Crispy Lamb, Fog. Movie,

As I said I would, I cooked the recipe for Crispy Lamb with Cumin, Scallions and Red Chilles on Saturday night. I made a few alterations, I didn't have cumin seeds only ground cumin. I didn't have green onions so I used leek and I only had pepper flakes. However, it didn't seem to make a noticeable difference and was absolutely delicious. I served it over rice. I had a 3 lbs roast of lamb which is now a 2 lbs one and which will be used twice more to make this dish. I was a tad disappointed because there was no way it was crispy, I thought the egg white in the marinade would achieve that but it didn't. However, we both enjoyed it very much. I used to have two large woks and Matt did a lot of Chinese cooking, however, we hadn't used them very much in years so we got rid of them. Typically, I could have used one to make this dish.

Incredible weather, it's been thick fog for three days. We still have some snow but it's been warmer

which is what's causing it. Sunday, it seems to be thinning down somewhat but it has, by no means, gone yet. I don't think I ever remember it being this foggy in our part of Canada before. Hmm, it did thin down around noon both on Saturday and Sunday, but by mid afternoon it was as thick as ever. You really can hardly see your hand in front of your face. No idea what it's like at street level as we haven't been anywhere.

I saw a cute movie on my computer yesterday, Bunyan and Babe which I enjoyed. Basically a kid's movie I guess but then I am a big kid according to Matt. Babe's voice was Jeff Foxworthy. John Goodman voiced Bunyan and Kelsey Grammar did the two villains. Babe, the Blue Ox was funny.

This is interesting, I haven't made Scotch Eggs in a long time and I certainly didn't make them for picnics. But here is a soft boiled version which sounds pretty good. At the end they talk about baking the eggs. No doubt healthier, but the fried version is delicious. I just realised this recipe says 1 lb meat to 6 eggs. I always used 4 eggs for that amount of sausage. Also, I always use a Fry Daddy to cook my Scotch Eggs so they are in deep oil.

Soft-Boiled Scotch Eggs

A common picnic and party dish in the UK, Scotch eggs were likely first inspired by the Indian and Pakistani dish nargisi kofta, which encases a hard-boiled egg in spicy ground meat. This soft-boiled

approach presents an unexpectedly tender egg yolk within a crispy exterior.

6 eggs, soft-boiled and peeled
1 lb sausage meat
1 Tbs brown mustard
1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup lard or other cooking fat

1. Place the eggs in a pot, then cover with 1 inch salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat; as soon as it is boiling, cover the pot and remove from heat. Allow to sit for 4 minutes in the hot water, then carefully transfer to a bowl of ice water. Allow to cool, about 5 minutes. Carefully peel the eggs.

2. Combine the sausage, mustard, parsley and nutmeg, mixing together by hand. Divide the sausage mixture into 6 portions; spread each one out into an oval shape. Add an egg to the sausage, then gently form the sausage around the egg as evenly as possible.

3. Warm the cooking fat to 350° in a skillet, then add an egg or two. When first adding the eggs, gently roll them back and forth to allow the sausage to cook evenly and retain a round shape. Cook until the sausage is cooked through, about 5 minutes per egg.

4. Preheat oven to 170°. Transfer the cooked egg to a plate lined with a paper towel, then place in the oven to stay warm while finishing the other batches of eggs.

Servings: 6

Source: FoodandWine

Author Notes
To bake the eggs instead of frying, place the sausage-covered eggs in large muffin tins and bake at 425? until golden and cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Have a great day
 

Medical/Car. Dangerous Rice, Bowling, Weather.

I’ve already written two blogs today – oh well, April is still a couple of weeks away I suppose. This morning Matt has to go see the specialist and from what he said on the phone, Matt should be able to go for his colonoscopy on Thursday. It means the car repair will have to be put off for a week. Matt can certainly not drive after his procedure and it would be too much hassle picking him up from the hospital and also changing/collecting cars etc. We are supposed to be renting a Smart Car for the three days we will be without our own vehicle. Mind you I am not sure Matt is going to be able to drive a Smart Car. I don’t know but I suspect their dashboards are computerised. I suppose it will be OK for 3 days.

WARNING: You may already know this - I didn't, but you should be extremely careful about My Guilty Pleasures - and who is/was a chef. I was a mite doubtful at first but tended to believe because of the source. Needless to say, I Googled and yes, she is quite right. The main warnings seem to come from the British National Health Service and state the following:
reheating cooked rice. I found this out through Viveka, a Swedish woman who writes

1. Uncooked rice can contain spores of bacteria that can cause food poisoning. When the rice is cooked, the spores can survive. Then, if the rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores will multiply and may produce poisons that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. Reheating the rice won't get rid of these poisons.

This afternoon we have our league bowling. I have a nasty suspicion I will not manage another 300 game. Pity, our team needs it having fallen from first to fifth place.

Saturday, having had so much sunshine, we had fog all day. Sunday back to sunshine again. There have been murmurs, on the weather channel, in which the word snow was heard. Everybody is hoping not of course, but we have had bad snow storms in April so it’s too early to say it’s all over.

Matt and I both love lamb so when I came across this recipe I was immediately interested. I had never heard of eating hemp seed but nothing ventured…..

Roast Leg of Lamb with Hemp Seed Pesto

Contributed to Food & Wine by Michael Schwartz

• SERVINGS: 8 to 10

This exceptional yogurt-glazed roast lamb from Miami chef Michael Schwartz gets extra flavour from a vibrant pesto made with healthy, nutty-tasting hemp seeds.

LAMB

1. 1/2 cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt
2. 6 garlic cloves, minced
3. 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4. 2 tablespoons minced rosemary
5. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6. Kosher salt
7. Pepper
8. One 6-pound whole bone-in leg of lamb, excess fat trimmed
9. Lemon wedges, for serving

PESTO

1. 1 3/4 cups lightly packed basil
2. 1 3/4 cups lightly packed parsley leaves
3. 2 garlic cloves, crushed
4. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
5. Salt
6. 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
7. 1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds
8. Pepper

1. PREPARE THE LAMB In a bowl, whisk the yogurt with the garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, olive oil and 1 tablespoon each of salt and pepper. Rub the mixture all over the lamb and set on a large rimmed baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Let the lamb stand at room temperature for 1 hour before roasting.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°. Season the lamb lightly with salt and pepper and roast for about 1 hour and 50 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 140°. Transfer to a carving board and let rest for 30 minutes.
3. MAKE THE PESTO In a food processor, pulse the basil, parsley, garlic and lemon juice with a pinch of salt until minced. With the machine on, gradually add the olive oil until incorporated. Scrape the pesto into a bowl and stir in the hemp seeds. Season with salt and pepper. Carve the lamb and serve with the pesto and lemon wedges.
4. Make Ahead The hemp seed pesto can be refrigerated overnight.

Have a great day

Fog, Deen & Diabetes, Purse Safety.

Tuesday morning, thick fog again. Its all very well having a light winter with no snow and lots of sunshine, but it has been producing a lot of fog and many school buses were cancelled. I must admit I’m not sure why, it wasn’t that thick – they should have grown up with the London pea soupers I lived with for a number of years. Not only were they very thick, visibility almost nil, but the smog was yellowy and extremely unhealthy. I used to drive with my head hanging out of the window to try and see where I was. Which reminds me of one time when I commuted to London by train daily and there was fog on the way home so the train was extremely late, I think I got to the station around 10 p.m. I then had to drive a fair distance along country lanes which were not really marked with white lines. Extremely difficult. But that was at night. During the day I never found fog that difficult.

I completely forgot, the other morning when I came into the living room Matt was watching GMA as usual and he immediately said “Paula Deen has diabetes”. I was sorry for her, but at the same time I can’t say I was unduly surprised. We went to her restaurant, Lady and Sons, in Savannah, Georgia many years ago and met her there at the time, her featured buffet was all very much Southern cooking which, let’s face it, has no connection to Weight Watchers or any other diet system. We, in fact ordered a la carte and had a fillet steak. That was a few years before she became so well known with her TV programmes and cookbooks, now I understand you will rarely see her at Lady and Sons as she is so busy. The sons now have their own restaurant too, they will have to be careful about diabetes as well if they cook like mama. If somebody like Matt can have borderline diabetes, when his diet is so healthy, I guess anyone can have it. All the diabetes web sites tell people to get it checked no matter what you think. It’s a simple blood test. You do NOT have to be carrying the pounds to get diabetes.

Heard a report on the radio about a woman losing her purse/wallet in Zehrs, a local supermarket and then her credit cards were used. This doesn’t surprise me one bit. Women are so stupid with their purses, they leave them in the cart and then walk away to look at items on the shelves. I have seen unattended bags and purses so often it makes me mad. Matt has even pointed it out to people and been told to mind his own business. Searching for a suitable picture, I actually came across a good tip, use the child safety straps and lock them through the handles of your purse. Personally I use an over the shoulder wallet which I find is pretty safe and I don’t have to walk away from it ever but then I don’t carry much these days unlike these women who practically carry their whole household with them. For the people who don’t live in this part of the world, I had problems when I first got here, but a purse is generally what a handbag is called.

Saw a recording of an interview with the Italian cruise ship captain, what an idiot and what a coward, he was scared and left the ship before all the passengers had been accounted for and in the end they found some of them in life vests waiting for rescue which came too late. He was ordered back on the ship by the coastguard and refused to go, he was needed to coordinate the evacuation. There is a recording of this on the internet which has been verified by the coastguard.

Watching what you eat? These cookies appeared in my inbox and are purported to be Weight Watcher cookies at one point or 100 calories a piece. Small but delicious I am told.

Lower Fat Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (Ww)

Photo and Recipe By Marg (CaymanDesigns) on May 14, 2008

Serves: 40, Yield: 40 cookies

About This Recipe

"I needed to make some cookies that wouldn't interfere with my trying to cut back on my fat intake. A friend passed on this recipe which she said was from Weight Watchers. If you make 40 cookies, it is 1 point each. And yes, they are small cookies, but very fudgy and delicious!"

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon table salt

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

2 large egg whites

1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. (Do not pack flour when measuring).
3. Beat butter and brown sugar with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy; gradually add granulated sugar, beating well. Add cocoa and egg whites, beating well. Gradually beat in flour mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate mini chips.
4. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls (about 3/4-inch balls to get 40 cookies) onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Cool on pans 2 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Have a great day

Weekend Weather and Books I Read

What a weekend, weatherwise, first we had a lot of rain, then thick fog followed by gale force winds. Trees were bending almost double. The winds did a lot of damage throughout Southern Ontario and I think in the Northern States too. A lot of trees down and a lot of people without power. It sounded almost like hurricane force winds. They sure were howling around our building, made me cold just listening to them. The winds found all the tiny cracks in the windows and blew the curtains around. Brrrr. However, today is sunny and there is almost no snow left except where it was piled after being shovelled. The result being we just "hunkered" down and read or watched TV and didn't do much of anything at all. I got through a couple more books, one being The Twisted Citadel by Sara Douglass which I finished last night. I thought it was the final book in the current "set" (Dark Glass Mountain) but it turned out I was wrong. The first was The Serpent Bride which I found fairly hard going, however, this book I raced through and enjoyed much better. It turns out there is at least one more book to be published, some time next year. I shall have to remember to look out for it. The other book I read was Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott, her first novel in the Crossroads Series. Trouble is, it was written in 2006 and there are supposed to be 7 books in the series. At this rate, I may not be around for the remainder. I really prefer to come across a book which is new to me, but where the series is all but completed. This applies to another series, Winds of the Forelands, I am reading, I mentioned the first one a week or two ago which was called Rules of Ascension and now have book two which is Seeds of Betrayal. This is one of the series recently recommended to me by Glenda Larke of Tropic Temper (see link this page). It seems I not only enjoy Glenda's books, but also the books Glenda herself likes to read. No league bowling today although we did think of going along anyway, see how we feel later. At least Friday's league is running. I need to practice as I have a tournament on Sunday morning. No Canadian Diabetes volunteering either, they are closed for a week. Going to be a bit of a boring week especially as we are not doing anything for New Year. I was checking my vegetarian cookbook for something different to serve as a vegetable and came across a recipe which I haven't yet made, but plan to do so as soon as I can buy some bell peppers. In fact the other night I suddenly thought of braised celery which we enjoy, so served that with the remains of our turkey. I did cook the bones up with some veg and made a very good soup into which I added a can of lentils and we had that for supper last night - it was yummy. Meanwhile: South-Western Bean Salad The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook My comment: This recipe calls for dried beans, however, I would certainly use cans of beans rather than mess with soaking beans for hours first. Do use fresh coriander if you can, it tastes so much better. Serves 4-6 1 cup dried black beans 1 cup white cannelini (navy) beans 1 medium red onion 1 medium red (bell, capsicum) pepper 8 2/3 oz canned corn, drained 3 tbs chopped fresh coriander 1 clove garlic crushed 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp French mustard 2 tbs red wine vinegar 1/4 cup olive oil salt and pepper If you are using dried beans: soak in separate bowls in cold water overnight. Drain, place in separate pans, cover with water. Bring both pans to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 mins or until tender. Drain, rinse and allow to cool. Alternatively, use a couple of cans of prepared beans, drained and rinsed. Chop the onion and red pepper. Place in a bowl and add the beans, corn and coriander. Stir until well combined. Combine the garlic, cumin, mustard and vinegar in a small jug: gradually whisk in the oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Pour over the bean mixture and toss lightly to combine. This salad can be made up to a day in advance and is a great dish to serve at a barbecue or take on a picnic as it carries well. Have a great day.