Slow Cooked Lamb Curry with Chick Peas and Grilled Eggplant

IMG_2300

I really love lamb. When I was little my parents used to make lamb burgers with blue cheese and apparently I was repulsed by them. Those days are over. Sometimes my dad says he wishes they weren’t. Lamb and eggplant are a combination made in heaven. There is a guy at the Encinitas farmers’ market that sells some great curries so that is where we got this gem but most grocery markets carry jarred curries.

  • 1 eggplant
  • drizzle of olive oil/balsamic
  • salt/pepper
  • 1 can chick peas
  • 1 pound lamb shank
  • 2 large garlic cloves
  • 1 onion
  • 1 jar green curry
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp powdered turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 can light unsweetened coconut milk
  • farro or rice*
  1. drain and rinse chick peas, roughly chop garlic and onion
  2. start heating slow cooker
  3. once hot, melt coconut oil; add mustard seeds, turmeric, chili flakes and chopped garlic until aromatic
  4. add curry, coconut milk, onion, chick peas and lamb and cook on low for as long as possible (8 hours)
  5. slice eggplant and drizzle it with olive oil and balsamic then grill it and add to the stew in the last 15 minutes of cooking
  6. garnish with some herbs

*we served it over farro and it was delicious but feel free to go traditional and use rice

© 2015, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Spring Pasta with Scallops, Asparagus and Blood Orange

IMG_2299

I went home for spring break last week but we were only in San Diego for 4 nights so my mom and I had to plan our menus strategically. Two nights were already taken care of because fish tacos and Cardiff Crack go without saying. Some of my favorite things that I am usually too cheap to buy while I’m at school are scallops and lamb. They both also happen to lend themselves well to spring-y dishes so those took care of our other two nights.

links to the other spring recipes: Slow Cooker Lamb with Chick Peas and Grilled Eggplant, Cabbage-Beet Tahini Slaw, Chard with Anchovy Tomato Dressing

  • 1 box fussili pasta
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • 1 blood orange (for juice and zest)
  • bay scallops
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • 1 shallot
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • sprinkle truffle salt
  • 2 handfuls little yellow tomatoes
  • 4 pats butter
  • 1 handful baby kale
  • 3 sprigs basil
  • 2 cups peas (preferably fresh)
  • splash of dry white wine (plus another bottle for drinking while cooking)
  • Parmesan
  1. in a non-stick skillet melt butter over medium low heat with 1 tbsp olive oil
  2. slice shallot and add to pan, cook on medium low heat, stirring occasionally until opaque, then remove from pan
  3. line a pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper and put tomatoes on it, drizzle them with 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with truffle salt, bake at 350°F until blistered (15 minutes-ish)
  4. slice asparagus in 1 inch pieces and remove peas from shells if necessary
  5. boil water and prepare an ice bath, cook them in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then transfer them to the ice bath as fast as possible
  6. drain those guys and put them in a large mixing bowl, zest and juice the blood orange into said bowl
  7. wash kale and basil and slice them, add to the bowl, add capers
  8. cook pasta according to isntructions
  9. add the remaining 2 pats butter and the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil to the shallot pan over medium high heat
  10. add the scallops carefully
  11. when they start turned brown on the cook-side flip them over, with tongs slide them along the bottom of the pan to absorb the toasted butter flavor
  12. continue cooking until opaque throughout then add them into the bowl with all the other items
  13. add a splash of white wine to the scallop pan to deglaze it and transfer that sauce to the bowl with all of the other items then add all that good stuff to the drained pasta

We had grilled shrimp on the side because grilled shrimp goes with everything.

© 2015, domenicadreamsofcalamari. All rights reserved.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...