For Mother’s Day, we grilled lamb steaks. Anya made a garlic sauteed corn, and we had some cherry whiskey (since there was cherry wood in the wood fire … figured that would match). Quick salt and pepper on the steaks, then seared over the fire and cooked for about 20 minutes. Rested inside, and we had a delicious meal.
Ingredients:
1.5 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder
1/2 tsp grated garlic clove
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
half of a green cabbage, sliced into squares
Method:
Mix together everything except the cabbage. Mix into the cabbage and allow to sit for a few hours in the fridge. Serve.
The flowering tips of a kale plant are nice, crispy bites with a broccoli flavor. We’ve been having a lot of kale flower salads — kale, flowering tips, dried cranberries, pecans, croutons, pickled beans, garlic, pickled green tomatoes, a little cheese, and garlic vinaigrette. Very tasty! Anya has perfected her salad recipe!
Well, sorta. For Dumplin’s birthday, Anya made the cats “kitten cake” — crushed peanuts (he loves peanuts), tuna, and sprinkles of shredded mozzarella. They loved it … Anya wasn’t sure about crunchy peanuts with tuna 🙂
We grew pumpkins last year, and I wanted to make something for the cats too
8 oz cooked tuna
1 egg
1 oz shredded carrot
1 oz cooked pumpkin, mashed
1 oz olive oil
1 pinch catnip
7 oz oat flour
Preheat the oven to 350F
Mix everything except the oat flour together, the slowly stir in the flour to form a dough.
Spread on baking tray about 1/2″ thick & cook for 10-15 minutes. Cut into small rectangles and allow to cool. Serve to happy kittens!
Although this takes a long time to cook, it’s very low effort and delicious.
Pat duck legs dry. Score the skin and salt liberally. Let rest for about an hour.
Put duck legs, skin side up, into a small casserole dish — you don’t want too much space because the fat renders out and fills the dish. Place in an oven and heat to 285F. Cook for about two hours. The duck should be partially submerged in the oil.
When the duck is tender, raise heat to 375F and cook for about 15 minutes to crisp the skin.
Let rest for about 15 mins and serve.
To go with the smoked lamb, I made pita and tzatziki sauce. The pita was a basic dough recipe (although fairly wet dough!)
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 2/3 cups warm water about 95 degrees F
1 tsp maple syrup
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
Maple and water were mixed together & yeast added. The mixture sat on the counter for about twenty minutes and was really frothy. Salt and flour combined in the mixer, then the liquid added and dough kneaded for about ten minutes. Left to rise for about an hour, then split into eight balls, rolled out, and baked at 500F until puffed (4-5 minutes).
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp salt
2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup garlic scapes
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
Blend everything until emulsified and bright green
Rub over lamb and allow to marinade for at least an hour
We grilled the lamb over cherry and oak wood — it cooked a lot quicker than expected! Then allowed to rest for 10 minutes.
Sliced and served with salad and cherry wood whiskey.
Mixed all together in a bowl
And served with veggies
Baked corndogs aren’t quite a success. The basic idea is to make a fairly doughy corn bread that can be rolled out and wrapped around the hotdog / veggie dog / sausage.
Rollable Cornbread Dough
1 cup all purpose flour + 1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
6 tbsp butter
2 Tbsp honey
1 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup buttermilk
Combine dry ingredients, cut in butter, then add honey. Hydrate the yeast in a few tablespoons of water. Mix yeast and buttermilk in until you’ve got a firm dough.
After it sits for an hour, roll it out and cut strips to wrap the dogs. Allow to rest for about half an hour. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
The dough was very crumbly and a little dry. Next time, maybe a little more butter and all purpose flour to make something a little more like a croissant
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