Lamb chops sous vide

Lamb chops sous vide

I got a new gadget for the kitchen this christmas. I got an Anova sous vide Immersion circulator. It's the nerdiest gadget to date. I almost feel like I'm back at the lab growing cells or making analysis.

Sous vide is cooking in a water bath at exact controlled temperatures. You put the ingredients in a vacuum sealed bag and cook it at the temperature you want your ingredient to end up with, but you have to take food safety in to consideration. If you want a medium rare steak (131℉ or 55℃) you cook your steak at 131℉ or 55℃ for a certain amount of time. The time seems to be some kind of trial and error. But I’m not the first to have this type of equipment in my home, so there’s a lot of websites recommending time and temperature for different ingredients.

These lamb chops was tender and moist, and by far one of the best I have ever had. Next time, I would remove more of the fat, no other changes.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 rack of lamb, cut up to 4 chops

• 2 sprigs of rosemary,

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 tablespoon butter

• salt and pepper

Directions:

Wash you hands very thoroughly. 

Pour boiling water over the rosemary. Cut the rack of lamb into 4 chops. Season the chops with salt and pepper. Place some rosemary leaves on each chop and a few slices of garlic. Place two chops in each vacuum bag and place some butter, rosemary and garlic slices on the other side of the chop. Vacuum seal the bags and submerge them in the 130℉ (54.5℃) water bath to cook for 2 hours.

After the 2 hours take the vacuum bags out of the water and remove the lamb chops from the bags. Sear the chops on a scalding hot pan, about a minute on each side.

Enjoy.

Greek-style Lamb Meatballs - Græske Lammefrikadelle

Greek-style Lamb Meatballs

Everybody knows Swedish meatballs from IKEA. They have a danish cousin, they are not round but more flat and fried on a skillet in butter.

Growing up with moms meatballs, hard on the outside and soft on the inside, not my cup of tea. The taste was good, but texture-vise I needed something else. My moms meatballs was made with all-purpose flours as the starch component. But one of my friends said to try using rolled oats instead, and it made a big difference.

My old aunt from Jutland also taught me some of her secrets to good meatballs. You start by mixing the meat with salt, this makes some of the meat proteins water soluble, which acts like a emulsifier. She always tasted the meat to see if it needed more salt, I wouldn't recommend this. Try to fry up a small meatball to taste it. 

Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats. Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk salt and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture. I use the same directions for these lamb meatballs

I like to experiment with the classic recipes, and wanted to try out a greek take on the danish meatballs. What makes these greek?  Making them with lamb and adding garlic, feta, olives, roasted tomatoes and rosemary gave them a greek twist. 

My husband loves these especially when I serve them with tzatziki and orzo salad.

Makes 30 meatballs

Ingredients: 

The Ingredients.

• 1 kg (2 lb.) ground lamb meat

• rolled oats

• 2 eggs

• 2 medium onions

• ⅓ cup milk

• ¼ cup roasted garlic

• 2 garlic cloves (fresh)

• ¼ cup pitted kalamata olives

• 75 g feta cheese

• ¼ cup roasted tomatoes

• 2 sprigs rosemary

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• pepper

• Butter and oil for frying

Directions:

The Process.

Mix the meat with salt.  Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats. Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk,  salt and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture. Add the chopped rosted garlic, fresh garlic, olives, feta cheese roasted tomatoes and rosemary. 

Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Melt a couple of table spoons of butter in the skillet

Forming the meatballs dip a tablespoon in the melted butter and scoop up a good spoonful meat. Use the hand and the spoon to form the meatball.  The meatball should be oval an the size of a small egg. Placed the meatball in the skillet, repeat until you have a full skillet. Be careful not to let the meatballs touch each other.

Fry the meatball for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until they are well-browned and no longer pink in the center. Depending how big the meatballs are and how hot your pan is the time may vary.  When done remove the meatballs onto a plate, and set aside.

If you have a more meat mixture in the bowl, clean the skillet with a kitchen towel and add new butter and fry another batch.

The Danish Version

Græske lammefrikadeller

Ingredienser: 

• 1 kg hakket lammekød

• havregryn

• 2 æg

• 2 løg

• 3/4 dl mælk

• en lille håndfuld ristede hvidløgsfed

• 2 hvidløsfed (friske)

• en lille håndfuld kalamata oliven

• 75 g feta

• en lille håndfuld semi dried tomater

• 2 kviste rosemarin

• 1,5 tsk salt

• pepper

• smør og olie til stegningen

Bland kødet med salt. Del kødet i kvarte, løft en fjerdedel op op de andre. Fyld den manglende fjerdedel med havregryn. Tilsæt  finthakket eller revet løg, æg, mælk, salt og peber og bland indtil du har en sammenhængende fars. Tilsæt den hakkede ristede hvidløg, frisk hvidløg, oliven, feta, ristede tomater og rosmarin, bland det godt.

Smelt et par spiseskefulde smør på en stegepande, tilsæt lidt oile.

Brug hånden og skeen til at forme frikadellerne . Frikadellerne skal være ovale, på størrelse med en lille æg . Steg frikadellerne i omkring 3 til 5 minutter på hver side, indtil de er godt brunet og ikke længere rå inden i. Stegetiden varierer afhængig af størrelsen på frikadellerne, og hvor varmt din stegepande er. 

Indian Lamb and Spinach Curry

Indian Lamb and Spinach Curry.

This Indian Lamb and Spinach Curry was one of the first dishes I tried in my slow cooker. A slow cooker was all new to me. If you wanted simmer food you had to stay home to make sure it didn't burn. But with a slow cooker it was possible to start the dinner in the morning, run errands or go to work, and have the simmer food ready by the time for dinner. Why have I never seen a device like this in Denmark - I don't get it. 

This curry is nice and spicy. If you don't care for spicy food use less cayenne pepper. The recipe is from Oprah.  

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup canola oil

• 3 yellow onions , chopped

• 4 cloves garlic , peeled and minced

• 1 (2-inch) piece of ginger, peeled and grated

• 2 tsp. ground cumin

• 1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

• 1 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

• 2 cups beef broth, preferably high quality

• 3 pounds boneless leg of lamb , cut into 1-inch cubes

• Salt

• 6 cups baby spinach

• 2 cups plain full-fat yogurt

Direction:

The ingredients.

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm oil. Add onions and garlic, and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger, cumin, cayenne, and turmeric and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in broth, raise heat to high, and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom. When broth comes to a boil, remove pan from heat.

Put lamb in a slow cooker, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Add contents of frying pan. Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 4 hours or low-heat setting for 8 hours.

Add baby spinach to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes. Just before serving, stir in 1 1/3 cups yogurt. Season to taste with salt. Spoon into shallow bowls and serve, passing remaining yogurt to add as a garnish.

Serve with rice or quinoa and a chutney.