That’s a lot of modifiers. Anyway, I saw a similar recipe to this on a food forum. I wanted to something Indian-y with the leftover lamb I had from Easter. This crock pot dish ended up feeding a happy crowd at poker night.

About 2 lbs of cubed leftover lamb meat

1 chopped onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

some whole cloves

some powdered cardamom

some garam masala (don’t go overboard)

some cumin

some turmeric

some coriander

salt and pepper

a couple glugs of chicken broth

1 can chick peas

1 large container greek (or plain if you can’t find it ) yogurt

a little butter

Cashews, chopped (a generous handful)

squeeze of lemon juice

Brown onion and garlic in butter – add to crock pot. Throw lamb into pot, along with spices, chickpeas, broth, cashews and 1/2 cup yogurt (I think I used more than this). Cook 8 hours on low.

Add another 1/2 cup yogurt (or till sauce is to desired consistency) and squeeze of lemon juice. Adjust seasonings (you’ll probably need more salt). Serve over white rice.

For Easter dinner, I roasted a leg of lamb and served it with a red wine sauce. What I ended up doing was mostly a combo of two Emeril recipes. It turned out well, though more “medium” than “medium rare”.

1 leg of lamb, about 7 lbs

8 cloves of garlic, peeled

Some red wine (used about a half a bottle total?)

about a quarter cup dijon mustard

Fresh rosemary

Fresh chives

Salt and pepper

2 shallots, minced

butter

Fresh parsley

olive oil

chicken broth, a cup or two

Marinate the leg of lamb overnight in a marinade made of red wine, dijon mustard, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. I also pierced 8 slits in the leg of lamb and stuffed garlic clothes inside.

Season the leg with salt and pepper. Roasted the lamb for 30 minutes on 400, then about an hour on 350 (until it was 140 degrees internally). Let rest for 15 minutes.

Served it with a sauce made out of lamb drippings, red wine, shallots, butter, chives, parsley, rosemary and chicken broth. Basically, brown the shallots in butter, add red wine to deglaze, add herbs and chicken broth, add more butter to thicken.

I found this recipe linked to from a blog I read, and had some good luck with it. I adapted it in the way you see below. Served this with grilled cheese sandwiches on whole wheat.

*Two pounds canned tomatoes

*1 small Onions, diced

*2 cloves Garlic

*some oil

*a few torn pieces of fresh basil, chopped

*some dried oregano

*some dried marjoram

*some dried thyme

*half a sprig of fresh rosemary, chopped

*3 cups beef stock

*2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

*1 Tablespoon Gin

*salt and pepper

*a bit of sour cream (recipe calls for crème fraiche, but I couldn’t find it and didn’t think it was worth it to make it for a few dollops

*dash cayenne

In a large pot sauté the onions and garlic in the vegetable oil until the onions are soft. Add the tomatoes and all the dried spices and cook in the pot for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then pour in the beef stock and let cook for another 5 minutes. Then take off the heat and put entire soup into a food processor or blender and purée. Then return to pot and to medium heat and add the tomato paste and the gin. Stir until completely mixed in.

Add to each bowl a dollop of sour cream spotted with cayenne.

Beck made this for dinner after happy hour last night and it was really good. Adapted off of the Mark Bittman blog.

3 cups butternut squash at 3/8 INCH DICE OR ELSE

1 shallot (although it could have used one more) chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Almost 3/4 lb fettucine (although this would have worked better with penne or farfalle, some less unwieldy pasta)

Olive Oil

Fresh or dried sage

Hot red pepper flakes

Salt/pepper

1-1.5 cups chicken broth

Skim milk

Flour

Pecorino romano cheese

Remove sausages from casings and brown, breaking up as you go. Once cooked, remove sausage from pan, add 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, toss shallot and garlic into the pan.

After about 2-3 minutes, add squash, sage, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and cover and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, depending on how small you diced the squash. (Ahem, 3/8-inch dice?)

Put the pot of water on for the pasta once the squash is cooking. Once the squash is soft, add chicken broth. Add the pasta to the water. Whisk together 3/4 cup milk with 3 tablespoons flour.

Once broth is bubbling in squash mixture, slowly add milk mixture while stirring, add until it thickens into a sauce, continue to simmer until pasta is done. (If you have extra broth or milk mixture reserved, you can play with the consistency of the sauce if necessary.) Add 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano to ragu right before serving, offer additional pecorino to top the dish. It came out very well!

Margeau sent this over after making it this St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a Food Network recipe she had much success with. Great for leftover corned beef.

Hash

2 cups roughly chopped boiled red new potatoes, preferably leftover from Corned Beef and Cabbage

2 cups diced leftover cooked corned beef

1/4 cup corned beef cooking liquid or chicken broth

1/2 medium yellow medium onion, grated

1/2 clove garlic, mashed with a fork

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Pinch of nutmeg

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Eggs

4 cups cold water

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

8 large eggs

In large bowl, place 1 cup of the potatoes and mash with a fork. Add the remaining 1 cup potatoes, corned beef, cooking liquid, onion, garlic, mustard, thyme, and nutmeg. Season generously with pepper and mix well. Store in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove the hash mixture from the refrigerator and stir in the parsley.

Heat 1/4 cup butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. When the foaming subsides, add the hash mixture and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Using a spatula, press the mixture down into a round cake the size of the skillet. Cook, shaking the skillet occasionally, for 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, moving the skillet occasionally, until the underside is browned and crusty, about 6 minutes more.

To flip the hash, set a plate the size of the skillet on top of the pan. Invert the pan so the hash falls on to the plate as an intact cake. Invert the hash onto another plate, cooked-side up. Return the skillet to the heat, raise to medium-high, and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. When the foaming subsides, slide the hash into the skillet cooked-side up. Cook, shaking the skillet occasionally, for 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, shaking the skillet occasionally, until the underside is browned and crispy, about 5 minutes more. Set aside covered with foil to keep warm.

While the corned beef hash is cooking, combine the water, vinegar and salt in a large skillet and bring to a simmer. Crack the eggs into separate cups. Carefully slide the eggs into the skillet and cook, turning occasionally with a spoon, until firm, about 3 to 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the eggs and transfer to kitchen towel. Lightly dab the eggs with a kitchen towel to remove any excess water.

Divide the hash among plates and top with the poached eggs.

I’m really pleased with this recipe, which is super easy but comes out very impressive. The recipe definitely could use more broth, though – I’m going to recommend 1.5 cans of broth instead of the 1 can the recipe called for. When I made this last, John and I were saying that barley or even pasta might make a good addition. I served this with Caesar salad with homemade dressing, and crusty french bread. I got this recipe from my friend Jen and made a couple changes.

*3 links Italian Sausage

*1 medium red onion, minced

*1 Garlic clove, chopped

*1 15 oz can black beans

*1 15 oz can white beans

*1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

*1 and a half 14 oz cans beef broth, or more if needed

*1 tbsp fresh basil, minced

*2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

*generous handful of kale, chopped

*salt and pepper, to taste

Rinse and drain beans.
In a large pot, brown the sausage over medium heat. Halfway through, add onions and garlic, and cook until onion is transparent. When sausage is fully cooked, drain excess fat.

Add beans, tomatoes, broth, kale and basil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve sprinkled with grated cheese.

This to me is the classic “treat yourself” meal to have with company. We bought some delicious steaks at Eastern Market and experimented with a bunch of Penzey’s seasonings: Bicentennial rub, Chicago seasoning, and Old English rub. Bicentennial ended up being the favorite. We also made homemade french fries (included here) and Asian-y Asparagus (listed elsewhere).

For the steaks

*Steaks: we had two strip steaks and one large top butt sirloin

*steak seasoning

*salt

*pepper

For fries

*vegetable oil for deep fat fryer

*four Idaho potatoes

Steak

Preheat grill with both burners on high for 15 minutes.

While that is happening, season steak with seasonings, salt and pepper.

Lower heat to medium. Cook steaks for about 4 minutes on each side for medium rare.

French fries

Cut potatoes into long strips (I like my fries not too thick). Heat oven in fryer to 375 degrees.

When fryer oil is heated, add half the potatoes to fryer. Cook for about 12 minutes (check to see if they’re crispy). Cook a second batch afterwards.

This is sort of a hybrid of a John recipe and a Missy recipe. Green beans are great this way as well. This is good as either a stir fry or a grilled dish.

*Asparagus, trimmed

*soy sauce

* a touch of teriyaki sauce

*fresh ginger

*red pepper flakes

*sesame oil

*a bit of salt

*peanuts or cashews, crushed.

If preparing on the grill: Marinate asparagus tossed in a little bit of all ingredients except the peanuts. Grill for approximately 5 minutes or until tender. Toast the nuts on the side and serve as a garnish.

Using a wok/skillet: Sautee asparagus with above ingredients – add cashews near the end.

Thanks to Nick for sending this one along, particularly as I don’t really bake and am happy to share others’ recipes in this department.

For pie:

6 cups of sliced, skinned apples

butter

For crumb topping:

1/8 lb. margarine

Cinnamon to taste – generally, enough to turn the mixture brown

Mix crumb topping by working margarine and sugar together with fork. Add flour and cinnamon, then work with hands to the point of desired crumbliness. Place aside.

Arrange sliced apples in pie crust. Mix sugar, cinnamon and flour, then spread evenly over apples. Dot with butter and add crumbs.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe came from my friend Doris (who I kind of lost touch with), and made its debut at one of my NAFTY parties.

1 part simple syrup

1 part fresh lime juice

2 parts club soda

1 part rum

1 handful fresh mint, crushed

Combine ingredients – serve over ice. A sugar cane stick as a swizzler makes a nice touch.