Badam Zarda Gosht (Lamb in Almond Sauce)

Local lamb was on sale last week, so I picked up a small package of stewing lamb. There were a lot of tempting options for what to do with it, but, in the end, I settled on this simple curry that simmers the lamb in an almond-saffron sauce. I appreciate that it requires no marinade and is easy to put together with pantry staples once you have the lamb.

Badam Zarda Gosht

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 3 cinnamon sticks (each ~7cm long)
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 black cardamom pods
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 680g stewing lamb¹ (or similar)
• 1 c. slivered almonds
• 1 1/2 c. water, divided
• 1/4 tsp. lightly crushed saffron threads
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
2. Add the cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, and cardamom pods and cook until they sizzle and the cardamom and cinnamon swell a bit (~1 minute).
3. Add the onion, reduce heat to medium, and stir-fry until onion is well-browned (~10 minutes).
4. Add the lamb and cook, stirring occasionally, until it browns (15-20 minutes).
5. Meanwhile, add 1/2 c. of water to a blender jar along with the almonds and purée.
6. Once the lamb is nicely browned, add the almond paste to the pan.
7. Add the remaining water to the blender, swish it out, and add this to the pan as well.
8. Stir in the saffron and the salt.
9. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until lamb is tender (25-30 minutes).
10. Stir in the cilantro and serve with rice and/or your favourite flatbread.

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¹ Whoops! I only just realized that I completely misread this line of the recipe when cooking it and made it with only 450g of lamb. No wonder there was so much sauce! Oh well... too late now. It was still delicious. Just not quite as substantial as it should've been. ^Back

I didn't find that this pepper-ful scramble looked very appetizing, but it was actually quite tasty.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe. Nothing drastic, just small things to make it a bit more convenient and/or healthy. I halved the fat, using just 2 Tbsp. instead of 4. I also used a mix of red, orange, and yellow peppers rather than the two green and one red that the recipe called for. I swapped out the ham for smoked tofu. And I ended up using ~800mL of canned diced tomatoes rather than the 700-ish mL of fresh tomatoes called for in the original. I'm sure that all these changes weren't ideal, but, as I said, I was trying to work with what I had on hand.

Scrambled Eggs Piperade

Adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 4 onions, halved and sliced
• 3 bell peppers, cored and sliced
• 1 large (~800mL) can diced tomatoes
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c. diced smoked tofu (or ham)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 8 large eggs
• toast, roasted potatoes, and/or hash browns

Directions

1. Melt the bacon fat over medium-low heat.
2. Add the onions and bell peppers and cook until very tender (~10 minutes).
3. Add the tomatoes and garlic, increase heat to medium, and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (10-15 minutes).
4. Add the tofu (or ham), salt, and pepper.
5. Beat the eggs and pour them into the pan with the veggies.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring gently, until eggs are set (~5 minutes).
7. Serve with toast and/or potatoes.

This is a very simple recipe, but the use of Parmesan cubes rather than grated Parmesan makes a big difference.

Scrambled Eggs with Parmesan and Rosemary

From The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. unsalted butter
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 c. cubed Parmesan (~5mm cubes)
• 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary¹
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• buttered toast, to serve

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Beat the eggs with the cheese and pour into hot pan.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring gently, until eggs are just set.
4. Mix in rosemary and pepper and serve with buttered toast.

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¹ I didn't have any fresh rosemary, so I used 1/4 tsp. of dried. But fresh would have been much better. ^Back

Mutter, Methi, aur Palak ki Subzi (Green Pea, Fenugreek, and Spinach Curry)

I enjoyed the green on green on green on green aspect of this curry. I think, flavour-wise, there are other spinach curries that I like better (like the recent cabbage and green pea curry that TF made, for example), but all-in-all, this one was pretty good. And it let me try something new.

Mutter, Methi, aur Palak ki Subzi

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 slices ginger (~4cm x 2.5cm x 3mm), minced
• 450g fresh or frozen spinach, chopped
• 1 c. chopped fresh or frozen fenugreek leaves
• 4-6 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chiles, chopped
• 2 c. water
• 2 c. frozen green peas
• 1 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. half-and-half¹

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the cumin and sizzle for ~15 seconds.
3. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and stir-fry until they've browned slightly (2-3 minutes).
4. Add the spinach, fenugreek, and chilies.
5. Cover the pan and cook until the greens have wilted (~5 minutes).
6. Add the water and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened (12-15 minutes).
8. Add the peas, cilantro, and salt, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until peas are thawed and heated through (~5 minutes).
9. Stir in the cream and simmer, uncovered, until warmed through (~5 minutes).
10. Serve with rice and/or flatbread along with at least one or two other curries.

¹ Iyer calls for heavy (35%) cream here, but also notes that you can omit it entirely and simply purée some of the greens instead². I decided to split the difference and use a 50:50 mix of milk and heavy cream. I find half-and-half (either commercially produced or made on the spot by mixing milk and cream) is usually an acceptable substitute for cream in most curries, so I make this swap whenever I can. ^Back
2 Use this method if you'd like to make the dish vegan. Alternatively, I think a little oat or coconut milk would work well too. ^Back

I liked this as a quick and simple dessert idea. Unadulterated canteloupe already makes a great dessert (as long as it's perfectly ripe), but sometimes it's nice to try a variation on the theme. This doesn't take too much extra time or effort and still lets the canteloupe shine through. It can also help give your melon a little boost if it happens to be slightly under-ripe.

I definitely wouldn't bother with this all the time. But it makes for a nice, shake-it-up, once-in-a-while thing. And it also makes a nice way to make a simple fresh fruit offering seem a little more special when serving guests.

Cantaloupe in Spiced Syrup

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. water
• 3cm fresh ginger, sliced
• 1 star anise
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 cantaloupe

Directions

1. Combine the sugar, water, ginger, star anise, and lemon zest and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in lemon juice and cook for another minute or so.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
5. Meanwhile, peel, seed, and cube the cantaloupe.
6. Toss the melon pieces with the syrup and serve.

I think I must have done something wrong with this cake. It came out extremely dense. It was still delicious. Very citrus-y and tasty. It was just like a brick and didn't rise at all! Maybe that shouldn't be surprising given that there wasn't really any leavener in it besides the pop. And I feel like any leavening power that the pop might've had got beaten out of it during mixing. Maybe it would've been better to mix the pop in later in the process, but the recipe said to mix it in before adding the butter or the flour, so I'm not sure what could've been done to mitigate the density without deviating from the recipe. Maybe next time I'll try adding in a little baking soda and/or holding the pop back until later in the mixing process.

7UP Pound Cake

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 1/2 c. sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. lime zest
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 20 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 c. 7UP
• 370g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda

Glaze

• 114g icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1-2 Tbsp. lime juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and grease a Bundt or tube pan.
2. Beat sugar with eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, lime zest, lime juice, and salt.
3. Pour in the butter in a thin steady stream while beating smooth.
4. Stir in the 7UP.
5. Sift in the flour and baking soda and stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Bake at 150°C (300°F) until cake tests done (~90 minutes).
8. Let cool in pan for ~10 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, whisk 1 Tbsp. each of lemon and lime juice into the icing sugar.
10. Add a little more lemon or lime juice to taste and to get the desired glaze consistency.
11. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.
12. Pour ~1/2 the glaze over the cake and let cool for at least 2 hours.
13. Pour the remaining glaze over once the cake has cooled completely.
14. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before serving.

This bread ended up going really off-piste. It was meant to be a simple white sourdough bread with a tiny hit of ginger in the sponge. But I ended up with some excess soaked bulgur, so I just dumped it into the dough. And I ended up using less flour than called for since the dough seemed way too dry, even with the extra water contributed by the soaked bulgur. I think I also ended up leaving out the cream of tartar and mixing in some sourdough discard as a way to simultaneously incorporate more acidity and moisture. But I don't quite remember all the details since I failed to do this write-up immediately after making it and didn't even have all the measurements to begin with!

Possibly, given how many blanks and question marks are going to end up in this recipe, I should forgo the write-up altogether. But it ended up being one of TF's favourite breads, so I feel like I should at least make an attempt at organizing some notes for future reference.

Starter White Bread with Bulgur

Adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

Sponge

• 125g active (fed) starter @ 100% hydration
• 90g all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 c. water, divided
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Dough

• 1/2 c. skim milk powder
• 250g sourdough discard
• 1 c. bulgur, soaked overnight¹
• ~240g all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. lard²

Directions

1. Make sure to feed your starter and get it nice and active before mixing the sponge.
2. Combine the starter, flour, and 1/4 c. of the water and let stand, uncovered, for two hours.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the sugar, ginger, and water.
4. Once the starter mixture has sat for two hours, pour the liquid over, cover, and let stand at room temperature overnight.
5. The next day, uncover the sponge and mix well.
6. Add the skim milk powder, sourdough discard, bulgur, ~60g of flour, baking soda, and salt and beat for ~1 minute on medium speed (or ~50 strokes by hand).
7. Add the lard and ~100g of flour and beat into a smooth batter.
8. Switch to dough hook and gradually work in flour until the dough comes together and cleans the sides of the bowl.
9. Continue kneading with dough hook for a few minutes or turn out onto work surface and knead until supple and elastic (10-20 minutes by hand; maybe only 2-4 by machine).
10. Cover and let rest for ~20 minutes.
11. Divide the dough into two equal portions and round each one.
12. Cover and let rest for another 10-20 minutes.
13. Meanwhile, grease two 20x10cm (8x4") loaf pans.
14. Shape each round into a loaf and place, seam-side-down, into the prepared loaf pans.
15. Brush the top of each loaf with a little melted butter if desired.
16. Cover and let rise at room temperature until fully risen (2-4 hours³).
17. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
18. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 30-45 minutes.
19. If crust is insufficiently brown, remove loaves from pans and return to oven for 5-10 minutes.
20. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

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¹ Since I was initially planning on using the bulgur for a completely different recipe where the volume of water used to soak it didn't matter, I didn't measure it. I have no idea how much water I used. It was enough that the bulgur was fairly wet without being soupy. The water had been almost entirely absorbed with only a very small amount pooling at the bottom of the bowl, but it was definitely saturated and the grains were clearly holding a lot of moisture. ^Back
2 Rather than using store-bought lard, I actually tossed in ~1/4 c. of the fat that rendered out of the pork shoulder I'd cooked the day before for the pulled pork with peach-mustard sauce. I'm not sure if this had any impact on the flavour or not. The fat looked very smooth and white, but it may have added some subtle flavours to the bread that would not have been present if I'd used commercial lard. I'm not sure, but I figured it was worth noting. ^Back
3 I don't remember how long I let this bread rise for, but I remember it being significantly longer than the 2 hours specified in the recipe. I think 4 hours is probably about right. Of course, this will vary a fair bit depending on your room temperature and how active your starter is and your flour and all sorts of other things. ^Back