Richard’s Birthday Lamb

One of my husband’s favorite foods is lamb.  Anytime we are at a restaurant that has a rack of lamb preparation he is ordering it and enjoying every moment of devouring them.  This year for his birthday I wanted to make him something special for dinner since he did not want to go out for the occasion.  I instantly thought of “Rack of Lamb” then I laughed at myself so hard I nearly fell off my chair.  Seriously, the  notion that I could prepare a rack of lamb was absurd to me.

So I thought it was so funny that I thought this that surely my husband would also find it funny so I shared my thought with him.  Before I could get to the punch line he cut me off and said “you would do that for me”.  Seriously, seriously, SERIOUSLY how can you say “Bahahaha I was just kidding, there is no way I am touching a rack of lamb with a 5 foot pole” now?  So the natural response was “yes of course, I can’t wait to give this a whirl”.

Thus began my journey into the culinary preparation of lamb.  Once entering I have now vowed never to go back.

Now I need a recipe.  I tried shouting out to twitter and foodbuzz for some ideas but no luck.  Additionally I did some internet searching of recipes but it wasn’t until I sat down when my new FABULOUS copy of Fiesta at Rick’s by Chef Rick Bayless that I received from entering a twitter recipe contest  that I found the lamb recipe I would tackle for this special occasion.

Grilled Rack of Lamb with Honey Pasilla Glaze

Don’t have a copy of Fiesta at Rick’s, you should pick one up, it is that good.  (Planning to write up my thoughts on it when I finish reading the book – yes I am reading a cookbook cover to cover – first time for me to do this and I couldn’t have picked a better read.)  But if you don’t have a copy the recipe is available at Rick Bayless’ website:  http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=14

I won’t type up the recipe here because I  produced the lamb exactly as the recipe calls for it to be prepared.  Only two modifications, I sprinkled the rack with a little brown sugar before grilling and this was because of the second thing that was modified which was the rack marinated over night.  NOT BY CHOICE.  But because the electricity in our subdivision decided to go out for just long enough that we gave up on preparing dinner at home and ended up have a birthday dinner of La Madeline.  I know…uber lame.  Sometimes potato soup just makes everything better.  But I digress, I added the brown sugar because I was afraid the chilies might have become too strong overnight in the marinade so I thought the brown sugar might tame it a little…don’t know why…just did.  Additionally in the end we cut the lamb and seared it on all edges, I know a big no no for all you rare, medium rare, extra bloody lovers out there, I just really like things cooked so Richard did this for me in order to encourage me to try some.

Honestly, the ingredients I thought were pretty weird…truly I spent the whole time the lamb was being grilled apologizing for the dinner the husband was getting for his birthday.

But Chef Bayless you haven’t failed me yet.  This recipe is EXTRODINARY.  I don’t care for lamb, Richard has made me try his at restaurants several times so I took a “courtesy” chop to try.  Amazing, I am big fan of lamb now.  Richard literally said he couldn’t imagine ordering lamb in a restaurant again after having these, that nothing will ever top them.  I was so happy.  Richard gave me a truly amazing birthday this year and I wanted to return the gesture and thanks to this recipe I feel I did.

So, for all you lamb naysayers, try this recipe.  I know lamb can be a little pricey but it is well worth it, so give it a try.

Let me know if you need any suggestions on finding ingredients, we did so pretty easily at Central Market in Austin but I bet a Whole Foods or any terrific grocer would have them all.

Rick Bayless Twitter Recipe Challenge...details and cooking

Let's start of with a little background:

Richard and I have had an obsession with PBS lately, which has lead to a love affair with "Mexico One Plate at a Time" Chef Rick Bayless'  show.  If you have not seen this show, I highly recommend you tune in, I promise it will inspire you for some Mexican cuisine.  Basically, we are Texans so we fancy ourselves authoritative on Mexican cuisine, but Chef Bayless (whom I might add is a native to Oklahoma..I know gasp!) takes it to a whole new level and leaves this Texan wondering if she has been shafted her whole life on Mexican cuisine.

Fortunately, Chef Bayless not only has the PBS show, but also an array of cookbooks and web sites to enlighten your desire to bring Mexican cuisine into your home.  Additionally Chef Bayless has several restaurants in the Chicago area that I "dreamed" of going to one day.  Lucky for me this past week was my birthday and my loving husband booked us tickets for a long weekend in Chicago so that we can *hopefully* dine at least one if not multiple of Chef Bayless' restaurants.  This was truly to my surprise and utmost delight, sincerely I had no idea!  Richard definitely scored points with this birthday.

Which brings us to the "Rick Bayless Twitter Recipe Challenge"...

While being a Twitter follower of Chef Bayless I saw that he is doing a recipe challenge for four weeks with winners chosen from pictures submissions for a chance to win an autographed cookbook of his  latest book "Fiesta at Rick's".  What a wonderful way to create yummy Mexican food at home and*fingers crossed* possibly win an autographed cookbook.  Here is the link if you too want details on this contest: http://bit.ly/cMNUnl  I encourage you to enter, it is so much fun!

This weeks tweet:

@Rick_Bayless

This week's recipe (harder than last weeks): Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas w Creamy Tomatillo Sauce & Melted Cheese. Recipe is my next Tweet 3:53 PM Jul 22nd via Twittelator

Rst 1#tomtllos,1 on,3 grlc,3 serranos;puree;sear n oil 2 thkn;simr w 2c broth,.5c crema.Oil,micrwv 12 torts,roll w rstd veg,sauce, chs, bake 3:53 PM Jul 22nd via Twittelator

Ingredients:

You can see my previous post from out and about in Austin shopping for ingredients.  We are so lucky to have fabulous tortillerias, farmers markets, and Mexican markets to shop at for great ingredients.  I encourage you to seek out great places in your area for fresh ingredients!

Here are the ingredients:

Pictorial tour of preparing this recipe:

First prep the sauce veggies.  Clean and shuck the tomatillos, next clean and slice onions (mine were farmer's market green onions), and prepared the garlic cloves.  All of this goes on a baking sheet in the oven under the broiler for 4mins.

(Trying out my hipstamatic iphone app...)

This is what the roasted veggies for the sauce look like after 4mins under the broiler...

Here are what the sauce veggies looked like after another 4mins under the broiler before going into the blender to be pureed.

Next place all of the sauce veggies into the blender and puree until smooth.

 Get a large sauce pan going on the stove, Medium High Heat with 1.5 TBSP of Vegtable Oil unti hot, pour in sauce ingredients from blender.

  

 Stir constantly until sauce gets darker and thicker then add the broth and crema.  

Semi cover and let Simmer on Medium Low heat for 30mins or until sauce looks a little like a light cream soup.

While you are waiting on this you can prep your veggie filling.

Choose any veggies you like that will total 8 cups or so, we used Mushrooms, Carrots, Arugula and Spinach.

Clean and cut the veggies and place on a baking sheet drizzled with oil and salt in a 400 degree oven.

I did Mushrooms and Carrots in the oven for 20mins and then added the Spinach and Arugula for additional 5mins.

Once the sauce and veggies are ready, take 12 corn tortillas, brush with oil and wrap in a damp paper towel, microwave on high for 1min.

Take 1cup of the sauce and add to the bottom of your baking dish.  Take your veggies and place in a bowl to combine, take the tortillas out of the microwave and begin rolling.

Add the remainder of the sauce to cover the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.  Place your enchiladas in a 400degree oven for 10mins or until cheese on top is golden brown.

Garnish with onions (I used the green onions) and cilantro.  Finshed Enchiladas!

Getting ready to dig in!

Enjoy this recipe and go check out Chef Bayless' twitter challenge. 

Rick Bayless Twitter Recipe Challenge...getting ingredients

We are currently trekking through Austin, TX to get our ingredients for our Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce & Melted Cheese. Can't wait to get cooking. Just picked up fresh corn tortillas from our favorite tortilleria El Milagro!  Check them out at: http://www.el-milagro.com/