I finished organizing my Saveur recipes finally, and after starting my detox I find myself preoccupied with food. The funny thing is I feel glad to be rid of all the junk and I'm excited to try out all the wacky super-hippy foods at PCC we don't ever buy because they're outside our "normal" recipes. I've been enjoying a lot of lentils, beans, and whole grains over the last few days. My intestines have been feeling a lot cleaner for it. I also picked up a bowl full of fruit for my desk and have been snacking on bananas, pears, and oranges for the last few days. Yum! I can't say I really miss meat or chocolate, but it's hard to go without dairy and eggs, especially cheese.
I was initially worried because I had three lunch dates set up this week (of all weeks) that I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat. Silly me, I work in Fremont where nouveau hippie-dom reigns. All the Thai restaurants are veg friendly (if too high in salts and oils) and Tawon has a WONDERFUL brown rice. Yesterday I ate steamed broccoli with soft tofu in this amazing super-garlicky sauce. Tomorrow Jeff, other Jeff, and I are going to Chiso for sashimi (they also serve brown rice) and Friday I'm taking Jeff out to Silence Heart Nest, and you can't get much more new-age-foodie than THAT.
Today's recipe doesn't fit within my "spring cleaning" paradigm, but easily could with some alteration. However, because it's lamb season and lamb is so delicious in this recipe, I recommend not altering it. I made this for the first time about a month ago after spotting it in my Seductions of Rice cookbook. It's unlike anything I've ever tasted and quite delicious and savory.
African Lamb and Peanut Stew (mafe)
2 lbs boneless lamb shoulder cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large onions, sliced thinly
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (optional, but good!)
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 lb okra, chopped into 1/2 inch lengths
2 T peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T tomato paste
4-5 cups water
2 large or 4 medium tomatoes OR 6 drained, canned tomatoes, chopped
2 T dried shrimp minced or powdered
2 T salt, or to taste
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
2 serrano chiles or dried red chiles
Ground black pepper
Put the onions, sweet potato, carrots, and okra into a bowl of cold water until ready. In a large heavy pot, heat the oil over med-high and toss in half the onions and garlic. Stir briefly, then add the meat. Cook all together, stirring, until the meat is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix together the tomato paste and 1 cup water. Add to the meat with the chopped tomatoes and dried shrimp. Add 2 more cups water and bring to a boil. Add the carrots and sweet potatoes, cook for 5 minutes. Add the okra, along with 1-2 more cups water if necessary to cover the vegetables. Bring back to a boil and cook at a strong simmer for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, blend the peanut butter with 1 cup of the hot broth. Stir into the lamb mixture, then add the chiles, the remaining onion and garlic, and pepper to taste. Simmer over med-low heat until most of the water evaporates, leaving a fairly thick sauce, 15-20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Serves 6-8 over plain rice.
The key thing with this recipe is that you can work with what you have. When I made it, I didn't use okra OR dried shrimp, as neither were items I could find. I did substitute some powdered dashi for shrimp. For tomatoes I used 1-2 cans diced. The lamb I found that early in the season also had lots of bones and was hard to work with. Now is the season to find really good lamb shoulder. YUM. I plan to make this as soon as I'm done detoxing.
Back on that subject, I've had really awesome workouts the last few days. Yesterday when I put on my gym clothes to bike home, they were still damp from the morning and freezing cold. That's a sign of a good workout... usually they're dry because when I come in to the gym to do cardio I typically get on the recumbent bike and read the tabloids. Yes, I've become lame. Anyhow, I'm headed there this afternoon for some more fun. I saw they were advertising a Saturday morning kickboxing class, which I might check out.
On Sunday, Justin and I rode our bikes down to pier 66 and walked through the SAM Olympic Sculpture garden. I took a few photos, which are posted in the gallery. Justin got his hair cut so he doesn't look shaggy any more! We'd originally intended to go all the way to Alki, but the weather turned to shite on us so we headed home in the rain. Here's a final pic of the sky with horsetail clouds before the rains came:
Posted on April 11, 2007 @ 1:49 PM | 2 comments
I was initially worried because I had three lunch dates set up this week (of all weeks) that I wouldn't be able to find anything to eat. Silly me, I work in Fremont where nouveau hippie-dom reigns. All the Thai restaurants are veg friendly (if too high in salts and oils) and Tawon has a WONDERFUL brown rice. Yesterday I ate steamed broccoli with soft tofu in this amazing super-garlicky sauce. Tomorrow Jeff, other Jeff, and I are going to Chiso for sashimi (they also serve brown rice) and Friday I'm taking Jeff out to Silence Heart Nest, and you can't get much more new-age-foodie than THAT.
Today's recipe doesn't fit within my "spring cleaning" paradigm, but easily could with some alteration. However, because it's lamb season and lamb is so delicious in this recipe, I recommend not altering it. I made this for the first time about a month ago after spotting it in my Seductions of Rice cookbook. It's unlike anything I've ever tasted and quite delicious and savory.
African Lamb and Peanut Stew (mafe)
2 lbs boneless lamb shoulder cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large onions, sliced thinly
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (optional, but good!)
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 lb okra, chopped into 1/2 inch lengths
2 T peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T tomato paste
4-5 cups water
2 large or 4 medium tomatoes OR 6 drained, canned tomatoes, chopped
2 T dried shrimp minced or powdered
2 T salt, or to taste
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
2 serrano chiles or dried red chiles
Ground black pepper
Put the onions, sweet potato, carrots, and okra into a bowl of cold water until ready. In a large heavy pot, heat the oil over med-high and toss in half the onions and garlic. Stir briefly, then add the meat. Cook all together, stirring, until the meat is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix together the tomato paste and 1 cup water. Add to the meat with the chopped tomatoes and dried shrimp. Add 2 more cups water and bring to a boil. Add the carrots and sweet potatoes, cook for 5 minutes. Add the okra, along with 1-2 more cups water if necessary to cover the vegetables. Bring back to a boil and cook at a strong simmer for 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, blend the peanut butter with 1 cup of the hot broth. Stir into the lamb mixture, then add the chiles, the remaining onion and garlic, and pepper to taste. Simmer over med-low heat until most of the water evaporates, leaving a fairly thick sauce, 15-20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Serves 6-8 over plain rice.
The key thing with this recipe is that you can work with what you have. When I made it, I didn't use okra OR dried shrimp, as neither were items I could find. I did substitute some powdered dashi for shrimp. For tomatoes I used 1-2 cans diced. The lamb I found that early in the season also had lots of bones and was hard to work with. Now is the season to find really good lamb shoulder. YUM. I plan to make this as soon as I'm done detoxing.
Back on that subject, I've had really awesome workouts the last few days. Yesterday when I put on my gym clothes to bike home, they were still damp from the morning and freezing cold. That's a sign of a good workout... usually they're dry because when I come in to the gym to do cardio I typically get on the recumbent bike and read the tabloids. Yes, I've become lame. Anyhow, I'm headed there this afternoon for some more fun. I saw they were advertising a Saturday morning kickboxing class, which I might check out.
On Sunday, Justin and I rode our bikes down to pier 66 and walked through the SAM Olympic Sculpture garden. I took a few photos, which are posted in the gallery. Justin got his hair cut so he doesn't look shaggy any more! We'd originally intended to go all the way to Alki, but the weather turned to shite on us so we headed home in the rain. Here's a final pic of the sky with horsetail clouds before the rains came:
Posted on April 11, 2007 @ 1:49 PM | 2 comments
Comments:
“Don’t let them get in to the orange! It’s most important! Or the juice will get out, and it’ll not be good. They’re breaking in with fingers, depth charges! Let the peel come off only in small chunks!"(peeling orange with fingers) “Shit! Jesus Christ!”
(as Prochnov) “They’re breaking in! Push all the pips into bits they wouldn’t expect, that’ll do!” (pushing pips around)
... yeah. That's what I have to say about your bowl of fucking fruit. And the pears are all sitting there going “No! No! Don’t ripen yet! Don’t ripen yet! Wait till she goes out of the room! Ripen now! Now! Now!”....
I love transvestite comedians talking about fruit...
By 
Titania, at
7:38 PM, April 11, 2007
well - i can't beat the post from Titania but hey Dear!.!.!. can't wait for the rest of lunches this week!! i get to pay off my CC bills from vacation!!! and eat healthy. back to messaging of new ...
By 
, at
10:50 PM, April 11, 2007
