Lamb and Chick Pea Stew

A strong craving for lamb and chick peas is what inspired this dish.  I happened to find fresh turmeric root in the market, so that took me down this kinda Moroccan path.


Ingredients
1T olive oil
1 small onion, small dice
1 lb round lamb, lightly seasoned with s&p
3 coves garlic, minced
1 inch fresh turmeric root, grated or 1 t ground*
1 inch fresh ginger root, grated or 1 t ground*
1 t. cumin
1 pinch cinnamon
2 fresh ripe tomatoes chopped, with juices or 1 14oz can diced tomatoes with juice
2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked and simmered till tender or 1 can no-salt chick peas
4 cups rich veggie broth* or good quality chicken stock (no salt or low salt)
1 cup cooked spinach, well drained*
1 T. cider vinegar


Method

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed soup pot until shimmering, cook onions until just beginning to soften and add the lamb.  Cook over medium until the lamb is just cooked through.  Depending on how fatty your lamb was, you may want to drain off some fat after cooked...but you'll be pouring out a ton of flavor.
2. Add garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon and tomato.  Cook over hight heat stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.
3. Add chickpeas, stock and spinach, bring to a boil, reduce and simmer partly covered for about 20 minutes or until you reach desired depth.
4. Season with salt and pepper, add vinegar about 2 min before serving.  Serve with warm naan or pita.

Alternatives:
Vegetarian - leave out the lamb, reduce the stock a bit so you have a very thick stew and top with a poached or fried egg.
Vegan - skip the egg and the meat.


*Helpful Hints 
Ginger - select ginger that is big enough around for easy peeling, use a carrot peeler or a small sharp knife to get the tough skin off.  There is a device called a ginger grater with is worth the couple of bucks if you cook with fresh ginger a lot.  Otherwise you can squish it thru a garlic press, slice into thin disks and mince or use a micro-plane.
Fresh Turmeric - I stumbled upon this in Whole Foods, its pretty hard to find.  If you happen to see it, grab it but don't kill yourself trying to find it.  Note: this stuff STAINS everything and will last on your hands for days.  Wear gloves.
Veggy Stock - this is a great recipie
Spinach - to drain it well, twirl it through a paper towel lined salad spinner or press it into a sieve.

Borscht with Bison and Goat Cheese...or...Vegan Borscht

We were first introduced to this amazing soup by our fabulous and much missed neighbors.  2 winters ago, not too long after we moved in to this wonderful old corner property, we had a pretty good snow storm.  At 0 dark hundred, I poured out of bed, slapped on my glasses, popped on my ridiculous big green woolly hat (with ear flaps and a braid out the top) and got started on our 160+ feet of sidewalk.  I wasn't even a quarter of the way done before a similarly bespectacled & hatted chick showed up with a shovel professing that she's from Utah and loves to shovel snow.  Turns out she lived across the street and followed up her heroic shoveling with a dinner invite - Sunday night for some beefy borscht....and so a chapter began.

I've adapted Marcy's killer recipe just a little bit - and offer some easy ways to make it vegetarian (sub meat for mushies) or vegan (um...leave out the meat, cheese and butter).  This soup is killer on a frigid winter night, I'm also going to revisit in the spring to take a swing at a light sweet spring beet version of it too - so check back!

Yield: 6-8 servings
Total Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients:
6 medium fresh beets, tops and roots trimmed, scrubbed clean
4 T olive oil
2-3 lbs bison stew cubes, cut into spoonable pieces and lightly seasoned with S&P (or portebella or beef or lamb)
2 leeks, carefully cleaned and finely chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 T tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
1/2 - 1 head cabbage, chopped
10 cups water
2 t dried rosemary  or 2 T fresh rosemary
5 T cider vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1/3 c packed brown sugar or wild honey
S&P
4 oz soft fresh goat cheese

Method:

• Place the beets in a large sauce pan, cover with water by at least one inch, lightly salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until fork tender, about 40-60 minutes, depending on size.  Skim the foam off the top of the water as necessary. Once cooked, drain (reserving 3 cups cooking liquid), cool, peel and dice into a spoonable size.
•  In a large, heavy bottomed soup pot, heat 1 T oil until rippling, add 1/4 of the meat or mushies and brown on all sides.  Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon, and repeat the process until all meat or mushies are cooked.
• Add leeks and carrots, sweat until soft and beginning to color.  Stir frequently an scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  
• Add tomato paste and incorporate well. Cook 2 minutes, add garlic and rosemary.  Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Add beet juice, meat or mushies, maters, cabbage, and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and cook mostly covered until the bison melts in your mouth....about 90 minutes. 
• 5 minutes before serving, add beets, brown sugar / honey, vinegar and S&P to taste.  
• Serve in warmed bowls topped with a disk of goat cheese, a sprig of fresh rosemary and a grind of pepper. 

Serve with crusty chewy bread and sweet farm butter.  Fantastic with Trabiche Oak Cask 2008 Malbec.  Enjoy with or after a green salad with a nice bright vinaigrette and sliced radishes. 

Chicken Corn Chowder

This is one of those soups that can be as rich or as light as you prefer it to be.  In the spring and through the summer, a light puree of corn, tomato & green onions with some quick grilled chicken is amazing; by fall you can splash in a little milk and add some potatoes to your puree for depth and body; come winter, start with a nice medium roux, use up left over slow roasted roasted chicken and maybe top with some good smokey bacon and cheddar. 

This version is nice for the early fall days we've been having, silky and creamy without the butter and bacon.  Give me a shout later in the season if you'd like some help making it richer and deeper.

Yield: 8 servings
Cook time: 90 minutes

Ingredients:
olive oil
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 small potato, peeled and diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 t thyme
1 t oregano
1 t celery salt
1 bay leaf
1 bag frozen sweet corn
1.5 boxes low sodium chicken stock
1 c milk
smoked tabasco
sliced green onion to garnish


Method:

• heat 1 T of oil in your soup pot over medium heat, salt & pepper the chicken on both sides and, cook in two batches until just done. No need to get color on the meat, it can give the soup a weird texture
• pour out rendered fat, add potatoes cook 3 minutes, its ok to get some color on them, but you're not looking to fry them, really just steam / sweat in the chickeny goodness that's left in the pot.
• add mirpoix (2 parts onion, one part celery, one part carrot), sweat until all vegetables are tender, about 10-12 minutes, add garlic and herbs (not bay leaf)
• add 1/2 stock and 1/2 of the corn, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover slightly and cook 10 min
• remove the soup from the from heat, and puree.
• return the soup to medium / medium high, add bay leaf, stock, milk, bring to a boil. partially cover and simmer 30 min
• dice and add chicken, add as much whole corn as you prefer, warm through
• season with a small amount of smokey tabasco, garnish with green onions.