Because I usually have a recipe in mind when I go food shopping, it’s pretty rare that I come home with a rogue ingredient. But recently, while picking up ground beef and sausage for my Meatballs and Tomato Sauce at Primal Supply, I noticed that they had ground lamb, and felt compelled to buy it.
I didn’t exactly have a goal for the ground lamb, but decided to work with ingredients that I know work well with the flavors of lamb: cumin, saffron, mint, and cinnamon.
The result was Spiced Lamb with Saffron Couscous: saffron couscous, topped with flavorful ground lamb, pistachios, feta, dried apricots, and fresh mint!
Ingredients:
Couscous:
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed between your fingers
This cold snap feels like it will never end. One good part about the cold weather is I definitely do more cooking!
One of my husband’s favorite recipes I make is one for Slow Cooker Chicken and Chickpea Tagine. I wanted to try a tagine with a different meat, so when I found this recipe for Slow Cooker Lamb Tagine on the cooking section of the New York Times, I used it as a base to make a slow cooker version.
Tagine or Tajine dishes are Moroccan slow cooked dishes named after the pot they are cooked in. The dishes are typically a stew with a protein, spices, and fruit. And, well, they are fantastic; they make for a perfect comfort food meal!
I braved the cold so I could pick up the ingredients for this yummy dish. I’m lucky enough to live close to Reading Terminal Market, and La Divisa Meats in the Terminal cubed some lamb leg meat for me for this recipe. If you do not have a local butcher, lamb stew meat works too.
Ingredients:
3 pounds cubed boneless lamb leg meat
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cinnamon sticks
large pinch saffron
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 3/4 cups beef broth
1 cup dried apricots
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (or margarine to make dairy free, or ghee to make paleo)
NOTE: I was sent a pack of Sourdough Crackers and Szechuan Candied Pecans from Aida for this post. All opinions are my own.
I love a good cheese plate, they are great as an appetizer or as an end to a meal.
I was contacted by Aida, a specialty food brand created by the owners of the East Village wine-on-tap bar, Lois. Aida, recently launched, features handcrafted cookies, nuts, and crackers inspired by the products they created for their wine bar. I was sent their Sourdough Crackers and Szechuan Candied Pecans, which I thought would make for the beginnings of an awesome cheese plate!
Aida is a New York City-based, women-owned business that makes a curated line of pantry staples and entertaining essentials. Founded in 2016 by Nora O’Malley and Phoebe Connell, Aida products are inspired by the recipes and customer relationships that they developed in their tiny East Village all-tap wine bar, Lois on Loisaida Avenue. Today, Aida’s mission is to make eating well and entertaining easily simple by offering inspired and reliable go-to products.
In my opinion, you can’t really do a cheese plate wrong, whatever sounds good to you will work just fine. I wanted to play off of the spicy-sweet flavors of the pecans, so I went to my local cheese shop and asked for help choosing cheese that would work well with spicy and sweet flavors. Here is what I ended up with:
1605 Manchego: A sheep milk cheese from Spain, this Manchego is earthy and sweet. I added a drizzle of honey on top to bring out more of its sweetnes.
Von Trapp Oma: Made by the famous Von Trapp family, this cow’s milk cheese from Vermont is very creamy, buttery, and slightly funky. I added a bit of spicy whole grain mustard to balance out the funkiness of this cheese.
Delice de Bourgogne: A cow’s milk cheese from France, this cheese is creamy and slightly salty with a buttercream flavor. I served this with a spiced peach jam that my sister-in-law gave us.
I also added dried apricots, hot sopressata, and the Szechuan candied pecans to the plate, and served the sourdough crackers alongside the cheese plate.
Each of these cheeses worked well with either something sweet or something spicy on the plate.
The sourdough crackers were the perfect accompaniment, because the flavor is relatively neutral so it lets the rest of the ingredients shine.
I had to keep adding more and more Szechuan Candied Pecans to the plate because my husband kept eating them all! The spicy-sweet flavors are addicting!
Aida has a bunch of other offerings as well, including:
Currant Crisps: a spiced interpretation of the shortbread cookie.
Lemon Candied Pepitas: salty pepitas with a healthy dose of sweet citrus and a subtle peppery kick.
Rye Crackers: Old World flavors, both complex and comforting.
In addition to being available online, Aida is currently available in the following specialty food shops throughout New York City: Bedford Cheese Shop, BKLN Larder, Stinky BKLN, Alphabet City Beer Company, and Malt & Mold. More retail locations to come, but food lovers everywhere an purchase the products at www.AidaEats.com.
What are some of your favorite add on’s to a cheese plate?
My husband and I (obviously) love trying new and different recipes. Living in Philadelphia, we are lucky enough to have a pretty solid restaurant scene, covering quite a range of cuisines. So my interest is always peaked by a recipe I haven’t tried before that comes from a different part of the world and I can make at home, like this recipe for Cape Malay Curry.
Cape Malay Curry comes from Cape Town, South Africa. Beginning in the 17th century, slaves from Indonesia and Southeast Asia were brought to work the farms of Cape Town, South Africa. Known as Cape Malays, the name “Cape” is derived from the Cape of Good Hope and “Malay” refers to the community’s Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean ancestry.
The Cape Malay community has had a lot of influence on South African foods, particularly with the introduction of certain spices, hot sauces, and curries. This chunky beef stew is a sweet and savory curry dish, which reminds me a bit of my husband’s favorite meal, Slow Cooker Chicken and Chickpea Tagine, so I had a feeling we’d like this recipe.
This is definitely a weekend meal; it simmers on the stove for 2 hours. However, it could easily be multiplied to make a large batch and frozen for future meals.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 bay leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound beef stew meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 1/4 cups less-sodium beef broth
1 cup chopped green bell pepper (about 1 medium)
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1/3 cup apricot spread
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk (or coconut milk to make dairy-free)
Tagine or Tajine dishes are Moroccan slow cooked dishes named after the pot they are cooked in. The dishes are typically a stew with a protein, spices, and fruit. Cooking Light had a version with chicken and chickpeas that sounds delicious. This recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Chickpea Tagine combines both sweet and spicy elements to make a really flavor-filled dish.
This recipe takes a bit more prep time that my usual slow cooker recipes, so be prepared for that. This recipe is great for a Saturday: prepare everything in the morning, run whatever errands you have for the day, and come back to an amazing smelling kitchen and dinner mostly ready! I shredded my chicken and served it over couscous but you can keep the chicken whole and eat it as is.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large or two medium onions (about 2 1/2 cups), chopped
