Echoes in a Hollow Space

Random quote of the day:

“Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature.”

—Paul Valéry, Moralités



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Key and Peele, Celine Dion, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies

I got this recipe from the Yahoo Food page. We try to go meatless once or twice a week, so this sounded like a good bet to satisfy our junk food cravings the veggie way. It turned out to be quite delicious. We used four of the regular size (non-Costco size) Boca burgers which we cooked before adding to the sauce, and we substituted a yellow sweet pepper for the green since I can't digest the green. It added a wonderful sweetness. I usually make my own barbecue sauce, but in this case we used the Masterpiece Original bottled sauce and we did use the (optional) soy sauce. Definitely a keeper in this household.

We froze the rest but haven't tried it out yet so I don't know if this freezes well. I can't imagine it wouldn't, but you never know...

Vegetarian Sloppy Joes

• cook time: 25 mins
• servings: 8

ingredients

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 large green sweet pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1-1/2 cups refrigerated or frozen precooked and crumbled ground-meat substitute (soy protein)
• 1 10-3/4-ounce can tomato puree
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup bottled barbecue sauce
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (optional)
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 8 to 10 hamburger buns, toasted

directions

1. In a large skillet cook onion and sweet pepper in hot oil for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Stir in ground-meat substitute, tomato puree, the water, barbecue sauce, mustard, soy sauce (if desired), chili powder, and garlic.
2. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve on buns. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Yep, it's a keeper. This is a Williams-Sonoma recipe, but it's very similar to a Lamb Shanks Provençale I used to make. It was quite delicious on a cold, rainy day—the kind of meal where you throw stuff in a pot and let it cook half the day, and the house smells wonderful. It works well with the measurements reduced by thirds or two-thirds. And when I cook, more garlic and wine always manage to fall into the pot. Don't know how that happens...

Braised Lamb Shanks with White Beans

"You can substitute the same amount of veal shanks if you like."

1-1/2 cups dried small white, white kidney, or cannellini beans
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
6 lamb shanks, each 1/2 to 3/4 lb.
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
2 large carrots, peeled and finely diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cups dry red wine such as Côtes-du-Rhône, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Chianti
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)
3 Tbs. tomato paste
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Pick over the beans and discard any misshapen beans and stones. Rinse the beans, place in a bowl and add water to cover generously. Let stand for about 3 hours.

Drain the beans and place in a saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Place over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until nearly tender, 45 to 60 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, in a deep, heavy stock pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the lamb shanks and brown on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the shanks to a plate. Add the onion, celery and carrots to the pan and sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine, broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, bay leaf and lamb shanks. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the shanks can be easily pierced with a skewer, 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Add the beans, stir well, cover and simmer gentle until lamb begins to fall from the bone and the beans are tender, about 30 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaf and discard.

If you're looking for vegetarian or low-cal, move it along, nothing to see here...

There's a lot of steps, but this is actually fairly easy to prepare and delicious. If you're a saucy sort, you may want to double up on the Madeira sauce because it cooks away quite a bit.

4 lb. boneless pork loin roast, cut in two lengthwise
1 c. pitted prunes
1 c. dried apricots
1 garlic clove (if you're a sissy)
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
8 tbsp. butter, softened (but that's what makes it good, nutritionists)
1 tbsp. dried thyme (or, if someone was sure they had thyme in the cupboard and discovered at the last minute they did not, 3/4 tbsp. parsley flakes and 1/4 italian seasoning) (really)
1 c. Madeira wine
1 tbsp. molasses
Salt to taste
Watercress, garnish (if you're a into that sort of thing)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place dried fruit onto one side of the roast (or cut a channel if you prefer), alternating prunes and apricots. Cut the garlic into thin slivers. Make deep slits in the roast with the tip of the knife and push the garlic into the slits. Tie roast with twine and rub surface with salt and pepper.

Set roast in a shallow baking pan. Smear butter over the roast. Sprinkle with the thyme. Stir Madeira and molasses together in a small bowl, and pour over roast. Set the pan on the middle rack of the oven.

Bake for 1-1/2 hours (approximately 20 minutes per pound), basting frequently.

When roast is done, remove it from the oven and let it stand, loosely covered with foil, for 15-20 minutes. Cut into thin slices. Arrange slices on serving platter. Spoon pan juices over slices. Garnish the platter with watercress. Serve immediately.

Alternately, just slap in on the plates and scarf.

ETA: CORRECTION! That should be: 3/4 tbsp. parsley flakes and 1/4 italian seasoning as a substitute, not cup! Yikes!