Boneless Leg of Lamb in Heavy Cream Sauce

04/17/2013 4 Comments

My mom’s secret boneless leg of lamb recipe shared with you in honor of her. In this past visit she took such great care of us, cooking and loving us everyday, treating us to amazing meal after amazing meal. We could not help but to share this with you. As complex as this tastes, it is not that difficult to make. Top restaurants in Vienna serve this dish, in my opinion – not this good.  (and they use flour)

Give this a try and please send us your feedback.

boneless leg of lamb

The beautiful ingredients are:

  1. 5 lbs of leg of lamb, cut into 1 – 1.5 inch thinck slices
  2. 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
  3. 1 tbsp unsalted butter or ghee
  4. fresh cracked black pepper to taste
  5. 1/8 tsp cardamom seeds (not pods)
  6. 2 small rosemary twigs, whole
  7. from a 1/4 lemon the zest
  8. sea salt to taste
  9. 4 tbsp heavy cream
  10. 1 tbsp fine yucca flour
  11. 1/2 to 3/4  liter of water or beef or chicken broth

Here’s how to make it:

Use a big sauce pot, heat butter or ghee on medium high and sautee the garlic until golden brown. Then add the meat quickly browning it on each side and then adding the water or broth, including all other spices and ingredients with the exception of the flour and the cream. Cover, reduce heat to the lowest setting and cook it for about two hours.

Mix the flour with a little bit of water (typically 2 – 3 tbsps water) and slowly work into the meat. Increase heat to medium and add cream and reduce the heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Note, you can also remove the meat and set aside as you are preparing the sauce with a hand blender and then add the meat back in for a more consistent sauce texture.

Serve and enjoy with your favorite salad or carbohydrate, such as yucca, sweet potato or beets.

Thank you mom for this great dish!

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Strawberries with Goat cheese wrapped in Pancetta

02/19/2013 4 Comments

What a lovely dish this is. I like to serve this as an appetizer with some crisp perfectly chilled white wine. You can prep this ahead of time and then roast/saute them in a hot pan. The Pancetta will provide you with just enough fat to get these guys perfectly browned each side.

This is so easy to make and it will make your dinner guests and friends smile!

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Here’s what you will need.

  • 1/4 lb of Pancetta
  • A bowl of large strawberries, the kind you’s buy for making chocolate covered ones
  • 1/2 small wedge of goat cheese
  • toothpicks

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Cut the strawberries in half, and scoop out the middle with a small sharp knife like a V.  Cut and place a small piece of goat cheese inside the strawberry. Carefully wrap the strawberry with goat cheese in the Pancetta securing it with a toothpick and place it into a hot pan. Keep rotating until they are golden brown and tiny bit crusty. You will love these!

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Crab Cakes

01/07/2013 3 Comments

We can never eat crab cakes because of the breading, but I love them. We haven’t eaten one in years, but recently, amazing Chef, Abbie accommodated me by making me gluten-free crab cakes. Thank you Chef Abbie! She has a wonderful restaurant in tucked away, but worthwhile to visit Cottonwood, AZ. We took a quick drive up to see our family that was visiting the Grand Canyon, and on the way down we met for a most wonderful day ending at Abbie’s. Our cousin, Rick Schwartz radio personality, treated us that night – thank you so much and it was so great to see you!! Next time we’ll see you in Moab. :-)  Catch his show sometime.

Needless to say that night inspired me to come up with my own gluten-free crab cakes, and OMG, these are really good. Why did I not make these sooner?

crab cakes

Ingredients:

  • 240 grams of “real” crab meat (if you used canned, be sure to drain it very well)
  • 1 tsp of organic dijon mustard
  • 3 tbsp of Manioc flour (coarse, you’ll find this in the Asian market, we prefer Goya)
  • 1 egg
  • pinch of sea salt, I used pink Himalayan
  • fresh cracked black pepper to taste
  • tiny pinch of ground Coriander
  • pinch of ground Cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Curry powder (Indian)
  • 2 tsp rice vinegar

Whisk the egg first till a little frothy, then add all other ingredients. Whisking it all very well, and then blending it in to the crab meat ensuring that all ingredients mix seamlessly with the crab. With a tablespoon spoon out a perfect little pile with which you’ll make a little medallions. You could make these into two or four cakes, but in this recipe, we’re featuring these as an amazing appetizer. You decide.

Chill these medallions for an hour and then get a pan hot with ghee and cook them for about 5 – 7 minutes depending on your pan and stove.

These are really good, you should give these a try – you’ll be sure to amaze your dinner guests, or surprise your spouse for a weekend afternoon goody with some of your favorite white wine.

Love to eat – Love life!

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Almond Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

12/17/2012 Leave a comment

Have you ever wanted to bring something homemade to your friend’s house or a function, but decided not to because you thought it would take too long to make? Well now you’ll have a very easy, quick and super delicious recipe to whip up into a batch.

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Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of almond meal
  • 2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
  • 1/8 cup of coconut butter (mana) – melted
  • pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt
  • few drops of almond extract
  • 4 cage free eggs
  • 1/2 cup of dark semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • generous 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 1 tbsp palm sugar (you can adjust depending on how sweet you like it; we always stay on the less sweet side)

Mix everything well together in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Scoop each cookie to be with a small ice cream scooper or spoon and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 – 13 minutes at 350 degrees convection and cool for a few minutes – Enjoy warm or cool. My fellow yogi teachers loved these – what’s your feedback?

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Cranberry Sauce

11/22/2012 2 Comments

I have tasted many cranberry sauces and most of them are delicious, but usually too sweet for our taste. Try ours, you’ll be sure to like the well balanced tastes and it partners well with a variety of proteins aside from Turkey. Our recipe will yield 4 jars of sauce. We always make extra as it’s great to have around. The antioxidants and health benefits of cranberries are fabulous, and the palm sugar’s low glycemic index rating make this a superfood in our book.

For reading more about the health benefits of cranberries, visit The Cranberry Institute.

Ingredients:

  • 4 – 8 ounce bags of fresh organic cranberries
  • 1 ruby-red grapefruit (juice only)
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped Turkish apricots (without sulfites)
  • heaping teaspoon of whole cloves
  • teaspoon of ground cinnamon, you can add a bit more if you like…your taste buds
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup palm sugar (I used a little less, try to taste)
  • water

It is easy to make your own, you can play with variations, such as apples, or pear, cherries, blueberries whatever you want. That’s what makes cooking fun.

But for our recipe take out a large pan and cover cranberries with just enough water, so that they are covered, add cloves and bring to a boil. Soon you will hear them begin to pop, you want this, but cover your pan with a mesh cover or you’ll have sticky spots to clean up. Once they have nearly all popped, add all other ingredients stir, turn off and cover. Let the it sit for 10 minutes or so and then bring to another boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring sometimes. Turn it back off and cover it – let stand for an hour or so. We like the cranberries, so I usually don’t puree it, but you could. I use a potato masher to make it a bit more smooth, but overall I leave them.

Enjoy with your Thanksgiving meal or with one of our lamb or pork dishes, duck works too!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your friends and family!

Nutty Kitchen

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Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls

11/05/2012 2 Comments

It’s about time that we share our fresh spring rolls with you. Our favorite version is this one, clean, fresh and delicious, perfectly suitable for lunch or an appetizer.

The beauty about making your own spring rolls is that you can pretty much chose any ingredients that you like and enjoy, as long as they are fresh. Celebrate fresh ingredients whenever you can!

Here are our ingredients for our fresh rolls:

  • get a package of rice paper for spring rolls (you will have a lot left over for next time)
  • baby arugula
  • basil (remove all large stems)
  • mint (leaves only)
  • organic pea sprouts
  • 1/2 large English cucumber, Julienne
  • 1 Manila mango, Julienne
  •  1 – 2 inches of fresh minced ginger
  • 1 pound of cooked shrimp, remove tail and slice shrimp in half (as if you were to butterfly them, but cut through all the way)

Grab a pie pan and fill 1/2 way with warm water, soak one rice paper sheet at a time for about 10 seconds, remove very carefully with both hands and place onto your working surface. Place 2 – 3 basil leaves in the middle first, then place some arugula, a couple of mint leaves, some pea sprouts, few slices of mango and cucumber, sprinkle a little ginger and place 4 – 5 shrimp halves down the middle. Very carefully fold ends in first and then roll (if you are right handed, right to left rolling it tightly and slowly.  The first couple might be sort of a disaster, but those can be a snack while making the food. :-) Don’t worry, they will get tighter and perfect as you do them.

Place them whole on a sheet or plate and cover them with a wet paper towel. I have a water spray bottle near by to spray the towels to keep them moist. Once you are ready to serve them, you should cut them in half diagonally.

Henry made this amazing dipping sauce:  ..mix really well the following…

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup almond butter
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 3 tbsp coconut aminos
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 4 Thai chilis, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
  • some fresh cracked pepper

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Harvest Pomegranate Chutney

10/23/2012 2 Comments

Thank you all for being patient – we have been burning the candle at both ends; thus the tardy post. I began my Yoga Teacher Training and you can follow my journal here.

We made this chutney a few weeks ago in anticipation of fall, and have made it a few times since. It really is very easy to make and quite tasty.

Some major qualities of this tasty fruit are:

  • Antioxidant power house
  • Helps to prevent Osteoarthritis
  • Helps to promote heart health
  • It’s known to lower blood pressure
  • It has cancer fighting agents
  • It’s great for your gum and teeth health
  • It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber and Folate, and a very good source of Vitamin C and Vitamin K

Here are the lovely fresh ingredients:

  • 2 Large Pomegranates, seeds only
  • 1 bunch of fresh green onions, chopped
  • sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
  • 3 Thai chiles chopped
  • 1/2 inch fresh turmeric, peeled and minced, (
  • 1 inch minced fresh ginger
  • 1 large lime, juice only
  • 1 tbsp coconut vinegar

Fold all ingredients together and chill for about an hour or two in the refrigerator. We love pairing this with pork, especially pork chops. It’s refreshing and light; this also works well with fatty white fish and lamb.

What is your favorite protein combo?  We are going to try this with our turkey this Thanksgiving.

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Pad Thai

08/21/2012 7 Comments

 

We love Thai food, it’s fresh and so delicious as it satisfying. We wanted to share a healthy version of Pad Thai with you and is quick and tastes authentic. We are going to show you our with shrimp, but you can use your favorite protein.

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This serves 4 – 6 people

  • 2 – 3 lbs of shrimp
  • 1 – 1/2 packages of rice noodles, chose your preferred thickness (one of our packages contain 14 oz of dry noodles)
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1/2 cup of Tamarind sauce, make it fresh it will be better
  • 6 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp ground dried chili pepper (we use the seeds from the dried red Thai chilis)
  • 1 pinch of fresh ground pepper, to taste (black pepper is fine)
  • 1 lime
  • 4 large shallots, minced
  • 1 tbsp palm sugar
  • 8 tablespoons tamarind pulp (or 2 – 3 tbsp paste) we prefer the fresh version – well worth it!
  • 4 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1-1/3 cup bean sprouts
  • 1/2 cup chives (coarsely chopped)
  • 2 tablespoons macadamia nuts, crushed (we substitute these for peanuts, as peanuts can carry dangerous fungus)

Easy Preparation:

This will be best in a large Wok. Add coconut oil heat on high, add macadamia nuts and roast them until they get light brown and remove to cool and set aside.  Now add garlic, shallots, fish sauce, tamarind, palm sugar and cook until nice and glossy.

In the meantime boil noodles in salted water for about 3 minutes and drain. Set aside.

Now add eggs to garlic and shallots and cook on medium-high breaking the eggs up with your cooking spoon. Quickly add shrimp, pepper and any additional Thai chilis that you would like for spice; we eat Thai spicy. Stir shrimp in until they are about half way cooked and then add noodles, which should still be warm. Mix very well and serve with a lime on the side.

Guaranteed you will love this! Jo & Henry

 

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Sauteed Beef Kidneys

07/30/2012 2 Comments

We haven’t posted any offal lately, but could not resist sharing this with you. We got our whole steer not to long ago from our favorite local ranch, Date Creek Ranch. Always make sure that you eat grass-fed, and know where your meat is coming from.

Why should you eat kidney? Kidney is a good source of Protein, Vitamin C and Zinc, and a great source of Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Iron, Phosphorus, Copper and Selenium.

Here is what you will need and how to go about making it. Serves 4, unless you are Jo and Henry then it’s for two. :-)

Ingredients:

  • 2 whole beef kidneys
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 2 large yellow or white onions, sliced
  • 3 – 6 red dried Thai chilis, whole
  • 2 – 3 Anaheim pepper, sliced
  • 1 – 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • pinch of sea salt, to taste
  • fresh cracked rainbow pepper, to taste
  • pinch of caraway seeds
  • pinch of marjoram, rub between palms to activate herb

The beef kidney has a very thick white cord connecting the various nodes of the organ. Ensure that you use a very well sharpened knife, I like a boning knife. Try to get all the white cording out, this is a time-consuming task, so know that going in and take your time with it, it’s actually really interesting.

Whole kidney with cord in tact

Kidney with carefully removed cord

Next it is very important to soak the kidney in a bath of 1/3 vinegar (we use coconut vinegar) and 2/3 parts water. Soaking is important to ensure that there is no smell or taste of urine. If the kidney is not cleaned properly there is a chance that your dish might be ruined – IF you don’t soak for about 20 minutes. Rinse very well and set aside.

Kidney soaking in vinegar/water bath

In a large wok or saute pan, brown onions in 1/4 cup of coconut oil, once they are glossy add peppers and all other ingredients, except for the kidney – this goes in last, as kidney cooks as quickly as liver does.

While your onions and veggies are sautéing on medium heat, begin to slice your kidney into thin slices.

Sliced kidney

Once your veggies are caramel in color and beautifully glossy, add kidney and stir well, up your heat to almost high and cook for 2 – 4 minutes, only.

Cooking kidney – almost done

Cook until you see almost no pink; it will continue to cook in the pan even after you turn off the stove. It’s crucial not to overcook your kidney.

Serve and enjoy!

Beef Kidney! We served it with sweet potato hash.

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Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Soup)

07/03/2012 1 Comment

We love Thai food and find it so complimentary to our beliefs and lifestyle. This is a staple in our house, which we love to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Give this a whirl and let us know what you think.

Ingredients for Soup

  • 2 lbs of organic skinless chicken thigh meat, cubed; if you prefer you can substitute 1 lb of shrimp & 1 lb of scallops
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 3 cups of fresh sliced mushrooms, white or brown, really your choice
  • 1 – 3 tbsp fish sauce, start with one tbsp at a time and taste, add more as your taste buds build
  • 2 -3 stalks of fresh lemongrass, wash well, peel outside layer off, chop very fine, or leave in large chunks your choice
  • 1 small onion or 1/2 of a large one, sliced
  • 1 heaping tsp coriander seeds, whole
  • 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
  • 4 – 6 Thai chili peppers, chopped (we like it hot, but you can make it as spicy as you like)
  • 2-3 cups chicken stock, make your own if possible, we also use some of our bone broth if we are out of chicken
  • 1 – 2 pinches of salt (you can always add more later to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon palm sugar (we buy ours from the Asian market)
  • 1 – 2 inch piece of galanga root, cut into small pieces (ginger is in the same family, tastes differently, but is a great substitute and will not ruin this dish; try the Asian market for galanga root, it’s tough to find)
  • 3 – 5 kaffir lime leaves, chopped up, if you don’t have any, use some fresh lime zest, it will be delicious
  • 1/2 lime’s juice
  • fresh cracked pepper, we like rainbow pepper to taste

Preparation

Add all ingredients except for protein and fresh cilantro into a soup pot, bring to a boil and cook on medium – low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, add protein and bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer/low and cover for 5 – 7 minutes.  Add fresh cilantro and lime on the side.  Love and enjoy this soup for breakfast, lunch or dinner; it’s so good. Jo & Henry

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