Smoke and Pickles
Page 4
Marinade
3 cups buttermilk
1½ cups chopped onions
A small knob of ginger, peeled
2 garlic cloves
Juice of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 boneless lamb leg roast (5 to 6 pounds), rolled and tied up in butcher’s twine
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
Honey Glaze
¾ cup honey
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1Start a day early to marinate the meat: Combine all the marinade ingredients in a blender and blend on medium speed until well combined. Place the lamb leg in a gallon-size resealable plastic bag, pour the marinade into the bag, and seal. (I usually put this into a second bag in case the first one leaks.) Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
2The next day, preheat the oven to 325°F.
3Remove the lamb leg from the bag and rinse thoroughly under cold running water; discard the marinade. Pat the lamb dry. Brush all over with the olive oil and sprinkle with the sea salt. Place in a roasting pan and roast for 1 hour.
4Meanwhile, make the glaze: Combine the honey, orange juice, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and whisk to blend. Reserve.
5After the lamb has spent an hour in the oven, turn the heat up to 450°F and start glazing the roast: Open the oven door and, without removing the lamb from the oven, brush a thick layer of the honey glaze over the top of the roast. Roast for another 15 to 20 minutes, brushing a layer of glaze over it every 5 minutes. Check for doneness: An instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the roast should read 135°F for rare, or 140°F for medium-rare. Remove the butcher’s twine from the meat and let the meat rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Roti with Sliced Lamb Leg (or, A Recipe for Using Leftover Lamb Leg Roast)
There are infinite versions of roti; this one, a simplified version that is fast and yummy, was inspired by the street carts of Malaysia. Practice the technique of rolling rotis out very thin. The thinner they are, the flakier and more delicate they will be. Try this roti in place of your favorite sandwich bread, or as an accompaniment for the lamb shanks with cashew gravy (page 20). Wash this down with a bottle of Jockamo IPA from Abita. / Makes 5 pieces of bread
Roti
2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain yogurt (see note)
5 teaspoons clarified butter or ghee (see box)
For Each Sandwich
1 large thin slice leftover Cinnamon-Honey Roast Leg of Lamb (page 25)
Sliced cucumbers, sliced roasted red peppers, sliced cooked asparagus, and sliced avocado
A dollop of plain yogurt
A few dashes of hot sauce (Texas Pete is my favorite)
1To make the roti: Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk together to combine. Add the yogurt and mix with your hands until the dough comes together. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 2 minutes. Divide the dough into 5 pieces and roll out to about ⅛ inch thick.
2Heat 1 teaspoon of clarified butter per roti in a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the roti dough. Fry until crispy on one side, about 2 minutes. Flip and crisp up the next side, about 2 minutes. Take out of the pan, drain on paper towels, and serve immediately or hold on a plate in a warm oven until ready to eat.
3To make the sandwiches: Warm the lamb in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes. Place the slices of lamb on top of the fresh roti. Add some sliced cucumbers, sliced roasted red peppers, and sliced avocado to each one, top with yogurt and a few dashes of hot sauce, and roll into a tight cylinder. If you want to get fancy about it, wrap some butcher paper around each sandwich and fold the end over to keep the juices from spilling onto your arms.
Make the roti with plain unstrained yogurt. It will not work with thick Greek yogurt (there’s not enough liquid in it).
Clarified Butter/Ghee/Drawn Butter
Clarified butter is butter that has been separated or “clarified” from the milk solids, leaving only the translucent butterfat. In Indian cuisine, it is called ghee. In seafood restaurants, they call it drawn butter. It’s all the same. You can find clarified butter in most gourmet shops, and you can find jars of ghee at any Indian market. You can also make it yourself by ever so slowly melting a few sticks of butter in a small pot. The butter will separate into three layers. The top is the whey proteins, which will look frothy—this can easily be spooned off. The milk solids will sink to the bottom. And the golden liquid in the middle is the clarified butter. Gently pour this through cheesecloth into a Mason jar or other container. Stop pouring just before the milk solids leave the pot. There are many advantages to using clarified butter—it can be heated to a higher temperature without smoking, it has a slightly nutty flavor that permeates anything you cook in it, and it keeps for weeks in the refrigerator.
Vietnamese Lamb Chops
I learned how to make this lamb dish while hanging out with a Vietnamese cook when I was in France. I love the irony of it: I spend four months in France, and one of the favorite recipes I come away with is from a Vietnamese line cook who made an incredibly simple dish from the scraps of lamb that went into the family meal bin. Sometimes he’d collect the scraps for days until he had enough to make a large portion. I think the marinade was supposed to kill off any bacterial growth—I’ve adapted the recipe a bit so you don’t have to use deteriorating meat. / Feeds 4
8 lamb loin chops, about 1 inch thick
Marinade
½ cup honey
½ cup fish sauce
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup bourbon
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon freshly ground white pepper
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Garnish
Chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges
Fried Shallots (recipe follows)
Edamame Hummus (page 199)
1Place the lamb chops in a glass baking dish.
2To make the marinade: Put all the ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture over the lamb chops and gently massage it into the meat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or as long as overnight.
3Take the lamb out of the refrigerator and let it come up to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
4Transfer the lamb, with the marinade, to a roasting pan. Roast the chops, uncovered, for 15 minutes, or until the glaze is shiny and slightly caramelized. Flip and roast for another 5 minutes.
5Garnish the chops with cilantro, lime wedges, and the fried shallots and serve with the hummus.
Fried Shallots
Makes about 3 cups
5 shallots
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups corn or peanut oil
1Slice the shallots as thin as possible (use a mandoline, if you have one, or a sharp chef’s knife). Put the sliced shallots into a colander and rinse under cold running water for 1 minute to rinse off any bitter juice that may have collected when slicing. Shake dry, transfer to paper towels, and sprinkle with the salt. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2Using fresh paper towels, press the shallots to squeeze out as much excess water as possible. Transfer to a plate and separate the strands with you
r fingers.
3Heat the oil to 350°F in a large skillet or wok. Fry the shallots in the oil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they turn golden brown and crispy. With a spider or skimmer, transfer the shallots to a large plate lined with several layers of paper towels; they will continue to darken and crisp slightly as they cool.
4The fried shallots are best used right away, but they can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container lined with paper towels.
Grilled Lamb Heart Kalbi in Lettuce Wraps
I get a lot of goodies from Craig Rogers: lamb entrails, kidneys, prairie oysters . . . but my favorite organ meat by far is the heart. When cooked right, lamb hearts are sweet, juicy, and supple—just the way a good heart should taste. They are high in calories, though, so I like to serve them in these little lettuce wraps, nestled in just the right combination of sweet and spicy. The trick is to cook them rare, or they get tough and chewy.
Don’t tell your guests just what they’re eating until they ask you what these bits of deliciousness are. To really impress, serve these with a glass of sparkling rosé Prosecco. / Feeds 6 as an appetizer
Marinade
¾ cup chopped onion
¾ cup soy sauce
¼ cup Asian sesame oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
3 garlic cloves
A small knob of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1½ teaspoons red pepper flakes
6 lamb hearts
Kimchi Puree
2 cups Red Cabbage–Bacon Kimchi (page 166)
One 4-ounce can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
¼ cup Asian sesame oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons corn oil
12 romaine lettuce spears, taken from the inside of the head
12 slices jalapeño peppers for garnish
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
1To make the marinade: Combine all the ingredients except the sesame seeds and red pepper flakes in a blender and blend on high for 1 minute. Transfer to a medium glass bowl and stir in the sesame seeds and red pepper flakes.
2To clean the lamb hearts: Trim off some but not all of the fat from the surface of the hearts. Cut the hearts in half and lay cut side up on a cutting board. Trim some of the veins and arteries from the inside of the hearts. Rinse the hearts under cold running water, add to the marinade, and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3Meanwhile, make the kimchi puree: Combine the kimchi, chipotle peppers, sesame oil, and lemon juice in a blender and blend on high for 2 minutes, or until a thick puree forms. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
4Remove the hearts from the marinade and pat dry on paper towels. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the corn oil and carefully add half the lamb hearts to the pan. Sear very quickly, about 1 minute on each side, until the outside is blackened and caramelized but the inside is still rare. Remove from the heat, then heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and sear the remaining lamb hearts.
5To make the lettuce wraps: Place a piece of lamb heart on each romaine lettuce spear, top with a spoonful of the kimchi puree, and garnish with a slice of jalapeño and chopped cilantro. Serve immediately.
If you’re not quite ready to try lamb hearts, don’t despair. This recipe works equally well with thinly sliced lamb loin or, more traditionally, with thinly sliced beef short ribs. Just substitute for the hearts the same amount of lamb loin or beef (about 12 ounces).
Lamb Bacon
One of the advantages of working with lamb is that it’s a manageably sized animal for anyone who wants to get on the nose-to-tail bandwagon. Butchering a 300-pound pig in your kitchen is probably not going to happen. But a whole lamb might be possible—it will weigh 50 to 60 pounds. Lamb bacon is a great beginner’s curing recipe, and the results are sublime. / Makes enough for 6 people
1 cup kosher salt
½ cup sugar
2 pounds lamb bellies (roughly 2 pieces)
A handful of fresh rosemary sprigs
Hickory wood chips, soaked in warm water
1Combine the salt and sugar in a bowl. Trim the bellies of any loose pieces of fat or sinew and rub the salt-sugar cure all over them. Layer the bellies in a shallow dish with the skin side down, adding some rosemary sprigs between each layer. Sprinkle the extra cure and the last of the rosemary over the top and put in the back of the refrigerator. Leave uncovered for 2 days; the bellies will absorb the salt and leach out liquid.
2After the 2 days, remove the bellies from the cure and discard the rosemary. Rinse the bellies under cold water and transfer to a large tub. Cover with cold water and soak for 2 hours.
3Light your charcoal grill. Remove the bellies from the water and pat dry on paper towels.
4Place some soaked wood chips right on top of the hot coals; 2 handfuls of chips should be enough. Once the wood begins to smoke, fit the grill rack over the chips. Scatter another handful of soaked wood chips over the grill rack and place the lamb bellies skin side down over the wood chips. This prevents the bellies from cooking directly on the hot metal grill rack. Cover the grill and smoke the lamb bellies for 2 to 3 hours. Monitor the temperature—it should stay between 160 and 200°F—and add more wood chips to the hot coals if necessary. The bellies are done when they are slightly blackened; the flavor will be smoky but mild, and the meat will have a little resistance but ultimately give way in your mouth as you bite into it.
5Chill the bacon in your refrigerator before slicing it and using it in any dish where you would use pork bacon. To store it, wrap each belly individually in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to a month.
Make large batches of this bacon and keep the extra in your freezer. It will stay good for up to a month.
Rub the cure over the entire surface of the lamb.
Store the lamb in a shallow dish.
Rinse the lamb under cold water.
Cook the lamb belly skin side down.
Spinach Salad with Spiced Pecans, Lamb Bacon, Clemson Blue Cheese, and Bourbon Vinaigrette
Lamb bacon is an elegant variation on pork bacon. The subtlety of the bacon pairs nicely with salads that want a more delicate flavor, like this one. If you’re not in the mood to put lamb bacon in a salad, I wouldn’t necessarily pair it with plain-old breakfast eggs, unless the eggs were shirred, with a little Roncal and chervil. Oh, that might be nice. But try this salad first. / Feeds 4
Bourbon Vinaigrette
¼ cup bourbon
¾ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salad
8 ounces Lamb Bacon (see page 32), cut into small cubes
8 ounces spinach
½ cup pecans
1 green apple, cored and cut into matchsticks
1 breakfast radish, sliced into thin rounds
4 ounces Clemson blue cheese or other mild artisan blue cheese, crumbled
1To make the vinaigrette: Start by pouring the bourbon into a small saucepan and bringing it to a boil over medium heat. Be careful, because the alcohol in the bourbon could ignite. If that happens, to tamp out the flame, simply put a tight-fitting lid over the pot—the lack of oxygen will suffocate the flame; remove the lid after a few seconds. Boil to reduce the liquid to about 2 tablespoons. Transfer the bourbon to a ramekin and refrigerate until well chilled.
2Combine the olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, salt, and pepper in a
small bowl. Whisk in the reduced bourbon. Keep refrigerated; bring to room temperature when ready to use.
3To make the salad: Put the lamb bacon in a small skillet and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat just until it becomes crispy on the outside, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel to drain what little fat will render from the bacon.
4Combine the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl and add the lamb bacon. Toss gently with the bourbon vinaigrette and serve immediately.
In winter, I make this salad using kale instead of spinach and warm the vinaigrette just slightly.
Curried Lamb Prosciutto
This recipe is ambitious. It requires an extra refrigerator (see Curing, page 40). Take out all but the top rack, which is what you will use for hanging the leg of lamb. Turn the temperature up as high as it will go, usually around 38° to 40°F, and you have a safe environment that will hold a few lamb legs.
I like curing lamb because it takes a lot less time than pork. A pork leg prosciutto will require you to wait 18 months—talk about delayed gratification. But a lamb leg will be ready in a mere 66 days. And you’ll look like a charcuterie god when you serve this lamb sliced tableside to your guests. You can make it without the curry paste, but the curry adds a seductive aromatic. You’ll be amazed at how soft the curry notes become. This is great on its own or in the following salad recipe. It lasts for about a month in my house, but depending on how often you serve it, it could be gone in a couple of weeks. / Makes 1 lamb prosciutto
1 bone-in leg of lamb, about 6 pounds
First Cure
1 cup kosher salt
½ cup sugar
½ cup freshly ground black pepper
Second Cure