AND STUFF
So here’s the thing… after Christmas me and She Who Must Be Obeyed headed out to the desert to chill. We chilled. I am now back in the bunker but I’m too relaxed to create a new easy recipe for New Years Eve! I guess what I am trying to say is … have a great holiday …. see ya in 2017!!
EASY RECIPE
This week I wanted something that was easy to make but still a little exotic. So I decided to make an easy lamb meatball dinner. The butcher picked out a nice portion of lamb and ground it fresh for me. I wanted some sides that were tasty, colorful, and easy to make. My solution was Mahatma Saffron Yellow Rice, and wait for it …. purple carrots.
This dish has plenty of spice and sweet flavors and is perfect for a cold winter night.
recipe serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 lb. ground lamb.
1 egg – beaten.
1/2 cup bread crumbs.
2 cloves garlic – minced.
1/4 cup minced green onion.
1 Tbsp. ground cumin.
1 tsp. dry rosemary.
1/2 tsp salt.
1/2 tsp pepper.
1/2 tsp. cinnamon.
1/2 tsp zest of lemon.
1 – 5 ounce packet of Mahatma Saffron Yellow Long Grain rice.
1 bunch of purple carrots (or whatever color).
2 oz butter.
1/2 tsp allspice.
1/2 tsp brown sugar.
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice.
Preparation:
To large bowl add ground lamb, and next 9 ingredients, and using your hand mix the ingredients. When mixed, cover and place in refrigerator for ten minutes as it is easier to form the meatballs when the mixture is cold.
I did not brown the meatballs in a frypan to add searing, you can if you want, but my recipe is all about being easy.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil for easy cleanup. Spray with canola oil.
Form meat into 1 and 1/2 inch or so meatballs. Place meatballs in roaster. And bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Prepare rice pursuant to product directions (making an effort at rice being ready about the same time as meatballs).
Trim and peel carrots. With about 15 minutes to go melt butter in frypan heated to medium low, add brown sugar, allspice, and lemon juice. Stir to mix. Add carrots and sauté, turning occasionally until soft.
Plate meatballs, rice, and carrots, and sit back for an easy but wonderful home cooked meal.
And Stuff
Its been a fun year! I got some easy but great recipes out to you all, and published two new novels. Now here’s a secret, this blog is a hobby and produces no income. Fact is most blogs struggle to create income. That is why so many rate a product with an easy passthrough link to get the highly reviewed item.
So, to be honest, what I shamelessly do is promote my highly reviewed (by others) novels. This holiday season consider giving an e-book link gift to your out of state friend. Heck, the postage you save on sending a box will pay for my ebook!
My novels are carried by all ebook retailers in USA and EU including UK! If you like action I recommend the Amber Reyes and Jack Fields adventure series: Goldplay; Veyron; and Desert Ice. If your friend is more into the meaning of everything with a dash of the end of the world, my darker novel, Dinner With Lucifer should briefly put a gleeful look on their otherwise somber mug.
So there ya go, hope you enjoy my easy recipes and fun novels.
Good Eating and Table Talk,
Roger
Easy Recipe
So I had the house to myself and a new dutch oven to play with, a ham steak in the refrigerator, and some canned white beans in the cupboard. But no molasses. Call me lazy, but I just couldn’t see going to the grocery store for molasses. So, I would just have to come up with an easy baked beans and ham recipe that didn’t need no stinking molasses. And I did.
(I was alone, but I figure this recipe could serve 4 to 6)
Ingredients:
1 lb ham steak – sliced in 1 x 1/4 inch pieces.
1 smallish to medium size red onion – finely diced. (I suppose I could have measured the final product for accuracy but that would take the fun of the process.)
2 cloves garlic – minced.
2 (14.5 oz) cans of white beans.
2 strips of bacon. (Always have bacon in freezer.)
1 cup beef broth. (Blasphemy to some, but whatever, I thought it would be tasty.)
3 cups water.
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce.
4 Tbsp brown sugar.
1 bay leaf.
1/4 cup BBQ sauce (this is the molasses substitute).
1/4 cup chopped parsley.
1 tsp salt.
Preparation:
So, you will need a dutch oven or casserole with lid. Heat the pot to medium heat and add the bacon.
Once the bacon has rendered some awesome fat and is mostly cooked remove the bacon and reserve for later.
To the pot add the ham steak bone, and then throw in the onion and garlic and reduce heat to simmer and sauce until onions look softer.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Chopped the bacon.
To the pot add the ham and the bacon, and stir.
Add the beef stock, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, salt, and stir.
Rinse the canned beans to get rid of whatever gooey stuff that is canned with the beans.
Add rinsed beans to pot and stir to mix.
Increase heat to bring the beans and stuff to a low boil. Turn heat off, place cover on pot and USING oven mitts transfer pot to pre-heated oven.
Cook in oven for about forty minutes.
Really, for sure, no kidding, use OVEN MITTS to remove the dutch oven from stove and let rest on an unlit burner.
Plate the baked beans, add some good bread, and you have just made the perfect quick and easy home made baked beans and ham ever.
And Stuff
Its been a fun year! I got some easy but great recipes out to you all, and published two new novels. Now here’s a secret, this blog is a hobby and produces no income. Fact is most bogs struggle to create income. That is why so many rate a product with an easy passthrough link to get the highly reviewed item.
So, to be honest, what I shamelessly do is promote my highly reviewed (by others) novels. This holiday season consider giving an e-book link gift to your out of state friend. Heck, the postage you save on sending a box will pay for my ebook!
My novels are carried by all ebook retailers in USA and EU including UK! If you like action I recommend the Amber Reyes and Jack Fields adventure series: Goldplay; Veyron; and Desert Ice. If your friend is more into the meaning of everything with a dash of the end of the world, my darker novel, Dinner With Lucifer should briefly put a gleeful look on their otherwise somber mug.
So there ya go, hope you enjoy my easy recipes and fun novels.
Good Eating and Table Talk,
Roger
Easy Recipes
Chestnut And Bacon Dressing
I got this recipe from the November 1996 Gourmet Magazine. It has been a family hit every year since then.
Chestnut and Bacon Dressing
Ingredients:
6 cups torn bite size pieces of crusty bread.
6 thick cut bacon.
2 – 6.5 oz packages peeled chestnuts – chopped.
1/2 stick unsalted butter (about 1/4 cup).
1/2 cup Italian flat leafed parsley – minced
2 onions – chopped.
2 cups – low sodium chicken broth.
4 celery stalks – chopped.
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary – minced.
Preparation:
Heat oven to 325 F.
On a baking sheet arrange bread pieces. Place on middle rack of oven and occasionally turn to golden brown both sides (approximately 20 minutes).
Prepare onion, celery, rosemary.
In a large fry pan cook bacon on medium high. Remove bacon when crisp. Turn off heat, and to the bacon fat the butter. Return heat to low. Add the onion, celery, rosemary, stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until soft. Add the chopped chestnuts and cook for an additional minute or two.
Chop the bacon.
To a large mixing bowl add bread, and then mix in chopped bacon. Next add the onion/chestnut mixture, and Italian parsley, and stir well.
Butter a 4 quart baking dish. Place the ingredients in the baking dish. Slowly drizzle the chicken broth over the dressing.
Cover with foil and place in oven for 60 minutes at 325 F. Next remove the foil and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
And Stuff
It has been a rough and tumble political season. I am as guilty as the next person of going over the top from time to time. But… lets all hold hands and rejoice in the gifts we have in this country from God. Happy Thanks Giving to my friends and readers.
Good Table Talk,
Roger
