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On Saturday, I almost convinced the husband to go to Ikea with me. Mind you, this Ikea opened for the first time last Wednesday. He knew the lines would be out the waazoo and wasn’t keen on going but I managed to drag him out of the house anyway. My secret weapon? The Village Grille. Village grille is an Indian- Pakistani restaurant that makes the best goat-biryani in town. There I go again, ga-ga over goat and lamb meat; I don’t know what's gotten into me, I have been on a huge meat eating kick these days. We’d eaten at Village before for dinner, and learned of their lunch buffet through friends. This was our opportunity to eat a big lunch and then work off our lunch, right, wander around Ikea.
Lunch was good, as expected. Some of the items on the buffet were tandooori chicken, goat paaya, chicken biryani, and goat curry. I didn’t care for the white, plain, rice or chole but everything else was good. The service was fantastic, even for a buffet. The server filled our waters and removed plates without missing a beat. Even though it’s far, Village Grille is worth the drive for goat biryani or almost any other meat dish.
After finishing lunch, we took a detour to a Halal Market nearby. Halal is similar to Jewish’s kosher foods. Muslims are expected to follow rules of the Islamic laws on halal foods. An unspoken Indian belief is if it’s halal, it’s fresh. I remember when we lived in India, my family preferred to go to the halal shops over the Indian ones because they practiced good faith and sold freshly cut meats. Sometimes they even slaughtered the meat in front of you… and that’s when I stopped going to butcher shops. The halal market had dried beans, lentils, grape leaves for dolmas, natural (!) mango and passion fruit juice and other Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Asian products. In addition to lamb meat, we bought goat meat, dried garbanzo beans and some other things.
As for wandering through Ikea, it didn’t happen. The husband was so fed up with long lines in the car that we drove past the big store to head home. He was practical; if we have to wait 15-20+ minutes in the car, imagine how bad it would be inside? I understood. I’ll give the modern retail store 6 months before the lines and hype dwindle down.
To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I invited close friends for dinner, made classic Irish lamb stew using lamb from the halal shop, and drank enough beer to call it a good day.
Irish Lamb Stew, adapted from two Bon Appétit recipes
1 tbsp Butter
3 tbsp Vegetable oil
1/4 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black pepper
2 1/2 lbs lamb shoulder with bones, cubed
2 medium Onions, diced
2 Carrots, peeled and diced
3 medium Potatoes, peeled and diced
3 Garlic cloves, minced
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 bottle dark beer
1 tbsp Fresh thyme
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Melt butter and vegetable oil on medium high heat in large heavy-bottomed pan. Liberally season flour with salt and pepper. Dredge lamb in the flour and shake off the excess. Brown the meat on all sides in batches.
Medium dice onions, carrots and potatoes. Add onions, browned meat, garlic, chicken broth, dark beer, salt and pepper to the crockpot. Cook on low for 5 hours. I cooked mine for 9 because it was a working day. Carrots and potatoes take an hour to cook so it’s best to add them in the last hour of the cooking. Due to my faulty time management skills, I added carrots and potatoes 30 minutes before serving. Of course, they weren’t done so I pressured cooked them before serving. Add fresh thyme 30 minutes before serving.
Not only was this a fantastic recipe for St. Patrick’s Day, this is a fantastic crockpot recipe- perfect for this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge. Lis, over at La Mia Cucina is hosting this month’s event. The requirement: cook a dish in crockpot, pressure cooker or dutch oven and follow a recipe from a cookbook. I interpret cookbooks as books in print, magazines and online recipes. Thanks Bon Appétit for posting the recipes online, otherwise I’d be in trouble!
I am pooped from the meat eating binge. Due to the high meat consumption my body’s ready for a detox. Off I go to the Indian grocer for my vegetarian favorites - okra, bottle gourd and baby eggplants. mmmmm
On occasion, I enjoy a good hunk of chicken or lamb made right. And potatoes? Well, they’re a favorite too. So when there’s a recipe that combines both meat and potatoes, I am a happy girl. I googled shepherd’s pie months ago and found many variations of the recipe. I tweaked those recipes to fit my own taste.
A little background on this English favorite; shepherd’s pie is traditionally made with minced lamb or goat meat, hence the name shepherd’s pie. Since I absolutely adore lamb and goat meat, you would think I’d make shepherd’s pie when I get my hands on the ground meat, right? Wrong. That isn’t the case at all; I actually have never made shepherd’s pie with ground lamb or goat. Coincidentally, I never remember to make it when I have those meats in the house. I’ve always made it with an old favorite, ground turkey.
For the meat filling
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, diced
1 1/2 lbs ground Turkey
2 tsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp Thyme
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup frozen peas
Salt & Pepper to taste
Mashed potatoes
(Note: Leftover mashed potatoes can be used for this recipe. It is actually recommended)
2 lbs (baking) potatoes, large cubes
1 cup milk- heavy cream can be replaced and is really good but the fat content isn’t for my waist. unfortunately.
3 tbsp butter
Salt & Pepper to taste
For potatoes, bring a pot of water and potatoes to boil.
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Generally garlic is not a component for this dish but my love for garlic is illimitable and thus my secret ingredient. Turn heat down to medium, add carrots and ground meat, break up the meat evenly with a wooden spoon and cook until meat is browned. While cooking, you’ll notice the liquid fat separating from the meat mixture; I like the flavor it adds to my pie so I leave it in however if you so wish, you can drain the fat.
When water and potatoes come to boil, add salt, turn heat down to simmer and cook for 10 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, bring a saucepan with milk and butter up to a rolling simmer. If you overheat the milk; it will curdle and scald. Bad bad. Potatoes are done when they can be scored with a knife. Drain in a colander and place the potatoes back in the pot, add the warm milk mixture, salt and pepper and mash.
After the meat has browned, add tomato paste, thyme and Worcestershire sauce and cook for another 5-8 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Stir frozen peas into the mixture and remove the pan from heat. Peas are delicate and excess heat can result in a green mush. To prevent a green much, remove the pan from heat after adding peas and let the mixture cool.
Spread the cooled meat mixture in a casserole dish and top it with mashed potatoes. Bake for 15- 20 minutes. If the potatoes aren’t browned, turn oven temperature to broil, and bake on top rack, 4-6 inches away from the heat, for 8 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown.
After tweaking, testing and trying the recipe many times I declare my pie to be very tasty and probably the best in town, especially for those non-red-meat eaters! Go head, try it sometime…
Did you know it’s the year of the potato? Makes two of us, I didn’t either. And since it is THE year of the potato, I’ll have to make sure to consume it as much as possible to raise awareness. Don’t mind my weight, I’ll be fine. It’s the awareness that’s more important! Anyway, in spirit of celebrating the potato, Sia over at Monsoon Spice is hosting an “Ode to Potato” event. And for that, I am submitting my fabulous shepherd’s pie.
