A much needed time out!

If you are anything like the rest of the population at this wonderful time of year you are most likely overwhelmed, over scheduled and feeling like there is just not enough time to get anything done. Between work, family, shopping, holidays, birthdays and just STUFF I feel stretched to where I hardly have time to enjoy half of what I am doing. This weekend I planned some things to take me away from the craziness if only for a bit and did my damnedest to enjoy myself.

Oh hey...I actually cooked! Yeah...me. Who hasn't blogged since October probably because cooking at my house has consisted of cereal or an English muffin in the morning and heated up frozen chili from some random cooking spree three months ago. Even on Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, I was so busy cooking and sipping champagne that I didn't have time to really sit back and enjoy the process (even though I loved the outcome). 

When a birthday in mid December for my friend Mo came along, my friend Sarah and I decided we needed a girls night so we could spoil our birthday girl with an awesome meal and a girls night with lots of wine, food and a relaxing night "off". Between Sarah's & Mo's insane schedules that include full time jobs, a 2, 5 and 7 year old and all the other fun things that go with them and my crazy ass work schedule we were able to squeak out a night where it would work for all of us.

Now the question comes up....what do we make, right? Well......Since the middle of November when I heard that Ventura was getting a new meat market specializing in local, humanely raised and butchered meats as well as some exotic and interesting meats I've been wanting to get over there and check it out.

From and aesthetic standpoint, the place is clean and very open, spotless floors, white walls and lots of glass. You can stand behind a glass pane and watch one of the lovely gentleman wearing a white collared shirt, bow tie and butchers apron slice up your meat to order, tie up a crown roast or in my case, French out a rack of lamb since I was feeling lazy. The meats are displayed in a nice big case and true to their claim of having good variety they were showing off venison loin, bison steaks, pheasant, rabbit and duck as well as gorgeous bone in pork loin chops, marbled rib eyes and freshly ground beef, turkey and bacon which I understand is a wonderful thing.

I'm thrilled to have them here and can't wait to see what they do next....I understand housemade sausages and charcuterie are on the to do list!

As for what I did to the lamb, I am pretty sure this is one of my top picks for rack of lamb recipes. It has a couple components to it and each by themselves would have been amazing, all together they had an awesome wow factor. The sausage crust was amazing on its own and the pan sauce was light but really flavorful. And the lamb? Freaking perfect. Thank you Ventura Meat Company, I'll be back!

Roast Lamb with Sausage Crust and Fresh Grape Pan Sauce

Adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe

Sauce

1 cup halved seedless red grapes

1 cup Port

1 cup chicken broth

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Sausage Crust and Lamb

1/4 cup halved seedless red grapes

1/8 cup halved pitted Kalamata olives

1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 small garlic clove

4 ounces ground meat (the original calls for lamb, I used 3/4 beef & 1/4 turkey which VMC so conveniently had for me!)

1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 well-trimmed racks of lamb

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1/4 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided

1 1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless French bread

Preparation for sauce

Boil all ingredients in large saucepan until reduced to 2 1/3 cups, about 20 minutes. Cool. Puree in blender.

For lamb

Pulse grapes, olives, chopped rosemary, vinegar, and garlic clove in mini processor until olives are chopped. Transfer to bowl. Mix in by hand ground meat,1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Sprinkle rack of lamb with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add rack, meat side down, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Set on rimmed baking sheet, meat side up.  Cool lamb completely.

Add 1/2 cup broth to skillet. Boil until reduced to glaze, scraping up browned bits. Add to sauce. Cover and chill.

Spread each rack with 1 tablespoon mustard. Press sausage over top of each rack (layer will be thin). Cover and chill.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons oil, and 2 tablespoons mustard in medium skillet. Toss over medium heat until beginning to color, about 5 minutes. Press crumbs over sausage on each rack. Cut through crumb crust (not lamb) between bones to score. Roast until thermometer inserted into center registers 135°F, about 30 minutes for medium-rare.

Transfer lamb to platter; let rest 10 minutes. Pour juices from baking sheet into sauce. Simmer in small saucepan until reduced to about 1 1/3 cups, about 9 minutes (sauce will thicken slightly). Season with salt and pepper.

Note: The sausage crust can crack and fall off a bit, but not to worry, just pat it back on and devour, it still tastes great!

Waiting With Bated Breath

Valentine’s Dinner Off the Hook

Okay, I figured I’d better wait a few days so no one feels guilty or under the gun to try and compete with this on short notice… (BTW this is Jen's Mom writing this one) :)

For the last several years our husbands make up for any shenanigans they may have foisted upon us by planning some sort of Valentine surprise for us. We look forward to it with eager anticipation as it’s the one time of the year we’re totally pampered and waited on hand and foot by our men. The content of the event is a total mystery until the last minute.

It started with one of the guys making dinner for his sweetie and expanded to three couples. We’ve been wined and dined in the finest style, whisked away to the Awahnee Hotel in Yosemite, spa’ed at Ojai Valley Inn. One year they “stole” our cars while working out and had a limo waiting to drive us back home (a 10 minute limo ride) to a gourmet meal they’d prepared. And let’s not forget the Cajun Extravaganza that had enough delectable’s to feed a small zip code. We actually had to have a “day after” party to eat it all.

I should note that while we do love to travel and do the out of town thing, what really gets us giddy is for them to cook us a nice dinner. Did I mention that they won’t let us in the kitchen, they wait on us AND clean up the kitchen? I know I’m a lucky lady and I’ll re-up his contract based on this one special day a year.

This year we were told the day before to be out of our respective homes by 1:30 PM. Hmmm, 3 houses? Perhaps a progressive dinner? I’m the nosiest of the girls so I drive everyone nuts trying to figure it our each year. One day I’ll grow up. Maybe.

They instructed us to go have a drink someplace. As we didn’t want to be “on our lips” by dinner time we chose to do what any red blooded American woman would do. We shopped. At 4 PM we were summoned while resting our feet in the Macy’s shoe department. We were to proceed to Mary Jane’s home where the guys had been slaving away all day.

Oh yes… A five course feast with matched wines awaited. They made it all themselves (nary a Bristol Farm or TJ product on the table) outsourcing only the Crème Brule from Jen (Yes, the one who usually posts in this blog.) We’re still collectively sighing.

Valentine’s Dinner February 13, 2011
1st Course

Assorted Cheese and Fruit Platter
Kiwis, apples, pears, blackberries, yellow and red raspberries
Brie, smoked gouda, gorgonzola and crackers
Wente Chardonnay

2nd Course

Seared Sea Scallops w/ lemon mustard crust
Beringer Chardonnay


3rd Course
Marinated Shrimp and Avocado Salad
Recipe Can be found at: Marinated Shrimp and Avocado Salad
It’s a keeper!
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

4th Course Grilled Salmon with Lobster Hollandaise, Roasted Baby Potatoes, Asparagus
Paraiso Pinot Noir 2008
Napa Cellars Zinfandel 2008

5th Course

The Best Crème Brule in the World (You’ll have to ask Jen for the recipe)

Tobin James Zinfandel 2008

Wow, huh?!!??! And there’s only 361 days until the next one.

Sunday morning food love

Last night while cruising around Facebook I happened upon one of my friends from work (Blair!) who posted that she had just made Red Velvet Scones with Cream Cheese Icing....So I did what anyone would do and begged for her to share the recipe with me.

Because who doesn't love Red Velvet & Cream Cheese?

So she shared with me. :) Not only the recipe, but she also brought them in to work this morning and gifted me with one, which I promptly inhaled while standing in the kitchen.

They turned out a little more like a cookie than a scone, being soft and chewy and they are not as red as you are used to as she used dark cocoa powder, but I have to tell you that I don't care. I think they might have been even better this way and that she should re-name the recipe and claim it as her own. They were absolutely divine.

She also mentioned that this is a very kid friendly recipe, her 5 year old had a blast helping her cut out the scones in the shapes of hearts and teapots.

Thank you Blair! I might be back down to the front desk to beg for seconds very soon!

Red Velvet Scones with Cream Cheese Glaze


2 1/4 C Flour
2/3 C Sugar
1/4 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 C Unsalted Butter
3/4 C plus 1 T Heavy Cream, divided
1 Large Egg
2 T Red Food Coloring (may need more to get a richer color)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup cream, egg, food coloring and vanilla extract. Combine cream mixture to flour mixture until dry ingredients are moistened; dough will be sticky

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/2 in thick. Using heart shaped cookie cutter(or any really, we also used teapot shaped cookie cutter), cut scones and place on baking sheet. Brush tops evenly with 1 tbs cream.

Bake 10-12 min. Cool completely.

Cream Cheese Glaze

1 (3 oz) Pkg Cream Cheese
1 C Confectioners Sugar
1 T Heavy Cream

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and mix with electric mixer at low speed. Beat till smooth.
 
Using pastry bag (or Ziploc bag) pipe on cream cheese glaze.

The little things that make your day.

The text said..."B and I made pupcakes for you & Brock"....."They are Lelem"


This comes from my friend Tiff and her 3 year old son yesterday afternoon. The text alone was enough to make me giggle and want to hug this kid (and his mom), but even better than that is the homemade wrapping job, inventive decor and sheer pleasure of stuffing a Lemon Cupcake smeared with Lemon Buttercream, sprinkled with Lemonheads in to my mouth at the end of a meal.


When asked how B helped make the cupcakes, he will tell you he poured the mix, added water and helped decorate with the Lemonheads (in so many words). B also decorated the "to go" containers that brought our treats home. Brock was a little bummed that he got a lower case "b" and I got an upper case "J", but I gave him the bigger cupcake to make up for it, so I think we are even.


Tiff & B make terrific cupcakes and awesome buttercream frosting of all flavors and I am fortunate enough that they share with me every once and a when when she brings them to the office or I drop by the house...this is just one that I had to share because it made my day! Hope the pics make you smile as much as they made Brock & I smile!