Mediterreanean Lamb Stew

I often read a recipe while visualizing how it might taste (and look) if I just “tweaked” it a bit. Sometimes, a little experimenting makes a good dish REALLY good. You should not be handcuffed to exact measurements given but adapt according to your tastes, substituting ingredients for a new twist or adding or subtracting measurements. Other than baking, exact measurements are not as crucial in making dishes such as this marvelous lamb stew.

It started with a recipe from the New York Times (full disclosure here) and after three or four tries, I came up with this version, which, I believe, is even better. You can call it “Lamb Stew—My Way” and if you have a better version, please let me know so I can try yours.

Here is my “Mediterranean Lamb Stew” with notes on some changes I made from the original.

Ingredients:

·        2 lbs. boneless leg of lamb (The New York Times called for lamb shoulder, but I found it to be too fatty and less meat per dollar)

·        1 tbsp. unsalted butter + 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (NYT called for 2 tbsp. butter but my goal is to use less fat in my diet—more on that later)

·        1 small onion, grated

·        6 cloves minced garlic (NYT called for 4 cloves, but I find garlic becomes very mild when used in stews)

·        1 tsp. each salt, black pepper, cinnamon, coriander, cumin (Note: these were amounts in original recipe, but I used two tsp. cinnamon and one heaping tsp. garam masala to give the dish that unique Mediterranean flavor)

·        ½ tsp. red pepper flakes—use a bit more if you like a bit more bite

·        ¼ cup apricot preserves (I tried orange marmalade and it works well, too!)

·        1/3 cup red wine vinegar

·        1 20-oz can. drained and rinsed chick peas (I tried garbanzo beans once—not bad)

·        1 ½ cups chicken stock (NYT called for two cups, but I found this made the dish too watery)

·        1/3 cup dark raisins (NYT called for ¼ cup—I also added a handful of dried cranberries, which was a nice touch)

·        ¼ cup chopped parsley

·        2 tbsp. lemon juice

·        Cooked cous cous for serving (I tried orzo and it’s good, too. Rice is another consideration.)

Directions:

A)      Now that you have all of your ingredients ready, here comes the most difficult part—trimming the meat. Open the boneless leg of lamb and cut into large, manageable pieces. Using a sharp, smallish knife, trim all of the fat you can see and cut the meat into bite-size pieces (1-1 ½” each).

B)      In a large, heavy bottom pot, melt the butter, add the oil and the lamb, onion, garlic, pepper, salt, spices, preserves and vinegar. Keep stirring (6 minutes or so) until the aroma is strong.

C)      Add the chick peas and stock. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Reduce heat to just a simmer, cover and cook for about 1 hour 15 minutes. If you have less than two pounds of meat, cook for an hour.

D)      Add raisins and craisins and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and lemon juice and you are almost finished.

E)      Make the stew the day before and you will be ready to serve. After cooking, place dish in the lowest shelf of the fridge. When ready to re-heat, remove from fridge and scoop out the congealed fat that has risen to the top with a slotted spoon. After removing the fat, you will be left with a healthy, delicious dish fit for the nicest occasion.

Let me know how it works for you or what changes you have made to enhance the recipe. I can be reached at chefricklevy@hotmail.com.

Frozen Yogurt Layered Cake

Having just returned from three weeks in England and France and heading off to New Orleans tomorrow for a few days, I am a bit behind in my blog. As such, I have asked my wife, Leslie, to step in for me to share with you her simple-to-assemble ice cream cake. Here’s Leslie…

For several years, a group of our friends have been gathering once a month to share a potluck dinner, rotating among our various homes. Each host gets to pick the theme of the dinner and make various assignments—appetizers, salad, side dish and dessert. The host always prepares the main dish. We’ve exhausted many cuisines—Italian, French, Indian—seasonal such as Spring, Harvest, etc.—and single ingredients such as maple syrup. Last night our host chose yogurt. I was assigned dessert, always my favorite.

So I started thinking about and researching frozen yogurt cake, similar to ice cream cakes. Most of the recipe I developed is culled from reading various approaches to ice cream cake assemblages.

I decided to use a chocolate wafer bottom crust, followed by chocolate chip cookie dough frozen yogurt, over laid with a thin layer of cooled melted bittersweet chocolate, followed by a layer of vanilla bean frozen yogurt and finished off with my own chocolate chip cookies, which I put through a blender.

I used an eight-inch spring form cake pan, which yielded enough to feed 10 of us with two portions left over. You can use any flavor ice cream or frozen yogurt, whatever appeals to you. While I used a thin layer of melted chocolate, you could also use a layer of chopped nut, dried fruit or mini marshmallows. You are only limited by your imagination.

Ingredients:

20-24 chocolate wafers, pulverized

5 tbsp. melted butter, divided

1 or 2 tbsp. granulated sugar

6 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet or a combination of both, melted

24 oz. or ¾ qt chocolate chip cookie dough frozen yogurt

24 oz. or ¾ qt vanilla bean frozen yogurt

6 chocolate chip cookies pulverized

Directions:

1.     Butter bottom and sides of 8-inch spring form (releasable bottom) cake pan.

2.     Pulverize 20-24 chocolate wafers in blender or place them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to make fine crumbs. Add 2 tbsp. granulated sugar and mix well. Remove to small bowl.

3.     Melt 2 tbsp. butter. Pour butter into chocolate wafers and mix well until all of the crumbs have been wetted.

4.     Pour crumb mixture into bottom of spring form. With the bottom of a glass or using your hands, pat the crumb mixture into place—flat and even. Place the spring form in the freezer for 15 minutes.

5.     Remove the first container of frozen yogurt and let it start to soften. In the meantime, in a double boiler, melt 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate and 3 tbsp. butter, mixing until incorporated. Remove top sauce pan from boiling water and set aside to cool. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop out 24 oz. of the first container of frozen yogurt, in this case, chocolate chip cookie dough into a medium size bowl. The frozen yogurt should still be somewhat stiff. Use a large spoon to push all of the scoops together.

6.     Remove the spring form pan from the freezer. Spoon the frozen yogurt over the cookie wafer layer. Be sure to smooth this layer. Return to the freezer for 15 minutes.

7.     Take the spring form from the freezer and spoon the cooled chocolate mixture over the frozen yogurt. Return the spring form to the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove the second yogurt from the freezer and let it begin to soften. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop out 24 oz. of the second container of frozen yogurt, in this case, vanilla bean into a medium size bowl.

8.     Take 6 chocolate chip cookies and pulverize them in an electric blender or place them in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Spread this mixture over the second layer of frozen yogurt. Press the crumbs in with the bottom of a glass or use the back of your fingers.

9.     Cover with plastic wrap and return spring form to the freezer. Keep frozen until ready to serve.

10.  Serving suggestions: remove spring form from freezer. Take a sharp knife, dip it into a glass of hot water and wipe the blade with a towel. Run the knife around the perimeter of the spring form between the metal and the frozen yogurt. This step will make it easier to release the cake from the pan. Release the form and voila! You will have an impressive multi-layered frozen yogurt cake. To serve, continue to dip the knife into a glass of hot water and wipe the blade before cutting each slice. I put a chocolate chip cookie on each plate along with the frozen yogurt slice. You can also garnish with chocolate sauce or whipped cream or chocolate shavings.

11. You can adjust this recipe to assemble the cake into a loaf pan. In this case, you will need to line the pan with either tin foil or plastic wrap.

12. Enjoy! You’ll receive accolades.