Kebab

As I've mentioned previously, my husband is Armenian, and I have been fortunate enough to learn many of his family's Armenian recipes. Among my favorites is kebab, which you probably think is pronounced "ku-BOB" and is some form of beef on a stick. Hmm. I've got better things for you than that.

Kebab (pronounced "KAY-bob"), how I've come to know it, is leg of lamb that is carefully cut and marinated, then placed on skewers and grilled. My mother-in-law often cooks it in the oven, as well, especially in winter, but I've only done that once before, and quite a while ago, so I can't give you specific instructions on that. I'll have to call her first.

If you haven't had lamb before, let me tell you a bit what it's like. It's full-flavored like most red meat, fragrant, and has a slightly tangier taste than beef. That's probably the best I can do to describe it, but it's not only a very delicious meat, it is especially good when grilled, as the stronger flavors from grilling pair well with the stronger flavors of a red meat. I've tried making roast leg of lamb before and have been both successful and regretful as it is quite lean and can easily end up tough. This is probably why restaurants usually recommend serving it medium rare.

If you have had lamb before, you either love it or don't really care for it. If you're not sure or it's been a while, I highly recommend trying this method. The process used here makes the lamb very tender and balances some of its stronger flavors with other equally strong but familiar ingredients. I think the first time I had lamb, I wasn't so crazy about it. It tasted terribly new, but by the next time I tried it, it didn't have that foreign flavor about it and I completely fell for it. If you've had mutton and don't care for it at all, keep in mind that mutton has a much stronger flavor than lamb and is also a much tougher meat, being from an older sheep.

As far as I know, lamb sold in the U.S. mainly comes from three places (though there are many other small producers): New Zealand, Australia, and Colorado. I'm pretty sure the New Zealanders and the Australians fight over who produces the best lamb, but I'm also pretty sure that until lately, most lamb connoisseurs considered New Zealand to be the finest producer. I don't hear that kind of talk anymore, so I don't know if the Australians have produced a better lamb or if domestic lamb has hushed the argument.

While I really enjoy serving lamb, legs of lamb are always larger than we can eat in one or two sittings (especially since it is quite rich), usually being about 4 lbs. or so of fairly lean meat, so I generally only fix this when entertaining guests, and then only if I feel confident they'll eat lamb.

As a side note, we also use this same recipe for chicken breasts if we are going for something healthier or a smaller dinner, and we'll often make both lamb and chicken kebab if we're serving a crowd. The chicken kebab is fantastic served with buffalo sauce (one part butter to two parts Frank's Red Hot cayenne pepper sauce, heated together).


Kebab

1 leg of lamb
2 or 3 large white onions, chopped
6 to 8 cloves garlic (or more), chopped
olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
skewers (metal are best, otherwise soak your wooden skewers for 30 minutes before using them)
charcoal grill

First, prepare the meat. Cut into cubes about 1 1/4" across, carefully cutting away any connective tissue and fat (you won't need the fat for the meat to be tender). You should create three piles while cutting the lamb: one for kebab, one for gristle you'll throw away, and one for larger pieces of fat and scraps of meat. This will take a good amount of time, so make sure you set aside an hour or so for this.

In a bowl, place the cubed meat with the onions, garlic, about 1/3 c. of olive oil, plenty of salt, and a generous amount of pepper. With very clean hands, mix all the ingredients together, being sure to spread the onions, garlic, and olive throughout and kneading as necessary to coat the meat completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours, but probably not more than six. I'm sure it seems crazy, but this will tenderize the meat, as all of the acid in the onions go right to work. Note: if you're making chicken kebab, you'll only want to marinate for 30 to 60 minutes.)

As for the two remaining piles: throw away the gristle. Grind up the extra pieces of meat with some of the fat. (This can be done in a meat grinder or by whizzing it in your food processor.) Mix the ground meat with some diced bell peppers, diced onion, and diced flat-leaf parsley (known as keema). Season with salt and pepper and fry in patties.

Prepare your grill. While the charcoal is getting hot, skewer the marinated meat, leaving the onions and garlic aside.

Then, in a skillet, sauté the onions and garlic with a bit more salt over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until caramelized. Serve alongside the kebab.

Once the grill is ready, set the skewers over the heat and grill, turning a couple of times to brown each side. Check a couple of pieces and cook to desired doneness, medium in my case.

Let the meat rest for just a couple of minutes, then remove from the skewers and serve. It should be tender, flavorful, caramelized and smoky from the grill, and addicting.

(Another note: I have to admit it's killing me to write this. I've been meaning to get to this post for a while, which means it's been a while since we made this, and just the thought of it is making me want to rush out and make it, even though we just had a delicious carne asada New Year's dinner.)

Bon appetit and Happy New Year!

Training Meals, part 1: Kofta

My husband, Mark, thinks his diet needs improvement. This is because nearly everyday he is either mountain or road biking, and he's sure if he has a diet to match his exercise regimen, he'll be better off. So he challenged me to come up with 10 healthy training meals. They need to be nutritious, low in saturated fat, contain some healthy protein, and be a good source of energy without overdoing it on calories. Basically he wants good, clean fuel that also tastes good. Because energy bars are good, clean fuel, but they don't taste good. At least, not for dinner. So here's number one. Kofta.


I should start by mentioning that Mark is part Armenian. That means I'm lucky he married me, since Armenians generally marry Armenians, but really his grandma was lucky Mark's grandpa married her, because that's where it started. And I'm fortunate that my mother-in-law learned all the family recipes from her aunts and passed them on to me, especially since what I'm about to pass on to you is probably my favorite comfort food.

What? Comfort food is healthy? Well, not most, but this one is. It is fried in olive oil, but doesn't absorb much of it, especially when blotted on a paper towel. It's true.

So, essentially, kofta is a combination of ground beef and bulgur, seasoned, and stuffed with onions, peppers, and parsley. The patties are fried in olive oil and served in a yogurt soup with crushed dried mint leaves. Yes, I said yogurt soup, and yes, it is very good.

Let's get right to the recipe, and then we'll talk about how healthy it is and how absolutely delicious it is as well.

Kofta with Soup

1 32-oz. container plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 c. cooked long grain rice

1 large green bell pepper
1 medium yellow onion
1-2 bunches Italian flat-leaf parsley (curly will do in a pinch, but rinse it several times as it holds a lot of dirt)
1 1/2 c. bulgur wheat (you can often find this in the small "Bob's Red Mill" packs section of the baking goods or in the health food area of a grocery store)
1 1/4 lbs. top sirloin steak
1 small package dried Ancho chiles (find these in the Mexican food section of the grocery store)
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
2 t. cumin
1 t. paprika
Kosher salt
fresh black pepper
olive oil
fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

Place the bulgur in a bowl and add enough warm water to cover by 1/2". Set aside for half an hour to saturate the bulgur.

Remove the tops and seeds from the dried chiles, then place in a bowl and cover with warm water. Wrap the top of the bowl in plastic and microwave on high for 2 minutes, then set aside for half an hour to hydrate. After it has fully hydrated, open the pods up and scrape the "meat" away from the skins.

Very finely chop up the bell peppers, onions, and parsley. Add one cup of each ingredient to a bowl and stir to combine. This is called keema. Set mixture aside. Very important note: After speaking with my mother-in-law, I realize that we mistakenly left the keema raw, and for this application it's supposed to be cooked. So heat up a skillet over medium to medium-high, add a bit of olive oil, and toss in the vegetable mixture. Stir over the heat with a bit of salt until the onions and pepper are soft. Remove to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Cut the sirloin up into strips, removing all fat and gristle. Process through a meat grinder three times. If you don't have a meat grinder, ask your butcher if he/she can do this for you. As a very last resort, you can purchase the leanest ground beef you can find. After you make this once, you may consider getting a meat grinder to make it more frequently!

Combine the triple-ground meat, 2 c. hydrated bulgur, rehydrated chiles (to taste), paprika, cumin, garlic and onion powders, 1 t. freshly ground black pepper, and 1 T. Kosher salt (to start with). Taste for seasoning, and add more salt if necessary. You're just going to have to assume the rest is about right if you've never had it before. (If you didn't grind the meat yourself, I don't recommend tasting it raw, but you can sauté up just a bit to test it.)

[Stop here for just a moment. There's also a dish called Chee Kofta that you can have right here. (I'm probably spelling all of these wrong, except Armenian was originally just a spoken language, so there's no one right way of spelling all this.) Instead of moving on to the next step, just make a little patty from the meat mixture, top with some of the vegetable mixture, and drizzle with olive oil. It's kind of like a ceviche, in that the meat is partially cooked, without heat, from the chiles. It's also very good, and I'm not usually a rare-steak kind of girl.]

So, now we assemble. This is where we add pictures, too, since I'm not there to do this with you. First, you take about a quarter cup of the meat mixture. Place it in the palm of your hand (left hand if you're right handed), patty it up, and make a deep well in the middle. Add about 2 T. of the keema and close the patty up so all the vegetables are hidden. Continue with the remaining ingredients. You probably will have some keema left over, but you can find another use for that, or ask me for another Armenian way to use it. When you're done, you'll probably have 8-10 patties.

Pour some olive oil in a sauté pan up to 1/2 an inch. Heat over medium high, and when a touch of the meat sizzles when dropped in, add enough patties to loosely fill the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, then remove to paper towels and continue with the rest. If the oil is popping a lot, reduce heat to medium.

Separately, prepare the soup. In a medium saucepan, empty the container of yogurt and add 32 oz. of water as well as the uncooked rice. Heat the soup over medium low until just barely simmering, then the cooked rice and warm thoroughly. Do not let the soup boil, as this will curdle the yogurt.

To serve, ladle about a cup of soup (scooping up some rice from the bottom) into a bowl, add a kofta patty, and crush a bit of mint leaves in your hands and sprinkle on top. Enjoy and repeat as desired.


All this may sound a little foreign if you're used to hot dogs and apple pie, but it only took me about 3 bites to decide it's one of my favorite meals forever. And it's very healthy, with very lean red meat, carbs from both the bulgur and the yogurt, and a generous dose of nutrition from the wheat and vegetables. Not to mention it is just as good leftover, which can hardly be said for most meals.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Let's be honest. Thanksgiving is about the warmth of being around family, taking time out for one another, and showing gratitude for our bounteous blessings, but - most of all - Thanksgiving is about a nice big dinner. We all love to eat, and for those of us who love to cook, Thanksgiving is paradise. That's me. I love to cook. This week is so exciting for me, with lots of family coming and tons of food to organize and prepare, that I can barely sleep. The last few mornings I've been waking up too early with that feeling inside like I got when I was little and it was Christmas day.

But enough about my giddiness, we have more important things to discuss, like what we're actually eating. As you can see, the refrigerator is stuffed and ready for the week. (Good thing I cleaned it last Wednesday!) So here's the menu:


Warm Pear and Pecan Salad
This may be my favorite part of the meal. I got this recipe, which I've since altered as usual, from a weekly email from The Splendid Table, which I highly recommend. In the original email, Lynne Rossetto Kasper mentioned the salad was good enough to have as a main course. I have to agree. The pears are warm, the pecans are slightly sweet and toasty, the bleu cheese (I only use Maytag) balances the flavors so well, and the cranberry vinaigrette adds just the right amount of tartness to bring it all together. It's a splendid salad, and here's the recipe:

Vinaigrette:
2 1/2 T. raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 t. - 1 T. sugar, depending on the sweetness of the vinegar
1/2 t. orange zest (microplane works best)
salt, freshly ground pepper
1/4 c. olive oil
3 T. dried, sweetened cranberries, coarsely chopped

Salad:
1 large pear, cored, sliced into 8-12 wedges
1 1/2 t. olive oil
1 1/2 t. butter
salt, freshly ground pepper
1/3 c. pecan halves, slightly chopped
green leaf lettuce
1/4 c. crumbled bleu cheese

For the vinaigrette, mix the vinegar, sugar, zest, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil, then stir in the cranberries. Set aside; refrigerate after a couple of hours if not using the same day. (Note: I like to make this a couple of days ahead of time to let the cranberries release their flavor and soak up some of the dressing.)

For the salad, heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the pear wedges until golden brown and just tender, about 4 minutes per side. Add salt and pepper to the second side only during cooking. Remove pears to a dish. Reduce heat to medium low and add the pecans. Cook, stirring, until lightly toasted and warm. Remove from heat.

To plate, divide the lettuce among 4-6 plates. Arrange the pears over each plate, then sprinkle with nuts and bleu cheese. Just before serving, drizzle the vinaigrette over each salad.


Roast Turkey
Well, here's a shocker. We're having turkey. I bought a "fresh" turkey this year from the grocery store, which means the turkey arrives at the store at 33°, ever so slightly frozen, as opposed to the 10° turkey from the freezer. I had purchased a fresh turkey a month ago to use for stock after roasting, and the meat was very tender, moreso than I remember from previous frozen turkeys. Additionally, I like to brine my bird, so Wednesday afternoon, I put it in a solution I got from Emeril Lagasse, as follow: 1 1/2 c. Kosher salt, 1 1/2 c. brown sugar (organic is nice here), 3 quartered oranges, 3 quartered lemons or limes, lots of fresh thyme, and lots of fresh rosemary. I microwave all of that in a large bowl with some water until the sugar and salt dissolve completely, then I toss it into a 5-gallon bucket with plenty of ice and water to make 3 gallons. (If the salt isn't completely dissolved, you end up with a salty spot on your turkey, which is very unappetizing.) Then I add my 20-lb. turkey and leave it alone, except to turn it once during the next 18-ish hours and check it periodically to see if it needs more ice, since it's not cold enough in my garage to be a refrigerator.

Thursday, I take it out, rinse it, and stuff the inside with the oranges, limes (squeeze the fruits out before tossing them in), and herbs while roasting. Actually, I don't think I'm going to put the citrus fruits in this time, since it can make the drippings sweeter and fruitier than I'm looking for. I love the flavor this brine adds to the turkey. It may sound bright, but it ends up being more like citrus and herb overtones than a distinct flavor, and the meat stays juicier longer, even after a couple of days in the fridge.

Oh, and one last thing. Don't use the pop-up timer!!! Your turkey will be overbaked everytime. The dark meat needs to reach 185° and the breast needs to get to 165°, a few degrees of which will be obtained during the 30-minute resting period after removing the turkey from the oven, before carving. I'm not sure what temperature pop-up timers are looking for, but enough not to get sued. Use a nice meat thermometer inserted into both places; digital probes work well. And you can cover your breast meat with aluminum foil partway through roasting to keep it from drying out if it has to stay in longer to allow the dark meat to cook thoroughly.

Stuffing
Since I put the aromatics in the bird, you probably realize I'm not adding the stuffing. We are still having it, though, but baked in a dish. This is for one big reason: it changes how long the turkey has to bake, and sometimes means you have to overbake the turkey to bring the stuffing to 185°, which is the temperature I'm aiming for, since I add egg to keep it somewhat cohesive.

That aside, I'm using good white bread (not the sandwich kind, the "French bread" type, but not the local grocery store's $1 kind), apples, bacon, and the usual stuffing ingredients. One of my friends, Elizabeth said she really likes leeks in stuffing, which sounds delicious, but I don't think I'm going to the grocery store again before Thanksgiving. If plans change, I may grab some. Anyhow, we tested the stuffing for flavor a couple of weeks ago to see if we liked both the apples and bacon, and we're keeping with it. I can't wait to have it again!

Mashed Potatoes
We're not having these.

Pilaf
Mark is part Armenian, and we always have pilaf at Thanksgiving. This may seem like heresy to some of you mashed potatoes and gravy fans, but then you probably haven't had good pilaf. It's the perfect use for turkey drippings, and I have some frozen turkey and chicken stock on hand to fill the gap. Pilaf is really pretty easy: brown 1 c. orzo pasta in 2-3 T. butter until a deep, dark brown, then stir in 2 c. long grain rice, then 6 c. broth. Taste for salt and pepper, bring to a boil, stirring, then cover and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave it alone, covered, 5 minutes. Turn it out to fluff and serve. We'll be making 2 1/2 times this amount, so I've done a lot of stock-making over the last month or so. It's important with pilaf to have a full-flavored stock, so I always roast my chicken or turkey before making it and make sure it doesn't have a diluted flavor before storing it.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes
These are pretty simple: bake the sweet potatoes, mix with butter, salt, fresh nutmeg, and just a touch of cinnamon.

Cranberries
I know I just made cranberries with apples a few weeks ago, but I've decided to go my traditional orange zest, orange juice, and cinnamon stick method this time. The other cranberries are very good, but I like the bright flavors of this other recipe to counter all the starch at Thanksgiving.

Creamed Onion
I love my mom's creamed onions, even if they too indulgent to have any other time of year. If you've never had them, this is definitely one to try. When they come out of the oven, though, they are steamy hot, so don't burn your mouth. And if you can't find boiler onions (they're hard to find), you can buy small white onions and quarter them.

2 dozen small white onions (boiler onions)
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. cream
salt and pepper
dash of cayenne
1/2 c. torn buttered bread

Boil onions five minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 c. liquid. Melt butter and blend in flour. Gradually add reserved liquid or other water and cream, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring, until smooth and thickened. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Add onions and mix lightly. Pour into 8" square dish and cover with foil. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes; uncover, add bread, and bake about 15 more minutes.


Green Bean Casserole
I'm using Martha Stewart's recipe for the green beans this year, almost. I can never just follow a recipe, since I'm so curious about everything. I didn't add the red bell pepper, I used crimini mushrooms (or a mix of crimini and white), I double-dipped my shallots before deep frying (it makes a significantly better coating), and I omitted the bread crumbs. I did like the parmesan cheese. I also just mixed the mushroom sauce and the prepared green beans (haricot verts) all together and tossed them into the dish before topping them with the cheese and shallots. The trial run a couple of weeks ago was very good, and I recommend this variation if you like the traditional flavors of green bean casserole. I plan on making the mushroom sauce tomorrow to help reduce my Thursday chaos.

Corn Pudding
My grandma used to make scalloped corn frequently for Thanksgiving, or just Sunday dinner, when I was little, and I always loved it. Maybe because I'm from the Midwest and thus a big corn fan. In any case, I really wanted to carry on the tradition this year, so I'm attempting to make something I've never tested out before, but I'm hoping it will be good. I'll keep you updated.

Pie
Ah, pie, the love of my kitchen life. I'm making 2 pecans, 1 pumpkin, 1 apple, 1 peach, and 1 cherry. And, of course, lots of lightly sweetened whipped cream. I could go on about pie for a while, so I'll have to save that for another blog, hopefully soon. We should have enough for our 12 adults, 5 kids, and baby, and enough for leftovers. Leftover pie is important, too.


So there you have it, and I'm exhausted just writing it all down, so I know it will wear me out to make it, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't wait to get started. Hopefully the men will clean up when we're done, and then we can just relax. And turn on the NFL network. And have another piece of pie.