Organic Irish Lamb Chops

This is my second time making lamb chops for my husband. The first time I cook them rare. He just asked more more potatoes. So this time I cook them really well done.

2 organic Irish Lamb chops
Rub with salt, pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, drop of oil.
Cover and let marinate for10 min/ few hours.
Cook on a really hot grill pan 5 min on each side.
Pull the meat off and let rest for 5 min before.
De glaze the pan with red wine/ grape juice and pore on top of the lamb.
I also made roasted Indian potatoes.
Par-boil 4 potatoes.
Heat the oven to the highest heat.
Into a pan 2 Tbs oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 3 whole cloves of garlic and 5 small green chillies. Heat the pan in the oven and then put in the par-boiled potatoes.
Bake for 20 min.

Fast and yummy, but I miss my rice!

Bread Machine

The same Lady who made us that nice dinner also game us a bread machine.

It works really well, makes 2 small loafs or 1 big if I send a way for the pan. I made a spicy corn bread and a sweet ginger bread. The corn bread was a dry dough and the ginger was wet, but they both baked up well. Also makes jam. How do you make jam in a bread machine???

Iranian Dinner

Last weekend we had a dinner at a lovely Iranian lady's home. There was think yogurt with cucumber, raisins and walnuts.

Spicy roast chicken with pomegranates seeds and hot green chili's.

She also made Khoresh Ghimeh: a very taste stew made from meat, split peas, dried limes topped with fried potatoes.

Look at these cute candy rocks!

Gormeh Sabzi

Green stew??? It is so so good! Its the herbs which give Gormeh Sabzi its color.
Soak 1 cup of kidney bean over night (can use a can, but add at the end of cooking)
Brown 1/2 cup of stewing meat.
Fry 1 onion in 1 tsp oil and 1/4 tsp of turmeric (so pretty).
Soak 1 cup of dried Gormeh Sabzi, drain and fry in 1 tsp of oil. (My mother-in-law always uses fresh herbs, but its hard to find them here. If you want to use fresh than use cups of chopped fenugreek, dill, parsley, cilantro, chives, and spinach.)
Put everything in to a pot. Cover with water bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat. Cook for a few hours until the bean are soft, adding more water if needed. 30 min before severing add 2 dried limes (and beans if using canned).

Enjoy with rice. Really do it! I love Gormeh Sabzi and you will too!

Dinner at a Friends

We went to a friends house last weekend. There wasn't much to cook with in his kitchen. But I love creating a meal out of nothing. What would you make with zucchini, mushrooms, and cauliflower? Any guess as to what I made? Here is a hint there was also Iranian pasta, flour, milk, mozzarella, lamb fat and pasta sauce.

Pomegranate Salad

I love fall! Figs, dates and pomegranates. It used to take me forever to peel pomegranates, but then I learned the Iranian way.
Cut a thin strip off the top and bottom. Should be able to see a tinny bit of fruit. Score around the fruit making four parts. Pull apart over a bowl. Then pop out the rest the seeds.

Done in record time. For pomegranate salad add salt and eat with a spoon.

Tomato Dal Soup

Its soup weather here. Dal or yellow spelt lentils take a while to soften, but are so creamy. One of my favorite soups.

Fry 1 chopped onion in 1 tsp oil and 1/4 tsp turmeric.
Add:
1/3 cup Dal
1 can of Tomatoes
1 cup water
Bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat. If you soaked the dal before cooking then the soup should be done in 30min, I did not soak my Dal, so it toke 2 hours and some mashing for mine to soften. Check for salt, pepper and sugar. Its great just like that, but it can be spiced up!
For Spice fry in 1 tsp oil for 2 min:
1 tsp mustered seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 Tbs dry coconut
chili powder to taste.
Mix in with the soup.

Enjoy a small bowl with rice or naan.