And now for something completely different: cooking, recipes, food, yummy things.

[misslj_author]

I can't be the only foodie here - I know I'm not, actually, looking at meredith_shayne, vayshti, corellian_sugar and angharad_gam to name a few of you! So, after watching tonight's episode of Australian Masterchef, here's a challenge!

Okay, we're not in a spiffy, hi-tech kitchen, and you don't have 45 minutes to prepare a dish to ~wow~ me (although wouldn't it be awesome if we were? I think so!), but tonight's elimination challenge got me thinking, and that's always dangerous. I thought, I wonder what my foodie flist would do with this, and what I would do this, so here is the resulting post.

The list below are your ingredients. You also have, in this theoretical Masterchef kitchen, olive oil, water, salt and pepper. All of these together make Gary Mehigan's amazing looking lamb tagine. (Although, I'll take mine without the okra and the fennel. Okra tastes like snot, to me. And fennel is just ick. Yuck.) However, you, intrepid foodies, must follow the following:

1. You can only use five ingredients from the items below. (Remember you have olive oil, water, salt and black pepper).
2. Pick those five, then tell me what you'd make.
3. Method of cooking what you'd make would be awesome, but this isn't the real Masterchef, obvs, so don't feel you have to!

Oh, and coriander is cilantro in the USA.

The list:

coriander seeds
cumin seeds
caraway seeds
fresh coriander
onion
garlic
preserved lemon quarters
olive oil
lamb
sumac
cinnamon sticks
saffron threads
sea salt flakes
chicken stock
blanched almonds
medjool dates, pitted
mace
okra
broad beans
yoghurt
fennel
pistachios
bay leaves
green olives
carraway seeds

What I would pick and make:

Fresh coriander
garlic
lamb
broad beans
yoghurt

Because I have olive oil, salt and pepper, I take cubes of lamb and season them with the salt and pepper then cook them until browned in the olive oil. At the same time, I cook the beans in water with a pinch of salt, half the bunch of fresh coriander, half a head of garlic, cloves peeled and left whole. When the beans are cooked through, I drain them, reserving the water, and add them to the pan with the meat, to cook and get a bit crispy. I also add another 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed. (I like garlic, okay? :D)

With the water, I take a quarter of a cup, making sure I get all the garlic and coriander, blitz it up in the food processor, then add it to the pan with the meat and beans. Simmer for twenty minutes on a low heat to reduce the liquid, then stir in the yoghurt, cook for another five minutes.

Remove from heat and serve with a few sprigs of fresh corriander. Ta-da! Lamb and Beans a la Star!

Now, your turn!

Comments

[angharad-gam.livejournal.com]

Only five things? Ack! And there I was thinking you could make a lovely tagine with the first 16 things on that list.

Okay - five things: garlic, yoghurt, onion, fennel, broad beans.
Blanche the broad beans.
Finely slice onions and fennel, and crush 2-3 cloves of garlic. Saute in a little olive oil until nice and soft. Breathe in that lovely fragrant smell of frying onions and garlic (that's my Nigella moment).
Add the cooked broad beans and fry for another couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve warm or cold with a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt as dressing.

[jana-denardo.livejournal.com]

onion, garlic, lamb, sea salt flakes, cumin seeds. (I so desperately wanted rosemary).

Roast leg of lamb

since you said we'd have access to olive oil and black pepper too, i'd coat the leg in olive oil after first slivering the garlic and using a knife to insert the slivers into the meat. Afterward, I'd mince more garlic, mix it with the other ingredients and make a crust over the lamb meat.

put in pan then put in oven at 400F for about a half hour then lower the heat to about 350 and cook for another hour or so until the meat is about 150F on the meat thermometer.

remove and slice.

[vayshti.livejournal.com]

Here's what I'd put together:
Fruity Lamb Rissoles
The five: Lamb, medjool dates, cinnamon, onion, preserved lemons.

Mince the lamb (250g?) and combine with finely chopped dates (50g?), cinnamon (2 tsp?), onion and a tiny bit of the preserved lemon peel. Season with salt and pepper. Shape into patties, and set in the fridge for an hour to 'form'.

Fry these boys in olive oil on a high enough temperature that the mince doesn't weep and stew instead of frying. Generally, you're not supposed to use the flesh of the preserved lemons, but for this recipe, I'd be squeezing them liberally over the rissoles as they fry.