Drunken leg of lamb

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This is actually something I threw together from scratch (the scratch in my head :P ) and right now It is still in the oven, but I am sure it will turn out fairly awesome.

I started off with:

- A leg of lamb - bone in - about 2kg
- 8 garlic cloves
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt, Pepper
- Lemon zest from one lemon, grated
- 1 cup white wine - Should be a dry - and remember if you can't stand to drink it, don't cook with it
- Some fresh herbs - rosemary is usually great with lamb, but I hate it, so I used some fresh thyme here.

The leg of lamb needs to get drunk overnight, so don't even start this recipe off the day you also want to eat it.

I crushed the garlic cloves, "mujdei" style, threw it in the mortar and pestle along with the about 1 tbsp olive oil, the lemon zest and salt&peppa. Turned into a paste of sorts.

Take your leg of lamb, wash it and pat it dry. With a sharp knife cut come slivers into the meat and fat. Take your paste now and rub that bad boy until it can't take it anymore.

Place it in a ziplock bag and pour the white wine over it. Seal it off and in the fridge it goes. I recommend leaving it overnight, or at least 4 hours (4 hours will only get it tipsy and not drunk).

Take it out of the fridge about 1 hour before throwing it in the oven so that it reaches room temperature. Don't throw the marinade away, u crazy?? Pour it over the lamb before it goes in the oven.

I decided to oven roast mine at about 175 Celsius (should be about 30 mins per .5 kgs for medium, 25 mins for medium rare). Always start off with a preheated oven at a higher temp than what you need and turn it down when you put your tray in. 

My lamb is still roasting now, but I will update the post with the "after pics" as soon as it is done.

Cheers and Happy Easter!

E.

 

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Oven roasted green asparagus

Asparagus

You'll need:

- Green Asparagus - D'uh :P (as much as you can afford/want to eat/need)
- Salt (Kosher salt if possible, I'm falling in love with it)
- Extra virgin olive oil (enough to drizzle the asparagus you have)

How to:

Heat up the oven to about 220 Celsius/ 425 F .

Wash the asparagus stalks and cut off the woody, harder ends ~1,5 cm can be safely chopped off.

Spread them evenly on a tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt. Get down and dirty and take the stalks in your hands to make sure they are evenly coated.

About 10-12 minutes in the extremely hot oven should do the trick.

After you take them out, drizzle with lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, depending on what strikes your fancy. I usually throw in some fresh herbs - pictured here with some fresh thyme.

Enjoy!

E.

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Baklava (À la Mihaela)

Ingredients:  12 puff pastry
                      400g nuts
                      100g pistachio
                      200g butter 
                    for the syrup:  150g watter
                                             250g honey
                                            juice from half a lime and half an orange

Turn on the oven at maximum power.
Mince the nuts and pistachio and add some cinnamon(optional).
Melt the butter. Using a brush butter the griddle when. Take 4 puffs and put them gently in the griddle. Butter well every puff. Add half of the minced nuts and pistachio. Cover the mixture with 4 well buttered puffs. Then add the rest of the mixture. Cover this with the remaining puffs. Back at minimum power for about 20 minutes.

In the mean time prepare the syrup. Melt the honey in the boiling water. After the honey has melted completely add the orange and lime juice. Let everything boil for about 1 minute. Pour the syrup on the baklava.

Wait for about 10 minutes and then you can serve it.

p.s: Although my dessert received good reviews I still prefer the baklava from the pastry shop

Bon Appétit

Mihaela

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Potatoes with mustard and Raita

Ingredients: 4 potatoes
                     2 spoons of mustard
                     olive oil
                     3 cloves of garlic
                    oregano
                    salt&pepper(depending on how spicy the mustard is)

Blend all of the ingredients except for the potatoes :P. Peal the potatoes and cut them in medium-sized cubes. Cover the potatoes in the mustard-mixture. Put in a thermorezistent pan on baking paper and put in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes(untill the fork can easily go through the potatoes).

Serve with raita

For the raita you need: fat yoghurt
                                        2 cucumbers  
                                        3 garlic cloves
                                        fresh mint leaves(I din't have any so I used dryed leaves)
                                        salt, fennel, corriander

Put the fennel and corriander seeds in a pan. Let them warm up for about 5 minutes and them smash them until they become close to a pouder. Peal the cucumbers, take out their seeds(seeds are full of water and we don't need that for raita ) and rasp them. Mix the yoghurt with the rasped garlic, the rasped cucumbers, with the mint and the fennel and corriander, add a pinch of salt and let in the fridge for about an hour.

The mix between the warm potatoes and the cold raita is delicous.
                                       
Bon Appétit

Mihaela

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Quick stir fry

Here's one to whip up in under 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

- thin strips of meat - i used lean pork here
- spring onion
- mushrooms
- garlic
- 1 hot red chili
- soy sauce
- rice vinegar
- salt and pepper

Coarsely chop the spring onions, finely chop the garlic and mix it with the sliced meat. Season with salt and pepper and throw in a heated pan along with 2 teaspoons of oil. Let the meat cook for about 1 minute and then add the  chopped mushrooms. Add some soy sauce, a splash of rice vinegar and after 30 seconds or so, you're good to go. I finished it off with some freshly chopped basil.

I served it up with some lentils, but it goes just as well with rice or noodles. 

Enjoy!

Elena

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Special meatballs

Not so special really, just a mix of everything lying around in the fridge - isn't my enthusiasm contagious? They actually came out tasting quite interesting, so I decide to post the recipe `1 month after I actually made them.. Anyways, here it goes...

- about a pound of extra lean ground beef (we can try and make up for the fact that we are dumping these in oil at the end)
- 1 egg
- 2-3 slices of bread
- 1 cup grated carrot
- grated ginger
- 3 - 4 cloves garlic
- some freshly minced coriander
- 1 small onion - chopped
- 1 green chili - chopped
- salt, pepper
- 1 tsp mustard - I used Dijon here
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 

Soak the bread a little bit of water and soak it well. We want it to soften up, but not to break apart. Mix all these lovely ingredients in a bowl and gradually form your meatballs as you through them in the pan. Heat up some vegetable oil in a frying pan at medium high heat and fry these about 3-4 minutes on each side, turning once. 

I served them up with a nicely reduced tomato garlic sauce and whole wheat spaghetti. 

Enjoy!

Elena

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Stuffed Mushrooms

Since I bought too many mushrooms for my rice pasta and shrimps recipe I decided the next day to cook some stuffed mushrooms. Apparently everything is stuffed and with kashkaval(my secret beloved ingredient) this days!

You need:  20 mushrooms
                    parsil
                    butter
                    tomato juice
                    salt&pepper
                    cheese/kashkaval

Here goes: Wash the mushrooms and remove their tails and the top skin to make the caps wider.
                    Finely chop the tails and fry them in a little bit of butter. Add parsley leaves, salt&pepper and 2 spoons of tomato juice. Let it mix over the fire for about 8 minutes.
                    Fill the mushrooms' caps with the mix. Top them off with thin slices of cheese or kashkaval.
                    Put the mushrooms in the preheated oven and turn the fire down at minimal temperature.
                    After 10 minutes you can take them out. Enjoy!

Bon Appétit

Mihaela

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Rice pasta and shripms

This recipe is perfect(well at least is perfect for me!): delicious and it takes only 15 minutes to prepare.

What you need: a bag of frozen shrimps
                            7-8 mushrooms
                            2 carrots
                            a green pepper
                            soy sauce
                            rice pasta
                            salt and pepper

What you have to do: Let the pasta poach in boiled water for about 7 minutes.
                                    Chop the vegetables in chunks and fry them in butter separately.
                                    Fry the shrimps for about 1 minute and top it off with some lemon juice.
                                    Put all the ingredients in a pan, add generously soy sauce, salt and pepper and let them mix together for about 5 min.

Bon Appétit

Mihaela

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Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients: 4 medium-sizes tomatoes
                     2 big mushrooms
                    half of zucchini
                    half of sweet pepper
                    3 cloves of garlic
                    red pepper pasta
                    1 carrot
                    parsley
                    kashkaval
                    salt
                    pepper
                    oregano

Step1: Preheating the oven at maximum power
Step 2: Chopping in small pieces the garlic, mushrooms, sweet pepper, squash, and the carrot. Put them in the preheated pan and fry them for about 8 minutes
Step 3: Emptying the tomatoes of their pulp until they look like little teacups
Step 4: A pinch of salt, oregano and pepper in the tomato pulp and add it to the mix in the pan
Step 5: Let the vegetables fry 4 more minutes and then add the red pepper pasta
Step 6: Fill the tomatoes with the vegetables mix
Step 7: Cover the tomatoes with a thin slice of kashkaval and add some parsley leaves on top
Step 8: Put the tomatoes on a thermal resistant pan coated with baking paper
Step 9: Turn down the oven and let the tomatoes in for about 15 minutes

Bon Appétit

Mihaela

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Kashkaval pane

Ingredients: 2 eggs
                 200g kashkaval
                rusk
                pepper

Heat the oven at maximal power. In the meantime cut the kashkaval in loaves(as many and as thick as you want to). Beat the eggs and add a pinch of pepper and salt if you feel like it. Put the rusk in a widespread plate. Dip the loaves of kashkaval in eggs and then cover them in rusk. Then dip them once again in eggs and cover them in rusk. Repeat this until you get a thick crust so that the kashkaval won't spil over when it melts. Try not to leave any part of the loaf uncovered.

Coat the griddle with baking papper and put the kashkaval loaves on it. Dim the fire in the oven at minimal power. Let the kashkaval in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Your meal is ready. We garnished it with vegetables.

Bon Appétit

 

Mihaela&Silviu

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About

Elena Pascanu, Mihaela Iorga, Razvan Pascanu, Silviu Postavaru cooking for your delight.