 8 minutes. Stir in the spice bundle, paprika, harissa, tomatoes and their liquid and the stock. Return the lamb and accumulated juices to the casserole and bring to a simmer.

• Cover the ragù and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer until thickened, about 50 minutes longer. Discard the spice bundle and season the ragù with salt and pepper.

• In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and return to the pot. Add the ragù and stir. Fold in the cherry tomatoes, scallions and half of the mint. Season with salt and pepper; transfer to a large bowl. Top with the remaining mint and serve, passing the cheese at the table.

MAKE AHEADThe lamb ragù can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat gently.

Greek Leg of Lamb

“If dry cooking methods were the Beatles, roasting would be George Harrison. Quiet, but effective.” – Alton Brown

I think roasting is one of the most underrated cooking methods. It lacks the flashy drama, loud sizzle and high flames of grilling or stir-frying. It’s missing the technical precision of baking, pastry arts, and sous-vide cooking. But there’s an honest simplicity in roasting, in putting your creation in the oven and walking away, in letting go and allowing the beautiful chemistry of the Maillard reaction to take place. Besides, sometimes you just want to relax and enjoy the day, and roasting is one of the most hands-off cooking techniques there is.

With that in mind, this Easter Sunday I wanted to make a leg of lamb. My family usually only eats chops,  but I’m not the biggest fan of rare lamb, so I wanted to slow-roast a leg over a few hours to get meat that was fully-cooked but still tender. And anyway, I wanted a dish that I could walk away from so I could spend the day with the people I love rather than slaving over a hot stove.

I found this recipe from Closet Cooking. It stuck out in my mind for two reasons. One was the Greek seasonings in the marinade. I was already thinking about leftovers before I started, and I thought the Greek-spiced lamb could be repurposed into lamb gyros/souvlaki pita. The second reason was the potatoes that went with the dish. In college, one of my go-to dishes was oven roasted potato wedges. It’s a dish you could make in your sleep. Just cut a few potatoes (you don’t even have to peel them!!) into wedges, toss them in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper and any other seasonings you might want, then roast on a sheet pan in an oven for 45 minutes to and hour until done to your liking. This recipe was only slightly more complicated, using drippings from the lamb in place of oil, and adding lemon juice, fresh oregano, and some lemon wedges to the party. Same concept, though, and same effortless but beautiful results.

Idiot-proof deliciousness

Greek Style Roast Leg of Lamb with Lemon Roasted Potatoes

Recipe from Closet Cooking

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

8 cloves garlic, half slivered and half chopped

1 (4 pound) leg of lamb with bone in

2 teaspoons oregano

2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped

2 tablespoons thyme, chopped

4 lemons

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 teaspoons pepper

2 pounds potatoes, optionally peeled and cut into wedges

1/2 teaspoon oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Pierce the leg of lamb with a knife and insert the slivers of garlic all around the surface.

•  Mix the remaining garlic, oregano, rosemary, thyme, the juice and zest of 1 lemon, the oil, mustard, paprika, salt and  pepper, rub the mixture over the lamb and let it marinade in the fridge for 1 hour to over night.
• Place the lamb on a rack in your roasting pan, top it with some of the marinade and place enough water in the pan to cover the bottom without touching the lamb.

• Cover in foil and roast in a preheated 450F oven on the middle rack until tender enough to easily pull from the bone, about 2-4 hours, adding more water if needed.
• Reduce the heat to 350F and roast until browned, remove from the oven cover in foil and let rest.
• Remove the drippings from the pan reserving them.
• Skim off a few tablespoons of the fat from the drippings and toss the potato wedges in them along with the juice of one lemon, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.
• Cut the remaining lemons into wedges, add them to the pan along with the potato wedges and roast at 450F until the potatoes are tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside, about 30-45 minutes.

The Joy of Braising

I think my favorite cooking method of all time might be braising. It certainly is where comfort food is concerned. I see no reason why the “comfort” aspect of comfort food should be limited to the table; for me, the act of braising a tough cut of meat for hours over low heat in a flavorful sauce is a calming, therapeutic experience. It’s slow. It’s relaxed. It’s a sensual experience: the gentle bubbling, the increasingly soft texture of the meat as it begins to fall off the bone, the wonderful smells that fill your kitchen and remain all day.

And braising is incredibly low-stress, as far as cooking techniques go, which makes the whole experience even more ideally suited for a fun, relaxing session of what I call “cooking therapy.” There are no high flames, spattering oil, precise cooking times or frantic, last-minute garnishing involved. You don’t even have to watch the pot, besides checking up on it once in a while. These are the kinds of recipes that I like to make on a lazy weekend afternoon while I sip on a beer and just hang out in my favorite room of the house…

…(hint: it’s not the living room)

I’d been meaning to make these lamb shanks braised in Indian spices for a while; I was just (literally) saving it for a rainy day. The weather was appropriate this weekend, so I jumped at the chance to make this dish, a spicy shallot-and-tomato based braising liquid that was almost like a curry, laced with chiles and whole and ground spices that included including garam masala, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, clove and star anise. It’s rich, brothy and assertively-spiced (all good, comforting qualities in my book) and the lamb gets so tender you could eat the dish with nothing but a spoon.

The curry-like braising liquid comes together in 20 minutes, then you simply have to nestle in lamb shanks that have been seasoned and browned. The shanks braise in the oven for two hours, needing minimal attention after that. For accompaniment, I made masala potatoes and peas with coconut milk, but you could also serve this with just basmati rice or naan. I hope you enjoy making AND eating this soothing, satisfying winter dish…

Indian-Spiced Lamb Shanks

Adapted from a recipe by Reena at Coconut Raita

Serves 4

Preparation: 30 minutes

Approximate cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients 

• 1/4 cup light tasting vegetable oil
• 4 lamb shanks
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 20 shallots, peeled but left whole
• 8 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 serrano chiles, finely chopped
• 2 small cinnamon sticks (approximately 3 inches in length each)
• 8 whole cloves
• 2 whole star anise
• 2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes (I used the “fire-roasted” variety, but this isn’t essential)
• 1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp. garam masala
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 cups chicken stock

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Heat the oil over high heat in a large ovenproof pot (choose one that has a lid).

3. Season the lamb shanks generously with salt and pepper.

4. When the oil is hot, add the lamb shanks and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Do this in two batches so the shanks don’t get too crowded. When fully browned, remove shanks and set aside.

5. Add the shallots to the oil and brown them, about 5 minutes.

6. Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic, chiles, cinnamon stick, cloves and star anise.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes.

7. Add the tomatoes, cayenne pepper, garam masala. coriander, cumin, and 1 tsp. salt.  Stir well and leave the mixture to cook for 5 minutes.

8. Add the chicken stock and stir again

9. Put the lamb shanks back in the pot, submerging them in the liquid as much as possible. Place a lid on the pot and bring the contents to the boil

10. Place the pot (with the lid still on) in the oven for 50 minutes

11. Turn the lamb shanks over, put the lid back on the pot and return to the oven for another 50 minutes

12. Turn the lamb again.  Reduce the heat to 300 degrees F and leaving the lid off. Cook for 20 minutes or until the lamb is falling away from the bone.

13. Keep in the oven or simmering on the stove until ready to serve.