#176 I made a fancy yet simple Lamb dish for dinner: Roast Leg of Lamb with Rosemary

I can't count the many times I skipped buying a leg of lamb simply because, I always thought it's just too fancy, and thought it's so complicated to cook..until one day a couple of weeks ago, I decided to finally make a fancy leg of lamb dinner. Thanks to the internet, I learned that I can simply roast it in the oven and, surprisingly it's really easy to make! With the aid of my meat thermometer, I made sure it wasn't under or over cooked and I used fresh rosemary herbs. Wow, the marriage of the lamb and rosemary flavors is marvelous! Lamb meat already has that really strong flavor and all you really need to add are a few items to make into a delicious and fancy meal. Here's how  I made it with only a few ingredients: 

LEG OF LAMB ROAST WITH ROSEMARY

Ingredients: 

4 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped

5 approximate pounds of leg of lamb

Salt and pepper 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Slit lamb meat with knife, maybe 4 cuts across so you can rub the crushed garlic and insert in slits for the flavor to deeply penetrate the meat.
3. Add salt and pepper.
4. Place rosemary on top of the seasoned meat.
5. Roast meat for about 1.5 to 2 hours, to your desired doneness. For medium rare, meat thermometer should read at least 135 degrees F. Do not overcook! Lamb tastes better when it is slightly pink on the inside.

Roasting meat has long been observed by the British since the 1400s, their  "Sunday Roast" consists of roast beef or other meat, vegetables, pudding and gravy, this tradition gives the families a chance to get together after a long week of hard work, and enjoy a hearty meal after church. This tradition of beef eating is still observed in the UK nowadays, I am not sure how many families do it religiously every Sunday. It is said that the original "beefeaters" were the members of the royal guard during the reign of King Henry the VII, his Yeomen Warders were served roast beef every Sunday after church and this practice gave birth to many beefeaters over the years. I am a modern day beefeater who eats meat like there is no tomorrow. Too much, really. I am trying to curb my beef and lamb consumption for health reasons, as eating in moderation is key to a healthy weight. This "Sunday Roast" is  great idea, infact, this is a good tradition for us to start, roasting meat every Sunday and eating more fish, chicken and vegetables for the rest of the week.  I guess we're having another delicious roast tomorrow night! :) Happy weekend, hope this one brings you another chance to spend quality time with your most favorite people in the world!

Hope you enjoyed this post! If you did, follow this blog as we will be posting 189 more recipes! 189 recipes to discover, learn to cook, take pictures and share to complete the goal of 365! 

Will I finish this task? Check back often to see my progress! xo Van

#161 Chicken Tikka Masala

"Chicken tikka masala is a dish of roasted chunks of chicken (chicken tikka) in a spicy sauce. The sauce is usually creamy, spiced and orange-coloured."

I enjoyed making this dish. It turned out great! I needed to be a little careful handling the kitchen, I used disposable gloves  since I had to thread it onto the skewers before broiling it in the oven. I was too lazy to fire up the grill! Well actually, I didn't want to grill the chicken, I do not enjoy working with the grill, too much smoke gets into my eyes and heat on my face all the time..and so I decided to turn to the oven. I can get very creative in order to make things happen, as you can see in the photos below, I used a glass baking dish to hold the skewers and catch the juice.  Suddenly the dreadful task of grilling became easy, thanks to the oven! When you start making this dish, you will need a lot of patience, just know that in the end, you will have an out-of-this-world yummy dish! I was easy on the cayenne and the fresh jalapeño peppers, but that's just because I am not a fan of too much heat in my food anymore. You can add more if you want firecrackers in your mouth with every bite, I'm pretty sure it will be spectacular.

Here are a few fun facts I found on the internet about this delicious dish, with links provided to the source:

In 2001, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared that "Chicken Tikka Masala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences." He went on to explain that "Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The Masala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy."

The claim that Chicken Tikka Masala is a British "National dish," however met with both acclamation and skeptical opposition.

A 2012 survey of 2,000 people in the United Kingdom claimed that it is that country's second most popular foreign dish to cook, after Chinese stir fry.

Source HERE 

Ready to make your own?   

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA 

Ingredients 

Marinade:

• 1 cup organic yogurt (Greek)

• 1 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons ground pepper

• 1 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

• 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1/8 cayenne pepper

• 3 boneless organic chicken breasts

• bamboo skewers

Sauce:

• 1 block of organic butter

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (I used 1/4)

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• 1 can tomato sauce

• 1 cup heavy cream

• salt to taste

Garnish:

• fresh cilantro, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large glass bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients, and the chicken, mix thoroughly. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Thread chicken onto skewers
3. Broil chicken in the oven, or grill--oil the grate to make sure the chicken does not stick onto it. I broiled it around 5 minutes, or until you achieve that "grilled or broiled look--see pic above". 
4. Once chicken is cool, remove the chicken from skewers.
5. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium low heat,  add garlic until brown and jalapeño.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients, simmer on low heat.
7. Add the grilled chicken and simmer for another 10 minutes.
8. Check salt and heat, add more according to your taste. 
9. Enjoy!

  

That was lovely, so much fun learning to cook a new favorite! (^.^)

#155 Eggless Tapioca Pudding

I love to eat pudding as a dessert or a savory dish. The word pudding is believed to come from the French word boudin , originally from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage". Where did it originate? Nobody really knows where exactly, but the British claim it as part of their culinary heritage. 

I make ahead a couple or jars or two, this helps a lot during my busy week day schedule. It keeps in the fridge for 7 days with no problem! :) 

This is so easy to make. We omitted the eggs, and so this pudding only has 3 ingredients. Ready?

EGGLESS TAPIOCA PUDDING 

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1/4 cup tapioca pearls
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 1/4 cups milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Soak tapioca pearls for about 30 minutes. Do not drain.
2. Add milk, cook in medium heat until boiling then simmer in lowest heat for 15 minutes, or until done. 
3. Sweeten to taste, or add fruits to sweeten. Enjoy!

Buy your Tapioca Pearls on Amazon.com, just click on the image below:

#144 Spiral shortbread

We found a children's baking book by Sara Lewis in the library and we instantly fell in love with the spiral shortbreads featured in the book. Of course we had to  make it and we had so much fun! A very simple recipe, we loved the pretty pattern after we cut the roll. We both liked how it was not overly sweet like the regular cookies. We made different shapes from the scraps, marbled butterflies and hearts. :) This is a really good recipe to bake with kids. We will make many more in the future.

Yield: 16 pieces

SPIRAL SHORTBREAD

Ingredients:

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa pwd

1 tbsp boiling water

1 cup butter - at room temperature

2.5 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup superfine sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Dissolve the cocoa powder in the boiling water until smooth.
2. Mix the butter, flour and sugar into a crumbly mix. Divide equally between 2 mixing bowls.
3. In one bowl, add the vanilla extract. Knead well and set aside
4. Add the cocoa paste to the other bowl and knead well, until the chocolate blends well into the flour mixture, the more you knead, the darker the dough color will be.
5. Roll out the two doughs between 2 sheets of parchment paper into 8 inch squares each.
6. Carefully place the cocoa dough over the vanilla dough. Roll the two together as tightly as possible.
7. Chill for 15 mins. In the meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 F degrees.
8. Cut the rolls into about 16 slices. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet before serving.

Shortbread is a classic Scottish dessert that is made with flour, butter and sugar and is baked at a low temperature to avoid browning. It was an expensive luxury and for ordinary people, shortbread was a special treat reserved just for special occasions such as weddings, Christmas and New Year. In Shetland, it was traditional to break a decorated shortbread cake over the head of a new bride on the threshold of her new home. It has been attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots, who in the mid-16th century was said to be very fond of Petticoat Tails, a thin, crisp, buttery shortbread originally flavoured with caraway seeds. Read more from our source here

(^^,)

#91 Baked Scotch Eggs

 

You will probably never meet a woman who loves eggs more than I do. I was told several times to eat no more than two eggs a week, but I still do eat a lot more. In college, I survived on eggs and rice. Not all year, but there were many weeks while alone during school months when I nourished my younger self happily with big bowls of steamed rice, and a vicious cycle of boiled, fried and scrambled eggs every day, always with soysauce & crushed fresh hot chili on the side. And some days that was the only main dish, it was easy to make, inexpensive and it took care of my hunger. I cannot believe how I ate like that at one point in my life. LOL, so lazy! A few years ago during lunch at work, I told my manager that I need to make eggs every dinner, no matter what other food I had on the table, and one of my co-workers who overheard the conversation could not believe it. Imagine if I told them how bad my egg addiction was. Well, things have changed, I have since regulated my stomach. This journey is my Gastronomy 101. :) It has  indeed refined my egg consumption, I actually add fresh herbs and spices to my eggs now, I even wrap it with meat like how I did it with my new discovery: Baked Scotch Eggs. Scotch egg is made by wrapping a hard boiled egg with sausage meat and then by deep frying in oil. I showed a picture via text message to a friend after I made it, and he texted back: "What.is.that?", "It's eggs and it's Scottish.", I replied. :)  Later on, I discovered that Scotch eggs actually did not originate in Scotland; Fortnum & Mason, a London department store claims to have invented Scotch eggs in 1738, which maybe inspired by nargisi kofta ("Narcissus meatballs"), a Moghul dish. There were also claims that it originated in North Africa or India, and the technique made it's way to Britain via France; the book: Culinary delights of Yorkshire by Peter Bone (R Fyfe & Co, 1981) claims that it originated in the Whitby area of Yorkshire in the 19th century at an eatery named William J Scott and sons, the book claims that the dish was originally  called "Scotties" which were covered with fish paste instead of sausage meat. The earliest printed recipe is the 1809 edition of Mrs. Rundell's:  A New System of Domestic Cookery. Whoever invented it, my biggest thanks to you! It is delicious!  Because I always strive to cut unnecessary fats in our diet, I made this dish by using a recipe that consists of fresh turkey meat instead of sausage, and baked it instead of deep frying, I also used panko instead of fine breadcrumbs since that is what I had available. The meat flavored with cloves, dalmatian rubbed sage, and thyme was absolutely amazing.  My fellow food lovers, meet my Home-made Scotch Eggs. :)

Yield: Serves 4

BAKED SCOTCH EGGS

Ingredients:

 

1 lb  ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
4 large eggs, hard boiled (not too large)
flour
1 large egg
2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs 

Directions:

1. Mix the meat thoroughly with the seasonings and divide into four equal portions.
2. Have the four eggs hard boiled, for about 12 minutes.
3. Peel them, dip them in water and coat them in flour.
4. Wrap each egg evenly in a portion of meat, being sure they are covered completely.
5. Beat the remaining egg.
6. Dip each egg in the beaten egg then coat thoroughly in breadcrumbs.
7. Chill for one hour.
8. Bake until golden brown on a cookie sheet at 400°F; about 30 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Jenny Sanders, Food.com

 

dalmatian rubbed sage

clove

 

thyme

mix it, 

dip it, 

coat it

wrap it

bake it

Done! Simple and easy.

In  the UK it is a popular picnic food, and is often sold pre-packed at grocery stores . 

Here in the United States some British style pubs and restaurants serve it.

And now you can make it too!

I ate it with hot sauce..it is so good, I LOVE IT!!!!

#67 Our Strawberry Shortcake

We used our lemon pound cake to make our Strawberry Shortcake. Some say that it should be made with biscuit instead of cake, but I say NO and will always eat with a cake and whipped cream :)

Stawberry Shortcake originated in Great Britain. It is a cake which is split and the bottom is layered with fresh strawberries and cream. The top is replaced and layered again with the sliced fruit and cream. It is very delicious. I made a Lemon Whipped Cream to use for this dessert dish.



STRAWBERRY SHORT CAKE


Ingredients:

Cake, split in half, see the recipe  here
Lemon Whipped Cream, see the recipe here
Fresh Strawberries


Directions:

1. Arrange ingredients as pictured below.

Enjoy!

#66 Lemon Pound Cake and Mrs. Abby Fisher

My first lemon pound cake. It was easy! I honestly am not that much into cakes, but I like having it once in a while. Children love it, and so it is always good to know how to make your own home made cake using organic ingredients. And we always have fun baking.  I like this recipe, its great! I will be making more of this. I've always been curious how bakeries make the top of the pound cakes glossy and sweet, I discovered the method using this recipe. :)

LEMON POUND CAKE

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Mix together 1 cup sugar and butter.
2. Add eggs and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, mix well.
3. Add salt, flour and baking soda to mixture.
4. Add milk.
5. Bake at 325 F in a well greased loaf pan for 1 hour, or until golden brown.
6. Mix 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar.
7. Use toothpick to make holes in top of cake and drizzle lemon juice and sugar mixture over the top of the cake when removed from oven.
8. Serve warm or cool.

Recipe adapted from Food.com

 

 

Somebody touched it to make sure it's ready, and left marks- Me :)

Now I know how to make the top of the cake glossy like this.

It is achieved by drizzling lemon juice and sugar on top immediately after taking it out from the oven.

 

 

Soft, tasty, it was a success the first time!

Pound cakes originated in Great Britain in the 1700's. The original recipe called for 1 pound butter, 1 pound flour, 1 pound sugar and 1 pound eggs. Back in the days, many people could not read, so calling it "Pound Cake" made it easy to remember. As years went by, the amounts of the ingredients were reduced, because a pound of every thing will yield a very big cake!

In the US, March 4th  is the National Pound Cake Day. :) As I read more about it's history in the US, I found a great story related to pound cake recipes. This story is about Mrs. Abby Fisher, who wrote a cookbook in the 1800's entitled: "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, soups, pickles, preserves, etc." wherein she included two pound cake recipes. In the 1800's, it was a popular dessert in the Southern  States. What makes her story amazing is that, she was born a slave in Little Mobile, GA and did not know how to read and write, but her lack of education did not stop her from achieving her dreams. She reached San Francisco after the civil war and created a new life. Her friends helped her write and publish her cookbook with 160 recipes, which was the first ever published by an African American. Noted culinary historian Karen Hess is credited with historical notes for her research on Mrs. Abby Fisher  in 1984, in the newly reprinted books by Applewood books who acquired it in 1995. As I dug deeper, I found the full text of Mrs. Abby Fisher's recipe book entered on archive.org. It's a precious collection of recipes. Heartwarming. I plan to make some of her dishes. Here is the link. Enjoy!

#33 Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese


Ingredients:

1/2 pack uncooked elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:

1. Cook elbow macaroni according to package directions. Omit the salt and fat.
2. Once cooked, drain and do not wash.
3. In the same (hot) pan, return the drained pasta, parmesan cheese and whole milk.
4. Add cooked meat or bacon on top if desired.

My daughter does not like the taste of ready-to-mix packaged macaroni and cheese. So we always make it from scratch. I also make it with ground beef for added protein.

Macaroni and Cheese originated in the United Kingdom. First recorded in a 14th century English cookbook as "makerouns". Did you know that up until the 18th century in Britain and Italy, it was considered an upper class dish? I also found this cool history of "mac & cheese" in America:

"Maccaroni" with various sauces was a fashionable food in late 18th century Paris. The future American president Thomas Jefferson encountered macaroni both in Paris and in northern Italy. He drew a sketch of the pasta and wrote detailed notes on the extrusion process. In 1793, he commissioned American ambassador to Paris William Short to purchase a machine for making it. Evidently, the machine was not suitable, as Jefferson later imported both macaroni and Parmesan cheese for his use at Monticello. In 1802, Jefferson served a "macaroni pie" at a state dinner.
Since that time, the dish has been associated with the United States and especially the American South. A recipe called "macaroni and cheese" appeared in the 1824 cookbook The Virginia Housewife written by Mary Randolph. Randolph's recipe had three ingredients: macaroni, cheese, and butter, layered together and baked in a 400 °F (204 °C) oven. The cookbook was the most influential cookbook of the 19th century, according to culinary historian Karen Hess^..


I hope you enjoy this dish!

#1 & #2 Our first stop: England

So yesterday, Sunday, when I told my 7 year old about this nightly cooking & learning activity I've been wanting to do with her, she was excited. I was very glad because she is an extremely picky eater. I wish she ate more every meal. This, I thought will hopefully spark more of her interest in every food I put on the table. Because I will let her choose the country everytime!  I think I am more excited than her! Just like every other busy family living in America, we had those monotonous week nights too when I automatically cooked her favorite: rice, steak and brocolli. Spaghetti. And other common American & Asian dishes. She's allergic to all seafoods and eggs, and she rarely eats chicken..so I had to stick to whatever she's not allergic to and always ate.. and then, I usually skipped dinner but then ate whatever dessert was in the fridge. I know it's bad. And no more of that. We'll start experimenting, and have more fun and enjoy memorable dinners every night after homework! And in the process I will lower my white rice intake, which is every. single. meal. of. every. day.

So off we went to get groceries and then I asked her which country she wanted to "visit" for dinner :) She chose: ENGLAND. I wish she chose Philippines :) That would have been really easy! I began to wonder if the cooking was going to take too long...I had no idea what to cook. I have never visited all of Europe and rarely watched cooking & travel shows.
Thanks to technology, we quickly found England's national dish:  ROAST BEEF & YORKSHIRE PUDDING.
When she saw the word 'pudding', she wanted to skip the beef! Haha.

Okay... Roast beef & Yorkshire pudding for tonight.

Ingredients:

Beef Round Roast (3.7 lbs)

Olive Oil

Salt

Freshly Crackled Black Pepper

For the Yorkshire Pudding:

1 cup plain flour

1 cup eggs

1 cup milk

Salt to taste

For the Gravy:

oil

butter

large onion

beef base

chopped carrots

water

white wine

This is how I prepared the Roast Beef:

1. I preheated the oven to it's highest setting.
2. Seasoned the beef with salt and pepper before searing it quickly on all sides, sealing it's pores.
3. Transferred it immediately to the oven and lowered the heat to 375F after 20 minutes. 
4. I let the beef roast for about an hour and 45 minutes. When the thermometer read 160 F, I removed it from the oven.
5. Waited for 30 minutes before carving.

The Yorkshire Pudding:

1. Preheated the oven to 425 F.
2. I put a teaspoon of oil in each cup of the muffin baking pan, then placed it in the oven once ready.
3. Meanwhile, I mixed the 3 ingredients and beat it well.

 4.  I added my favorite herbs in some of the cups.

 5. When the oil is smoking in the oven, I quickly removed it and poured in the batter.

 6. Then I put the muffin pan with the batter back in the oven and let it bake for 25 minutes.

     They were puffed and crisp!

For the gravy:

1. Melt the oil and butter in a large saucepan over gentle heat, add the onions and carrots, then cover with the lid. I let it cook for 10 minutes until the onion is translucent and soft. Don't burn it.
2. Add water and white wine to the vegetables and stir well. Cover and let cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add the beef base and boil gently uncovered for 5 minutes.
4. In a glass, mix the cornstarch with the cold water to create a thin paste. Mix thoroughly. Pour the starch mixture into the gravy, heat to high and boil for 10 minutes or until the gravy is slightly thickened.
5. Season with pepper and keep warm until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, someone was getting busy! She wanted to draw what we saw from the photos.

Tonight, we learned where England is.

We read about it's population, demography & language. 

 A little bit about it's history & culture.

We saw the Big Ben, and some photos taken from atop the London Eye &

 Buckingham Palace of course. We saw the pictures of the Queen, then & now.

We're saving more for our next English night.

Pudding is baking

I used a sieve to separate the vegetables from the gravy sauce

I took it out once the thermometer read 160 F. I like it with some pink.

Here is our English dinner.

And here is a picture of us (little R, little V & V) visiting the Queen of England's castle.