Lamb, I love you

I think I can count the number of times I’ve eaten veal or lamb on my hand.  I thought I didn’t enjoy either and the whole veal-crate thing didn’t help this animal lover. Wrong. I LOVE lamb. And like veal.

On the menu: Moussaka
                            Blanquette de veau
                            Veal tenderloin stuffed with apples (demo only)
                             Merguez (demo only)

Chef Patrice was not sure why veal & lamb were paired together into one class so my only guess is that both are baby animals.  They couldn’t be any more different. Veal is delicate and has a mild, smooth flavor and lamb, lamb is earthy and aromatic.  It makes me think of villages, Morocco, and…the Bible.  :)  I never order veal because of you know, the (inhumane in my opinion) way it’s ’raised’, and lamb, well I don’t order lamb because I have bad memories of lamb. Pungent memories of my grandmother’s stuffed leg of lamb at Easter that makes my nostrils flare.  Well now I know why: unless you sear it, will taste like mutton. Just the word makes me shiver.  Searing meat brings out all the flavor. 

Moussaka

Moussaka is the Greek version of lasagna, but with eggplant.  There are many variations to the recipe and Chef Patrice includes mire poix and sauteed tomatoes in his, which I like.  Sear ground lamb in a little fat and season with salt and pepper and cumin, lots and lots of cumin.  A ton of cumin actually.  Drain as many times as necessary and return to hot pan because you don’t want to boil the meat.  Remove and add your mire poix.  Return lamb to pan and add a tablespoon or so of tomato paste. Cook, then deglaze with white wine. Add some stock, check your seasoning (you can’t have enough cumin) and add some thyme. Cook on low heat for a while, set aside and cover. 

Slice eggplant and tomato. Not too thick or they won’t cook, not too thin or you’ll end up with mush.  Dredge in a little flour to cut down on some of the fat the eggplant will absorb because trust me, you will use a lot of olive oil.  If you’re trying to cut back bake the slices but be prepared to lose some flavor. In a hot hot pan add olive oil and throw in your eggplant slices. Season, flip, look for a nice color. Go ahead and add some more olive oil. When  nice and golden remove and saute your tomatoes but without the flour.  Remove and set aside on paper towels to drain off some of the fat.  it’s time to make bechamel! If you’re starting out with cold roux heat up some milk first. If you don’t have roux already made then start with cold milk because for bechamel the ingredients can’t both be hot or both be cold.  Add some salt, nutmeg and stir in your roux.  Set aside and get ready to assemble! You can assemble in whatever dish you want, last night we used souffle molds. There really is no right way to layer as long as you start with sliced eggplant at the bottom of your dish and finish with lamb and bechamel and cheese on top.  Eggplant, lamb, bechamel, cheese, tomato, lamb, etc. Before your last layer of cheese sprinkle some corn meal first for a nice crunch.  Bake at 325 for about half an hour or until your cheese has a nice color.  Was it delicious? Ooooh yes. Better than my aunt’s, better than any I’ve had at a Greek restaurant. Yes, I did just write that. 

 Blanquette de veau

Onto veal.  Blanquette de veau, or veal blanket like I kept calling it last night (NOT the correct translation FYI), starts by poaching veal in a little water first with a bouquet garni of carrot, onion with a clove inserted, celery, bay leaf and parsley.  Start with cold water and poach on low heat.  Cover half way through, then strain once all the impurities foam up at the top.  Remove bouquet garni and set meat aside, covering it to retain moisture.  To your remaining liquid add a little roux, some cream or creme fraiche and check the seasoning.  Throw in some butter and finish off with lemon juice.  Combine with meat and add garnish of choice, sauteed mushrooms and caramelized pearl onions go nicely. Decorate with a carrot, some chopped parsley and you’ve got yourself a veal blanket, I mean blanquette de veau. VERY very good. The meat so tender and lovely, for a second I almost forgot that I’m not supposed to enjoy veal. Oops.

 

The demos

The veal tenderloin with stuffed apples and merquez, a lamb sausage, were for demo only.  Saute diced Granny Smith apples with a little lemon juice, sugar, and salt in clarified butter.   Deglaze with apple brandy and let cool then roll into a skinny cylindrical shape in plastic wrap and freeze.  Make an incision in the tenderloin and cut through all the way to the other end and stuff with your frozen apple cylinder.  Tie, season, sear on all sides and pop in 325 degree oven.  For how long? Not too long, 20 minutes? Veal should be pink in the middle but it’s hard to tell when it’s done because if it’s too firm, you’ve overcooked it. Trial and error, a pricey one though.  Served with jus it was very nice but I could settle for (cheaper) pork tenderloin.

Merquez is a spicey north African lamb sausage and wow is it good.  The ingredient list is quite long, including hard(er) to find ingredients like Harissa, the north African version of ketchup, and Raz el Hanout, blend of spices like cardamon, clove, cinnamon, ground chilli peppers, coriander, nutmeg, peppercorn, tumeric and cumin.  Whole Foods has a spice mix called “Moroccan Road” or something  like that resembles Raz el Hanout and it goes nicely with a lot of meat and veggie dishes. But I digress. If anyone is interested in making this amazingly delicious sausage, I have the recipe.  Don’t have casings on hand? No problem.  Form into a patty, ball, whatever shape you desire and grill.  Slather some Dijon on a baguette, add your merquez and feast. I grew up making sausage but it was never this good.

 

Well?

I used to belong to the “I don’t like lamb” camp but I obviously had no idea what I was talking about. Lamb is delicious, as long as you cook it the right way, and as a recent convert I can’t wait to incorporate it into my weekly menu rotation.  Veal is tasty too but for personal reasons I have a hard time enjoying it. I know lamb is also a young animal but I’m pretty sure it is allowed to move around more than a couple of feet.

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