pine nuts

The Accidental Locavore Recipe for Stuffed Squash With Yogurt Sauce

by Anne Maxfield on August 18, 2011

Accidental Locavore Stuffed SquashThis is a long-time favorite of the Accidental Locavore. When properly prepared, it’s delicious! Even when it’s a work-in-progress, it’s pretty good. A little time consuming, but if it’s raining out and you’ve got a stack of zucchini… Depending on the size of your squash, figure 1-2 per person.

For the squash:

  • 6 summer squash, or zucchini, or a mix of the two
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1/2 pound ground lamb
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely minced, or crushed in a garlic press
  • 1 teaspoon each, salt & pepper
  • 1 cup rice

 Yogurt sauce:

  • 1 quart full fat yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon dried mint, or 1 tablespoon fresh, finely sliced for garnish

Cut a small slice off the wide end of the squash. With a squash corer, or a small spoon, carefully core the squash, leaving about 1/4″ all around. Be careful not to pierce the skin. Set aside.

In a large sauté pan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sauté for 5 minutes. Add the ground lamb, breaking it into small pieces as you add it, along with the garlic, cinnamon, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Stir to mix well. Add the rice and mix well. Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool.

When the mix is cool, use it to stuff the squash. The easiest way is to use your fingers, but you can do it with a small spoon. Fill the squash 3/4 full to give the rice room to expand. Set aside.

In a large pot, big enough to hold the squash, over medium heat, mix the egg, yogurt, and cornstarch. Stir continually until it comes to a boil. Do not leave it unattended or the sauce will separate! When it comes to a boil (you’re safe now), reduce the heat to low, add a clove of crushed garlic, and the squash. Cover and cook for about an hour until the rice is cooked and the squash is tender. It may need more time to fully cook the rice. Serve with the yogurt sauce and mint sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

 

{ 0 comments }

The Accidental Locavore Recipe: Arugula and Basil Pesto

by Anne Maxfield on July 8, 2011

Accidental Locavore Pasta With Arugula PestoThis is an old favorite of the Accidental Locavore, a lemony pesto with arugula taking the place of some of the basil. Adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook.

  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
  • 6 cloves garlic (if they’re big, use 1-2 less)
  • 5 cups arugula
  • 1 cup fresh basil
  • ¾ cup olive oil (you may not need quite this much, stop when it gets to a consistency you like)
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ¾ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Put pine nuts and garlic in a food processor and process until a paste. Add the arugula and basil and process to a thick paste. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a thin stream (the pesto should be thick and spreadable, like a thick mayo). Add the lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste and process until combined. If you’re not going to freeze it, add the Parmesan and process until blended. Serve over pasta, fish or lamb and enjoy.

{ 1 comment }

Recipe: Lamb Shanks Over Eggplant With Pine Nuts and Yogurt

by Anne Maxfield on April 8, 2011

Accidental Locavore Lamb, Eggplant and YogurtThis recipe for lamb shanks is from one of the Accidental Locavore’s favorite restaurants in New York, ilili. It’s contemporary Lebanese and totally delicious. My favorite dish is the lamb sausage, however this recipe for lamb shanks is pretty easy and a good substitute. I’ve adapted Philippe Massoud’s recipe, which serves 2. Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you, you’ve got almost all of them, it’s an easy prep with a long, slow, unattended cooking time.

For the lamb shanks:

  • 1 large lamb shank (about 1 pound)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup onions, diced (1 large)
  • 1/2 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 cup celery, chopped
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups beef stock (lamb, veal or chicken will work fine, red wine and water would probably work too)
  • 1 cup water

To finish the dish:

  • 1 small eggplant, sliced 1/4″ thick, and salted for 2 hours
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil (for frying the eggplant, you may need more)
  • 1 1/2 cups full fat Greek yogurt (no substitutes, any reduced fat yogurt will curdle)
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, finely minced
  • 1 small pita bread, cut into diamonds and toasted or fried in olive oil (optional)
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (you can use a little cayenne or hot paprika, if you can’t find aleppo, but it’s better)
  • a few fresh mint leaves, cut into a chiffonade

Cooking the lamb shank:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the lamb shank with some of the olive oil. Mix the allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a small dish, and sprinkle over the lamb shank. Poke the lamb shank with a sharp knife in where the meat is thickest, and insert one clove of garlic in each slit. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to an oven-proof skillet large enough to hold the lamb shank, all the vegetables, the stock and water. Add the lamb shank and cook over high heat until the lamb is nicely browned on all sides. Remove the lamb from the pan, and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium, add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the onions, carrots and celery and sweat until the onions are translucent. Put the lamb shank back into the pan, add the cloves, thyme, bay leaves, stock and water. Cover the pan and cook for 3-3 1/2 hours until the shank is tender and falling off the bone. Check the lamb after about 2 hours to make sure there is enough liquid in the pan.

Remove the lamb from the oven. When it’s cool enough to handle, remove and shred the meat from the bone. Set aside.

Completing the dish:

In a large saute pan, fry the eggplant in olive oil over medium high heat until deep brown on both sides, set aside. In a small saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat, add the pine nuts and toast until they are golden brown. Be careful, pine nuts burn quickly. As soon as you see them start to darken, remove them from the heat and set aside. In a small saucepan over low heat, add the yogurt and minced garlic and warm, stirring constantly.

To serve:

For each serving, put 3-4 slices of eggplant in a shallow bowl. Divide the lamb and sprinkle it over the eggplant. In this order add: the pita chips, yogurt and the pine nuts with the butter. Finish with the mint and Aleppo pepper. Serve and enjoy.

I’ve made this a couple of times, and it’s delicious. Most recently I made it with some leftover leg of lamb that I had roasted. Instead of the braised shank, I shredded some of the leftover lamb, warmed it up while the eggplant was browning, and finished it with the yogurt, pine nuts etc. It was a great use for leftovers! If you decide to make it with the lamb shank, I would cook more than one; you can always freeze the leftover shank, and use it another time. When it (finally) becomes grilling season, this would work with grilled lamb leftovers and grilling the eggplant would be wonderful! What do you think?

 

{ 1 comment }

Recipe: Turkish Inspired Stuffed Cabbage

by Anne Maxfield on July 9, 2010

Accidental Locavore Stuffed CabbageEven though it’s in the 90′s here, the Accidental Locavore decided in the cool of the morning to make stuffed cabbage. It’s not hard, just a little time consuming. Par-boiling the leaves takes the most time (besides cooking them), but it’s certainly easy. Don’t let the lengthy looking directions scare you off.

  • Core the cabbage and carefully remove the leaves until they get too small and gnarly to work with.
  • Fill your biggest, flattest pan with water and put it on to boil. I added salt to the water, but don’t know how necessary it is. Force of habit.
  • Place a few of the cabbage leaves in the water. You need to cover them with water, so don’t do more than 5 at a time. Boil until just tender and pliable.
  • Repeat with the rest of the leaves. Put them on a plate, or clean dishtowel to drain and cool.

While the leaves are cooking I mixed together:

  • 1/2 pound of ground lamb (from local grass fed lambs).
  • 2 onions chopped fine
  • 1/2 cup rice (long grain)
  • 1/3 cup each dill, parsley, mint (all from my garden, saving a trip to the local supermarket), chopped fine
  • 1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts (totally optional)
  • Salt, pepper, and a dash of allspice
  • Mix all these together until well combined
  • When the leaves are done, cut the spines out of the leaves. If they’re big leaves, cut them in half the long way.
  • Spoon a heaping tablespoon of filling about an inch above the bottom of the base of the leaf.
  • Fold up the bottom to cover the filling.
  • Fold in the sides, and roll up, easy right?
  • Take all the leftover small pieces of cabbage, and the spines, and line the bottom of a large flat pan with them (I use the same pan as for the leaves).
  • Place the rolls in the pan so they’re resting on the seam (the end of the leaf).
  • Dot with butter, about 2 TBSP, and fill the pan with water to cover the rolls.
  • Place a large plate on top to hold them down.
  • Heat on medium heat until boiling, then turn down to a strong simmer for 30-35 minutes until tender.

I like a yogurt sauce with these, and now that I know how to work with yogurt, it’s really easy. The two things you must do are: use whole milk yogurt. Any low fat yogurt will separate. Trust me. The other thing is to add egg yolks to the yogurt. For about 1 cup of yogurt, I used 2 egg yolks. Beat them slightly to combine them, and stir into the yogurt until combined.

For the sauce:

  • 1 small can tomato sauce
  • 1 cup of whole milk yogurt mixed with 2 egg yolks
  • 3 cloves of garlic put through a garlic press
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat slowly until warm, and the sauce is combined. You can pour over the stuffed cabbage or even warm the cabbage in the sauce. Enjoy!

A lot of people have great recipes for stuffed cabbage. What’s yours?

{ 0 comments }