Google and Garlic, Lamb Stew,

What did we do before Google? Saturday, and I am preparing to cook the lamb dish I posted as my recipe today. I decided to cut it in half. However, it calls for a whole garlic bulb. I actually buy peeled garlic cloves and had no idea how many were in a whole bulb. Google to the rescue - approximately 12 depending on the size of the bulb. Funny, when I first came across garlic, after WWII, we used to use it smeared on things, not whole cloves of it let alone lots of cloves. I remember my father used to cook Chorio which called for a coffee cup (the little tiny cups) full of garlic and everyone thought it was a heck of a lot of garlic in those days. Now Denise commented she had made a dish with 40 cloves in it, unpeeled too. I've told the story about my father taking me to France  to stay with a French family and when we got there Madame said she hadn't used garlic in dinner as she knew the English didn't

like it. My father always said  the place reeked of garlic. Of course, in our case, we loved the stuff.

These are the gladioli ladydog brought me last week. They are opening up nicely and really look pretty. I have never yet seen one open right to the top though. When she brought them, ladydog put them in warm water. That I had never heard of before. They seem to thrive on it and I have added warm water since. It is so nice to have fresh flowers.

I cooked the lamb dish I posted on Saturday (INSTANT POT CUMIN LAMB STEW WITH CURRY AND CHILIS), but, being an idiot, I cut back on the quantity of meat and then I cut down on the spices too. Duuuh. The sauce was good, but not spicy enough. I will remember next time, and there will be a next time. We  both enjoyed it.

I'm a sucker for anything made with Nutella. I never knew chocolate hazelnut paste was called Gianduja and that it was invented in Italy during the Napoleonic period. Learn something new every day.

Gianduja Mousse

Star Ingredient: Chocolate-Hazelnut Paste As if the chocolate-hazelnut spread gianduja isn't delicious enough straight off the spoon, Grace Parisi has folded in whipped cream and crème fraîche to create a

truly decadent (and ridiculously easy) mousse. For a supereasy ice cream sandwich, spoon the mousse between chocolate wafers and freeze overnight.

1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut paste, such as Nutella
1/4 cup crème fraîche
1 1/2 tsp brandy or hazelnut liqueur
1/2 cup heavy cream
Chocolate wafer cookies, for serving

1. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the chocolate-hazelnut paste with the crème fraîche and brandy at low speed until smooth. In another bowl, beat the heavy cream until firm peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the chocolate-hazelnut mixture until no streaks remain. Spoon the mousse into small bowls and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Serve with the chocolate wafer cookies

Servings: 4

Author: Grace Parisi
Source: Food & Wine

Have a great day

Snow, Bowling, Hip, Lamb.

Last night, before I got into bed, I looked out of the window - it was quite windy and it had been snowing. I saw several snow devils (like dust devils but snow) whirling and dancing through the trees in the park. It was so pretty to watch. A couple of houses are still using their outside Christmas lights which made the effect even more enjoyable.

There's only one in this picture and it's daylight, but to show you what I mean.

Thursday we went bowling as usual and I had a go, managed OK. Even threw a couple of strikes which suprised me. In the end, I missed out on the last three frames. My scores were pretty lousy, but at least I played. We went home to kill some time before the doctor's and then headed out again. When we got there I was horrified, it wasn't even 5 and the place seemed full. One man offered me a chair, another offered me his lap. I told him I would be too heavy, he assured me women were never heavy? Cheeky. However, there were 2 seats so a couple of guys shifted along and Matt and I sat down. We actually only waited 45 minutes which wasn't as bad as I had thought. The upshot is the arthritic condition of my hip was aggravated by my fall before Christmas and I am being referred to an orthopaedic surgeon. I requested the doctor who had done my previous hip replacement in 2005 and had also done both Matt's hips and his knee. Tomorrow I will give them a call and see if I can get a jump on an appointment. In Canada you cannot go straight to a specialist, you have to be referred by your MD. The Doctor said it was OK to exercise or bowl but not to aggravate it any further. She talked about strengthening exercises. Said I would have been given them before, if I was, or Matt was, we don't remember and don't have them anyway.

Home to my invented lamb stew which I had been cooking in the slow cooker all day. Delicious. Don't know why I didn't think of doing this before. I have often made a hotpot dish which is lamb, onions and potatoes, but never made a stew with these pieces as well as the tough lamb chops we had. It was full of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cumin giving it a pseudo Persian effect. I decided to find a lamb shanks recipe to share. This is from the Liquor Board's Food and Drink Magazine.

BRAISED LAMB SHANKS WITH MIDDLE EASTERN SPICES SPRING 1999 BY LUCY WAVERMAN Lamb Shanks are very trendy because they are full of great flavour and end up with a tempting, melting texture when they are cooked slowly. The sauce for this dish is rich and thick. Serve with mashed potatoes, couscous or noodles. 2 tsp (10 mL) ground cumin 2 tsp (10 mL) ground ginger 2 tsp (10 mL) ground coniander 2 tsp (10 mL) paprika 1/2 tsp (2 mL) cinnamon 1/2 tsp (2 mL) cayenne 6 lamb shanks 3 tbsp (45 mL) olive oil Salt and freshly ground pepper 1 onion, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup (125 mL) coarsely chopped carrots 1/2 cup (125 mL) coarsely chopped celery 1 bottle (341 mL) beer, preferably ale 2 cups (500 mL) beef stock, homemade or canned low-salt 1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme 1 bay leaf 8 whole garlic cloves, peeled Vegetable Garnish: 1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil 3 zucchini, cut in 3/4-inch (2-cm) dice 1 red pepper, cut in 3/4-inch (2-cm) dice 1 yellow pepper, cut in 3/4-inch (2-cm) dice 1. Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Combine cumin, ginger, coriander, paprika, cinnamon and cayenne. Toss lamb shanks with 2 tsp (10 mL) spice mixture, reserve remainder. 2. Heat 2 tbsp (25 mL) oil in skillet or Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Brown lamb shanks in batches on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Season with salt and pepper. Reserve. Wipe out pan and add remaining oil. 3. Add onion, carrot and celery. Sauté until onion is browned slightly, about 5 minutes. Add reserved spice mixture and sauté for 3 seconds. Add beer, stock, thyme and bay leaf and bring to boil. Return meat to pan. 4. Bake for 1 hour, add garlic, cloves and bake one hour longer or until meat is tender and nearly falling off the bone. 5. Remove meat. Skim fat, then remove vegetables with a slotted spoon. Discard bay leaf. Purée vegetables in a food processor or blender. Stir back into stock and reduce until sauce lightly coats a spoon, about 10 minutes. 6. To make vegetable garnish, add oil into skillet on medium-high heat. Add vegetables and sauté until vegetables are crisp tender, about 5-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 7. Stir vegetable garnish and lamb back into sauce. Simmer together for 15 minutes or until lamb and vegetables are reheated. Serve with potatoes, couscous, or noodles. Serves 6

Have a great day
 

Coward Punch, Health, Lamb Stew,

People have queried coward punches. Apparently they are similar to sucker punches but likely to happen to people who are totally innocent of anything. The coward punch is just an unexpected attack and totally unprovoked. My Australian blogging friend, Pinky Poinker, who started me off on this tack has a petition running at the moment and his hoping to get enough signatures to make a difference. If you live in Australia, maybe you could go to her site and sign this petition. Wednesday saw the funeral of a young person, Cole Miller, 18, who had been coward punched. A very tragic waste of a young life. Pinky herself is the mother of 5 kids, 4 boys if I remember correctly, all of whom are in the age group where this could happen. Not only that she is a teacher so has seen the Soft Fall used in playgrounds and such. There is a radio broadcast too which she is hoping will draw attention to her petition. I found another petition in Australia and suggested she could link up.

I had a very quiet day on Wednesday not doing much of anything. Sometimes my hip was killing me

and other times I didn't know it was there. Anyway, this evening I go see the doc, I am just hoping the walk from the parking lot to the doctor's door will be clear as I am hobbling along with a cane. I could just do with a fall. They say they do have a wheel chair in the office, but Matt is not really up to going and getting it and then pushing me into the office and they certainly didn't offer to help. However, I am sure you are beginning to get bored with my ailments. So I will shut up for now.

According to the weather forecast we were supposed to have a lot of snow on Wednesday, we didn't, and more snow on Thursday, we shall see. We can't really complain it was so spring like up to the end of last year but we knew we would get it eventually.

When we were last at one of the stores here, Central Fresh Market, we bought some frozen lamb chops. We ate some and were extremely disappointed as they were as tough as old boots. However, I have taken a tip out of Ivy at Happy Whisk's book and am going to turn them into a spicy stew tomorrow. I will chuck them and some neck of lamb that I have, into the crockpot with some veg and a few spices and hope to come up with something tasty. Normally we buy our lamb chops in Costco and they are usually excellent.

These looked interesting so I thought I would share. Their main attribute of course is chocolate. They are, apparently, a Mexican sweet. Of course you could use real cream instead of the Cool Whip.

Chocolate Churros

Kraft

Churros with double the chocolate: in the batter and in the sauce. Make a batch for your next fiesta.

Servings 15 servings, 2 churros each

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
2 Tbs powdered sugar
1 cup water
2 Tbs granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups oil
1 pkg (4 oz) semi sweet chocolate chips
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (Do not thaw.)

Mix 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder and powdered sugar in shallow bowl until blended.

Bring water, granulated sugar, salt and butter to boil in medium saucepan on medium-high heat. Add flour and remaining cocoa powder; cook and stir on low heat 1 min. or until mixture pulls away from side of pan. Remove from heat. Add eggs; beat until blended. Stir in vanilla. Spoon into pastry bag fitted with large star tip.

Heat oil in deep fryer to 350ºF. Pipe dough, in batches, into 4-inch strips into hot oil. Cook 3 min. or until each churro is golden brown on both sides, turning after 1 min. Remove from oil with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Add warm churros, 1 at a time, to powdered sugar mixture; toss to evenly coat.

Microwave semi-sweet chocolate and COOL WHIP in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after each minute. Serve with warm churros.

Variation For cinnamon-sugar coated churros, coat the warm churros with a mixture of 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 tsp. Mexican cinnamon instead of the cocoa powder mixture. How to Pipe the Churros Dough When piping the dough, use kitchen shears to cut the dough into the desired-length strips

Have a great day