Kitchen3N

Recipes and food fun from Apt 3N

Beef Tagine

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I have been bitten by the travel bug. Not recently. The bite’s been smoldering more or less my whole life with my actual escapades limited only by finances and well, youth. And now, in the absolute DEAD of winter. With over a foot of snow in NYC in the past two weeks and with even more snow on the way this weekend!!! This is usually about the time New Yorkers duck out for more tropical climates. My husband and I ran away from a devastating snow storm in March 2010 that brought down power lines and trees in upstate NY. So, we were jerks and literally left our friends in the dark while we frolicked around Montego Bay.

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That same winter I had gone to Fez, Morocco for a work retreat. Although I didn’t have a chance to see Casablanca or ride camels in the desert, it was a great bonding experience with my colleagues. We did this great exercise in negotiation where small groups of us ventured into the bazaar with trinkets we had brought with us from our respective countries and tried to barter for the best deal. Someone traded an NYC Taxi Magnet for a lamp. Someone else bartered a snow globe for, what was it…a tagine?!

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Segwayyyyy! A tagine is a Moroccan earthenware pot that’s meant for low and slow cooking. It’s got a flat bottom with low sides and a conical top that’s supposed to accumulate the condensation. That ends up basting the meat throughout the cooking time. Now, I didn’t make it back with a tagine, but I did score a Martha Stewart dutch oven when I got married. It’s got little bumps all along the inside of the lid that effectively does the same thing as the tagine top.

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With the bottom round roast from Honest Chops, you want something that cooks for a long time to break down and tenderize an otherwise tough cut of meat. I went through all my recipe books and as much as I would’ve loved to try beef bourguignon or a beef daube, or even a pot roast, I just don’t have a good substitute for wine! Do you?

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And since I’ve posted many a curry on this site, I thought I’d try something different. So I went with Jamie Oliver’s recipe for beef tagine. Spices, beef, chickpeas, vegetables, broth. Right up my alley, right? Unfortunately, it wasn’t. I felt like there was a spice overload. A whole tablespoon of cinnamon – not bad. But then a tablespoon of cumin. A tablespoon of ground ginger. Paprika. Ras el hanout. I don’t even have ras el hanout (literally – top of the shop) spice mix. So I just did a quarter tsp of spices typically found in it – ground cardamom, coriander, chili powder, turmeric, nutmeg and all spice.

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You rub the spices into the meat and let it sit overnight (or at least 2 hours). They look and smell great at this point. Like fragrant truffles (is that redundant?). And when you brown it in the oil, it gives off the slightest golden hue from the turmeric. But that’s where my love affair ends. I tasted it 1 hour, 1.5 hours, and 2 hours into the cooking time. And I thought it was perfect at 1.5 (which is half the cooking time he suggests). I just wanted to avoid the fate of a certain boneless short ribs. But it was good at 2 hours as well. The prunes were a good additional as well. All in all – worth trying, just not my favorite.

Recipe courtesy of Jamie Oliver.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp cinnamon, cumin, paprika, ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric, nutmeg, coriander, chili powder, cardamom and all spice
  • 2 tsp salt (more to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp pepper (more to taste)
  • 1 to 1.5 lbs organic, grass fed, bottom round roast, cut into cubes
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 bunch cilantro stems, chopped
  • 1 can chickpeas (14 oz)
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes (14 oz)
  • 3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 summer squash, sliced (I don’t know if this is the type of squash he had in mind, but he didn’t specify so I went with the easiest one)
  • 6-7 prunes, chopped
  • cilantro, for garnish
  • cooked couscous, quinoa or rice for serving

Directions

  1. Rub all the spices with the meat and let sit in the fridge overnight or two hours at a minimum.
  2. Heat oil in a tagine, dutch oven, cast iron casserole, or large pot over high heat. Add the meat, spices and all, and let brown for 5-7 minutes. Add onions and cilantro stems and stir, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add chickpeas, tomato and broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom.
  3. After an hour and a half, add squash and prunes. Cover and cook over low heat until squash cooks through (about 30 minutes).
  4. Taste for seasoning. Garnish with cilantro and serve with preferably quinoa and a hit of lemon or lime juice.

Braised Lamb Shoulder

IMG_3010Happy Turkey Day everyone! In honor of this national holiday, I’m posting about…lamb. I know, I know – ill timed. But, come this weekend, when you won’t be able to stomach another ounce of turkey or leftover cranberry sauce, you’re going to looking for a hearty, warming meal like this one.IMG_2988 Now, most days are not braise days. Most days are mac and cheese from a box, or spaghetti aglio olio, or chicken curry days. I usually leave the braising of big cuts of meat (lamb shanks, shoulder, or short ribs) to the pros at my favorite Persian or Turkish or Afghan restaurants. But sometimes, you have to pull out the big guns. Visiting relatives. Someone got a raise, or maybe just got a year older. Or, perhaps you’re snowed in. IMG_2997Look at it just getting all cozy in its bed of tomatoes, onions and spices. IMG_2998When the occasion calls for a braise, the long, slow cooking of a piece of meat in order to render all of the fat and break down the muscle fibers to make for a tender, delicious meat, tomatoes and onions are my best friends. Many French or European recipes rely on the acidity of wine to get the job done. My mother and many on the Subcontinent might rely on green papaya as a meat tenderizer (strange, I know, but it works!). IMG_3003So, when deciding how to prepare this awesome lamb shoulder, I noticed most of the recipes in my cookbooks called for about 2 lbs cubed, boneless lamb shoulder (oops). Since this piece came bone-in, I decided to make the most of it! I love bones (it’s the Bengali in me). Since I don’t cook with wine or chicken stock for the most part, I rely on the bones in the meat I prepare to flavor the broth that it cooks in.IMG_3013 I reviewed many different recipes before I went ahead with this one. It’s a conglomerate of all of them (cooking technique based loosely on Andrew Zimmern’s stovetop method, spice mix based on Gourmet’s Ras el Hanout recipe). I used my dutch oven for this – it retains heat really well and the inside of the top cover is lined with bumps that allow the moisture to drip down and baste the meat. Any large pot will do, though. You want to cook until the meat is tender and falling off the bone, but not so long that the meat will dry out (not to worry, there is a fairly large window of time between the two). IMG_3016After a cooking time of 1 1/2 hours, I took the meat out and shred it with a fork. During this time, I took the pot off the heat, and blended all the chunks in the cooking liquid with my immersion belnder to make a satiny smooth sauce. You can do this in your blender, in batches, or leave as is for a more “rustic” look. I left the meat immediately around the bone in tact, for presentation purposes, or for the Fred Flinstone in your family. I served this with couscous cooked in a saffron broth, and vegetables lightly sauteed with garlic and rosemary.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Honest Chops lamb shoulder (this one was 1 1/2 lbs)
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne (1/4 tsp if you prefer it mild)
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
  • 1/8 tsp cloves
  • 1 tbsp garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp ginger paste
  • 1 lb tomatoes, quartered (you can use the equivalent amount of crushed/whole tomatoes from a can)
  • 3 cups water

Directions

  1. In a large dutch oven or casserole, heat oil over high heat. Season the lamb shoulder with salt and pepper. Add to the pot. Don’t move until the side that’s down is nice and brown (2-4 minutes depending on heat level). Rotate to the next side, carefully. Repeat until all sides are browned (about 10 minutes). While this happens, dice the onion and assemble the spices. Take the shoulder out of the pan and onto a plate. Set aside.
  2. Add the diced onion to the hot pan, stirring vigorously to get the brown bits off the bottom. When they start to sweat, add tomato paste and ALL of the spices (up to the cloves). Add a splash of water, if necessary to dissolve all the spices and form a nice mush. Once the spices are dissolved and you have a nice onion/spice paste, add garlic, ginger and tomatoes. Stir to combine. Next, add the water, then nestle the meat in. Bring up to a boil.
  3. Reduce heat to a simmer and put the lid on. Simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, rotating the meat every 20 minutes or so to ensure even cooking.
  4. After the 1 1/1 hours is up, remove meat from pot and check for doneness and seasoning (should be fork tender and delicious!). Shred most of the meat with two forks on a cutting board. Remove pot from heat and blend the broth with an immersion blender, or in batches in a conventional blender, or leave as is for a more rustic look. Also check the broth for seasoning. Return to heat and boil over high heat for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Add the meat back and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
  5. Serve on a bed of couscous or rice, garnished with a sprinkling of fresh parsley.