scotty nails it...twice.

i think it's very important to give credit where credit is due.


the last few weeks, i've been having my sous chef scott make some of his own specials.  the only involvement i really had was in the planning stage and maybe some of the prep via his direction.  i know that when i was working for someone else, when i had the chance to create things on my own it not only helped to boost my self esteem, but it taught me to be creative.  and to make mistakes.  without mistakes you will never learn.


last week, scott wanted to do a lancashire hot pot with the left over lamb shanks.  so as we talked through it, he decided to deconstruct it.  i think it was an excellent idea.  to deconstruct a dish, you take all the elements in the traditional dish and essentially tear it apart and put it back together.  a hot pot is traditionally stewed with lamb, potatoes, carrots and onions served with pickled cabbage.  so he took all those elements and presented them in a different way.  


first he marinated the lamb for a few hours in a mix of herbs (mint, chives and thyme if i remember correctly...) and olive oil.  then it was roasted low n slow.  i think 250 degrees for about 12 hours.

i have to say, when i arrived that morning the kitchen smelled freaking awesome.


for the potatoes and carrots he cut shoestring fries.  pickled his own red cabbage (again, mistakes lead to lessons learned.  now we BOTH know malt vinegar is NOT a good one for pickling cabbage.)  we needed a sauce for this to bring it all together.  so a caper mint cream sauce was decided.


here's the final product.

this week..scotty did an asparagus and goat cheese frittata with wilted spinach and an herbed aioli.  that stuff flew outta the kitchen.  i didn't get a lot of pictures of the process because...well, i don't know.  i just didn't.  either way, well done scotty.  well done.

so, giving credit where its due...  scott, you rocked this shiz out.  high five brother.  i'm proud of how far you've come since you started and i'm honored to work with you!

harissa stewed shrimp. roasted yellow pepper and goat cheese shortbread. minted pea yogurt.

i have a new favorite thing.  harissa.  its smoky, spicy goodness that comes in a tube.  not to mention, it's showing up all over the place.  harissa is the new bacon.  


first.  making the stewing liquid is simple.  all you need is onion, harissa, coconut milk and a ton of cilantro.  


caramelize the onion.

then add your harissa (i used a lot, but your personal preference wins), coconut milk and cilantro.

add your shrimp.  season and let reduce by about half.  set aside. (i did mine individually so i could regulate portion size at the restaurant, but you don't have to.)


next...  the shortbread is the most time consuming part of this one.  i roasted my yellow peppers myself, but to save time you could just buy the can/jar roasted red peppers -tho the yellow are sweeter.


if you have a gas stove, put the peppers right on the flame.  a grill will do the job too.  keep an eye on them, you just want the skin to get nicely charred, but not overly.  keep turning them.

once they are black all over, put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  let them sit for about 20 minutes.  this will lock in the smoky flavor and also sort of steam the rest of the pepper.

i forgot to take a picture of the next step, but all you have to do to clean the peppers is run them under some cold water, pop off the top and rinse out the seeds.  after thats done, throw them in a food processor and puree.  dump puree into a chinoise (pronounced shin-wah) or fine mesh strainer.  

let it sit and allow the liquid to separate.  if you are impatient like me, use a ladle to push the liquid out of the pulp.  (the liquid could be used for a stock for soup, so don't toss it!)  set aside the pepper pulp.

now.  this is the fun part.  (oh, and you may get dirty...you should have seen the mess i made making these.)  grab some butter and goat cheese.  i'd say about a 50/50 mix.  let them get to room temp and put them in a mixer with the paddle attachment.  cream them together.  

now grab your pepper pulp from before and toss it in there as well.  how much is entirely up to you and your personal taste.  i did equal pulp to goat cheese/butter blend.  

after the pulp is mixed in, start adding flour until it's not sticky but not dry and clumpy.  take it out of the mixer and roll it out to about a 1/4" thick.  put it on a cookie sheet and cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or golden brown. (sorry for the bad pic!)

let that cool and you can cut out cool shapes with cookie cutters or just crumble it.  either way.


i just realized i don't have any photos of the minted pea yogurt process, but its simple.  put some fresh peas, mint, yogurt and salt and pepper into food processor and puree the crap out of it.  done.


now here's the result.

garden update. 5/16

wow.  i can't believe its been 2 weeks since i posted last.  time flies...

well, i think it's safe to say that the big rain storms we've had over the last few days have helped out the plants in the garden.  i think its safe to say the zucchini is taking the lead...if only because the corn is being eaten by some kind of caterpillar. how about some visual aids?

the zucchini is easily taking up half or just less than half of the garden.  i think we may have made a mistake in planting...1-3 plants may have been sufficient in the alloted area... instead there are probably 20.   oops.

this thing is loaded with blossoms.  

the chili plant is doing awesome as well.  the first pepper looked like this last week.

and this is this week.  i can't wait for this bad boy to mature.  i'm drooling over here.

a couple more peppers have sneakily started growing also...

our tomato plants are starting to kick into high gear as well... hopefully in another couple weeks we'll start seeing some fruit on them...need to get some of those support cages for them though.

the corn is doing relatively well.  it still seems as though the bugs are having their way with it.  we got some organic insecticide that seemed to help a bit, but think it may need another dose soon.

carrots are looking pretty good.  for now they are far away enough from the zukes that they aren't being hindered in growth.

unfortunately, i don't think i can say the same for the beets...  we've been trying to redirect the zucchini away from beets to give them a chance, but the zukes are just seriously out of control.  i don't have a lot of hope for these guys.

home garden update.

sometimes we lose sight of how things work.  sometimes, we remember how nature works.  


i have been so excited for our garden to start producing veggies, that i realized how much we take for granted.  i can make a phone call and have a ton of produce at the restaurant tomorrow....and not even think about how long it took for it to grow.  having this garden at home has helped me remember that good things come to those who wait...or at least that's what "they" say.


our corn is still afflicted by some bug.  looking into natural pesticides/insecticides.  

the zucchini is freaking out of control.  we resorted to adding another fence section to keep it off the beets.

the watermelon is slow going, but thinking that's partially or wholly due to the monstrous zukes.

the beets and carrots don't like the afternoon florida sun.  at night they look a lot better, but still are slow going.

the hot pepper plant is doing awesome.  it's probably tripled in size since we got it, and i saw some little buds on it that hopefully will turn out some spicy goodness.

last but not least...  our ONE surviving tomato plant from the transplant.  doing well.  probably 8" tall now. 

tamarind braised lamb shanks.

speaking of spring....  lamb is a perfect ingredient for a spring dish.

i've done braised lamb shanks before, but wanted to do something different with them this time.  so i made a tamarind sauce to braise the shanks in.

coconut milk, tamarind concentrate, mint, carrots, onion.  let that cook for about an hour.  puree. set aside.

now for the lamb shanks.  the basic method of braising starts with browning the meat first.  get a good sear on it and toss it in a roasting pan.  but don't get ahead of yourself.  make sure the meat is fresh.  season it.

roll it in some flour.

get a pan hot with some oil or clarified butter.  toss 'em in. (ok, don't ACTUALLY toss them.  that would be ridiculous.)

let them get nice and brown before turning.

NOW, you can put them in your roasting pan.  i'd suggest spraying some pan spray first.  it's gonna get messy.

once the shanks are in your pan, cover with the tamarind sauce you made.  put in the oven at 250 degrees for about 6 hours.  low and slow.  

once my lamb was finished, we paired it with the fava bean salad and a harissa yogurt.  yum.

fava beans.

spring is in the air...  at least i think it is.  sometimes it's hard to tell what season it is here in florida.  but one thing is for sure, the bounty of spring is upon us.


one of my favorite veggies that is abundant this time of year are fava beans.  if you've never had favas, think BIG lima bean, but better.  ok, maybe that's a bad example.  when i think lima beans, i think the gross canned things i was forced to eat as a child.  so, how about....let's just forget i said that.


fava beans are freaking delicious.  don't be mislead by my blunder of an example.  although, to enjoy these beans, you'll have to do a lot of work.  but the reward is totally worth it.

this week i got in a batch of some beautiful fava beans.  and the process started.  first you have to remove the beans from the pods.  i had a 20lb case, so this took a few hours.

once the beans are out of the pods, you'll need to blanch them.  get some water boiling with a lot of salt. (1 cup kosher salt to 1 gallon water)  once the water starts boiling drop in your beans.  let the water come back to a boil and cook beans for about 3-5 minutes.  dump hot water out/strain beans.  put the beans into an ice bath.  this will stop the cooking process.

after the beans have cooled down, they will look pale and wrinkly.  the fun part starts now.  fava beans have a thick membrane surrounding the inner fleshy goodness.  you'll need to remove that.  and you'll need some spare time..and lots of patience.  you can either squeeze out the insides of the bean, or you can grab a paring knife and remove innards that way.  i prefer the squeezing only for the fact that it makes it more interesting....those little suckers are like mini green missiles. 

after you are done removing the membrane you should have this.

now, keep it simple.  add some lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and some freshly chopped tarragon.  maybe some red onion for crunch.  


lunch, done.