Chef Lane, Food

Chef Lane: Some Lamb, Some Radishes and Some Kale walk into a kitchen…


You all know I got a haul from Bountiful Baskets, and that I had no idea what to do with some of my produce.  Namely, I had two huge bunches of kale and a bunch of radishes, and not a clue what to make of them.  I’ve been hunting down recipes and making them my own, and so far, I’m having a lot of fun and success.  Tonight, I made a dinner of grilled lamb (cooked on The Griddler, thanks Dad and Barbara!), sauteed kale, and grilled radishes.

Sounds disgusting, doesn’t it?  Surprisingly, it was delicious!

Lamb, kale and radishes. Surprisingly delicious.

You will need:

  • 6 boneless Lamb chops (They come 3 to a pack at Kroger)
  • 2 bunches of kale
  • 1 bunch of radishes
  • 3 large cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup veggie/chicken/beef stock (you pick)
  • 3 Tbs Sesame Oil
  • 2 Tbs Sesame Seeds
  • 2 Tbs butter
  • 2 Tbs garlic paste
  • 1 tsp Miso
  • 1 ice cube
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • Herbal Sea Salt to taste

I love this herbal sea salt by Caber, called Seasonello.

I use this all the time. I love it for seasoning lamb.

My dad and his nifty wife, Barbara, bought us The Griddler the last time they were here.  They use it in their RV for a lot of cooking, and after telling me how easy it was to use, and to clean, I told B I wanted one for Christmas.  Dad and Barbara brought us one the next day.  It is amazing!  I love it!  I love it most because it is so easy to clean.

Anyway, while your Griddler or grill, or oven are pre-heating, salt your lamb with the herbal salt and set it aside.

I have a really cheap vegetable slicer that I bought at Kroger.  I call it the Slice-o-matic.  It looks something like this:

It slices your vegetables into wafer thin pieces! Just watch your fingers.

Use your Slice-o-Matic, or whatever you have handy, to slice your radishes into very thin rounds.  Do the same with your 3 garlic cloves.  Cut up your butter into tiny pats in a small, broiler safe baking dish, put your radishes and garlic in the dish, drop the ice cube in the center, then cover with foil.  Broil for 25 minutes.  (You can skip the baking dish and just put all of this in foil, edges wrapped up so as not to leak butter everywhere, and put this on the grill for 20 minutes.)

While your radishes are going, put half your sesame oil in a large saucepan with all of the garlic paste.  Heat until the oil is bubbly, then add your cup of stock and Miso.  You will have taken the leaves of the kale off the stalks, and ripped those into smaller pieces.  Put those in your saucepan and mix until your leaves are all covered with the oil, garlic, and stock.  Cover and cook on high for 5 minutes.  Remove cover and reduce heat, simmering until the liquid is nearly gone.  Add in the sesame seeds and stir.

While the radishes are going, and the kale is cooking, throw your lamb on The Griddler.  5 minutes for rare, how B likes it, and 8 minutes to medium, how I like it.

Serve and be surprised!

The kale has a really nice texture and the miso and sesame oil give it a great flavor.  The radishes come out with a very potato-y taste.  I was hoping B would like it, and was thrilled when he ate all the vegetables.  That’s pretty rare.  When Mom came to bring Thor home, I had her give it a taste, and she especially liked the kale.

This recipe yields dinner for 2 adults, with 2 servings of leftovers.

 

Chef Lane, Food, Home Ec

Bounty! Nom Nom Nom!


I told y’all I would be picking up an order from the Bountiful Baskets produce co-op.  I got my first order today, and though I had been expecting a lot from the rave reviews my friends were giving me, I was still very pleasantly surprised by the actual amount and the condition of the food I received.  How to prepare some of the produce is a mystery to me, but the group website offers a blog with tips and ideas for how to get the most out of your basket.  And I discovered, from the Facebook page, that those weren’t plums after all, but delicious, delicious, delicious, juicy, ripe black velvet apricots.

My entire Bountiful Baskets haul. This includes the regular basket (all the fruit and produce you see loose), a hefty baggie of really good granola, an Italian veggie pack, and 5 loaves of sourdough bread.

Here’s what I got, and what I paid for it:

Handling Fee:  $1.50

Total Price:  $45.00

Item Name: Conventional Basket
Description: Roughly 50% fruit, 50% vegetables, and 100% healthy, fun and delicious!
Item Name: Veggie Lovers Pack – Italian Theme – Add extra veggies to your basket! Making dinnertime fun!
Description: Veggie Lovers Pack – Italian Theme – Add extra veggies to your basket! Making dinnertime fun! Italian Pack – Hoping for garlic, basil, oregano, rosemary, yellow and red onion, flat parsley, zucchini, regular mushrooms and eggplant.
This is the Italian Veggie pack I added to my basket order. For $15, I got fresh and pungent baggies of basil, oregano, and rosemary, a huge bunch of cilantro, mushrooms, a medium sized eggplant, a huge red onion, a large yellow onion, and a medium sized clove of garlic, and two zucchini.
Item Name: Sourdough Bread – 5 loaves – $10
Description: Ingredients: Unbleached Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Rye Flour, water, starter, salt
One of the 5 loaves of sourdough I bought with my Bountiful Baskets order (the rest is in the freezer.) I tried some toasted and slathered with KerryGold butter. I had to stop myself from trying more.
Item Name: Bountiful Baskets Granola – 2lbs – Oats, Honey, canola oil, roasted & salted cashews, dates, diced pineapple,  sunflower seeds,
Description: Ingredients – Oats, Honey, canola oil, roasted & salted cashews, dates, diced pineapple, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and almond & vanilla flavor.
As far as I am concerned, this was a great deal.  I can’t get out of the grocery store for those prices.  Well worth the cost!  I think Thor will enjoy shucking the corn with me.  I haven’t done that since I was a child, and I’m not sure he’s ever seen corn in its natural state.
Check into the co-op and see if they have one in your area.  They are across the country and have a lot of locations!