Rack of Lamb and Couscous w/turmeric and cilantro

I was in the mood for lamb one night a few weeks ago and my favorite way to prepare it is the BBQ. I went to Trader Joes and bought a Frenched Lamb Rack from New Zealand.
I did nothing out of the ordinary-salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and some garlic.
Lars popped on the grill and it was excellent. It came out perfect and pink on the inside, crunchy and "Herby" on the outside.

I also made a new side dish with Israeli Couscous.
I found this recipe in Bon Appetit and changed it a bit.

COUSCOUS WITH FRESH CILANTRO AND LEMON JUICE
6 servings

2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 2/3 cups water
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 1/2 cups plain couscous (I used Israeli couscous)
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
Add turmeric and garlic and stir for one minute
Add water, lemon peel, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt; bring to a boil.
Remove pan from heat. Stir in the couscous .
Cover; let stand until liquid is absorbed about 5 minutes.
Fluff with a fork mix in cilantro and lemon juice.
Add additional salt if desired.

My only changes were I used Israeli couscous which I put in at the same time as the turmeric and garlic to toast it first. I like the bigger grains it is similar to Orzo and I love the "toastieness." Then followed the recipe as is.I also cut the recipe in half since there is only the two of us.

Dish passed all my tests-it looked good-tasted terrific and was sooo easy to make-perfect for a week night.

ALMOND BLUEBERRY COOKIES

What to do with a over abundance of Blueberries. I went a bit over the top at the Green Market and after days of yogurt and blueberries for breakfast, and a very yummy Blueberry and nectarine Jam I still had a lot left.
So I looked around and found a great recipe for Almond Blueberry Cookies. They turned out to be easy and delicious.
They should actually be called "cakeys" rather than cookies the blueberries keep them very moist.
Lucky for my waistline, Lars was driving his Mom up to Rhode Island to her summer rental and I shipped most of the cookies with them.My Mother-in-law loved them and she has a very discerning taste.
So the recipe is to follow it is by Giada De Laurentis, I have two of her cook books and she has never failed to provide a really great meal!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/almond-blueberry-cookies-recipe/index.htm

KOLDSKÅL AND KAMMERJUNKERE

I don't know about the rest of you but the heat is getting to me after dragging my dogs around and trying to find the shade-I am too exhausted and not all that hungry to cook-so I am seeking inspiration and a break from veggie sushi(going through a bit of an addiction)-and it has appeared from Baltimore by way of Denmark.
This sounds like the perfect summer comfort food and in fact it is.

KOLDSKÅL

half gallon buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup sugar (2/3 cup probably just as good)
juice from 1.5 limes
150g butter
teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip (we used electric mixer) together eggs and sugar until you get a homogeneous very light and rather thick liquid. Pour in the rest (butter being soft/partially melted) and whip until homogeneous. Done!

KAMMERJUNKERE

250g flour
75g butter
75g sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
Dash of vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Mix everything and knead until homogeneous and shiny. Roll into one or more sausages, about 2 inches thick. Cut into slices of about an inch or a tad more, put on parchment paper on baking tray, and into the oven. Give it about 10 minutes, or until they start going golden and browning slightly. Then take them out, cut in half (top/bottom) in order to make for crisper thinner slices and back in for 10-15 minutes (until the color in the pic), and done! If possible use hot air to get crispier( for those of you lucky to have a convection oven quite common in Europe). Let cool, then add say 10-15 to a bowl of koldskål. Degree of crushing when added is personal preference.

Now I know many of you are a bit gun-shy of raw eggs so read below:

With respect to Salmonella poisoning. Again, it is true that the possibility exists for the infection to occur if you eat raw eggs. But here are the facts. Of the 69 billion eggs that are produced per year, Salmonella is only present in 2.3 million of those eggs. That translates to 1 out of every 30,000 eggs or 0.0003% of all produced eggs. Furthermore, buying cage-free, organically-fed and organically-certified chicken eggs significantly reduces any potential of Salmonella infection.

I am also providing a link to a blog I have just found called "My Danish Kitchen" that has an alternate recipe without eggs.

http://mydanishkitchen.com/2010/06/25/koldskal/

I am going to try it both ways!

With respect to Salmonella poisoning. Again, it is true that the possibility exists for the infection to occur if you eat raw eggs. But here are the facts. Of the 69 billion eggs that are produced per year, Salmonella is only present in 2.3 million of those eggs. That translates to 1 out of every 30,000 eggs or 0.0003% of all produced eggs. Furthermore, buying cage-free, organically-fed and organically-certified chicken eggs significantly reduces any potential of Salmonella infection.

BLUEBERRY NECTARINE JAM ADDITION

SORRY! I left out 2 tablespoons of lemon juice !

HAYMANN'S CARROT FRITTERS

My dear friend Haymann in Hong Kong has sent me a really great recipe complete with pictures of these very delicious looking Carrot Fritters.
I will admit that I attempted to make them and failed , but I will go on record as saying that even though they looked terrible and were too soupy they tasted great!
I wrote to her and she had some suggestions which I will try.I think the big difference may be in the condensed milk it may be thicker, also I grated the carrots by hand (what was I thinking I have a food processor) and they may have been grated too fine. Lastly I used Jarlsberg which is what I had on hand next time I will use cheddar. Even with all that they still tasted fantastic.
So think how good it will be if you follow the recipe!

Healthy Carrot Fritters

These veggie fritters can be served with a watercress salad with olive oil and lemon juice dressing.

The following recipe makes: 6-8, or enough for 2-3 people

325g carrots
A medium onion
A clove of garlic, crushed
150ml double cream or condensed milk (I used the latter cos it's less fattening)
An egg, beaten
3 heaped tbsp of grated cheese, like a strong Cheddar
A handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped (no dried herbs pls!)
3 heaped tbsp plain flour
Olive oil for shallow-frying
Salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Scrub the carrots and push them through a food processor fitted with a grater attachment. Alternatively, grate them by hand using the coarse side of the grater. Either way, you are after long, thin shreds rather than mush.

2. Peel the onion, finely slice or grate it and stir it into the carrots along with the garlic and a seasoning of salt and black pepper. Stir in the double cream or condensed milk, beaten egg, grated cheese, roughly chopped coriander and the flour.

3. Warm a shallow layer of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Drop large dollops of the mixture into the pan, a couple at a time, and fry till lightly cooked on the underside. Turn with a fish slice and allow the other side to colour. They should take three or four mins per side, until they are dark gold. Lift out on to a warm plate and remove extra oil with a sheet of kitchen roll. Eat immediately.

Ok once again I tried and failed-they again tasted terrific but looked less than appetizing and were too soupy but I will not give up-I will add more flour and less liquid. I will also work on the grating process.

I think it is important to post failures as well as triumphs and hopefully try again until you get things right.

If all else fails I guess I just have to get on a plane and pay her a long overdue visit!

RHUBARB BUTTER

A few days ago at the Green Market I noticed that "Wicklow Farms" still had Rhubarb really red Rhubarb so I had to buy it.
I have made quite a few jams and chutneys so I wanted something a bit different I came upon a recipe that is sooo easy it is ridiculous called Rhubarb Butter.
All you do is chop up 4 cups of Rhubarb-add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup orange juice .
Cook over medium heat and that is it.
I tried this plate placed in the freezer test-which I have been seeing on a lot of the blogs basically you put a plate in the freezer when you think your jam or butter or preserves are done take a small sample and place it on the plate return it to the freezer for 2 minutes then if it crinkly when you touch it-you have jam.
I got one small and one medium size jam jar out of this.
I of course sterilized the jars and lids before hand and this time I put the filled jars into boiling water for 15 minutes-I think it was probably not necessary since I keep them in the frig as opposed to a dark cupboard.

The jam in the middle of the picture is blueberry nectarine jam something I made up as I went along-I had a large amount of blueberries from Trader Joes that Lars wanted to buy totally forgetting that he was leaving for Rhode Island for a week. I also had on hand 2 white nectarines, two regular nectarines and one small peach that needed to be eaten or else. So I peeled the stone fruit (weighed in at just over a pound) and chopped it up into 1 inch pieces placed it in a pot with a scant 1 cup sugar and chopped crystallized ginger set it on stove for about 15 minutes-when the fruit started to cook down I added the blueberries (12 or 13 ounces) for another 15 minutes. Performed the freezer plate test, sterilized and got one medium size jar of a excellent tasting jam.I am very glad I only added 1 cup of sugar the white nectarines are like candy