Rose's Lamby Shepard Pie

This is a favorite of mine. I don't make it often but I have had a yearning for it since St. Patrick's Day. But Richard wanted Corned Beef and Cabbage on that Sainted Day! So last night I gave in to the whim and made my Pie.

Now Shepard's Pie isn't what you would normally consider a pie, since it doesn't have a pie shell. Instead it has a layer or crust of Mashed Potatoes on top of it. Sometimes I make it very cheesy, but last night I felt like going a bit more simple. And here it is:

Rose's Lamby Shepard Pie

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet Onions, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tblsp Butter (Goat Butter)

1 lb Ground Lamb
2 Large stalks Celery, Diced
20 baby carrots, diced
2 large mushrooms, diced
1/2 cup Goat Milk
2 Tblsp Unbleached Flour

2 Cups Potato Flakes
1 1/4 Cup Water
3 Tblsp Butter (I used Goat Butter)
1 Cup Goat Milk
1/4 cup Grated Romano Cheese (I normally use Pecorino Roman which is sheep milk)
Salt & Pepper to taste
(I added a Tblsp chives & of Parsley and 1 Tblsp of Garlic Powder for extra flavor)

Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees.

In large skillet on medium low melt the butter and add the onions. Let simmer until onions start to get clear then add the garlic and salt and pepper lightly. (If you want to get fancy you can pour a bit of vermouth or vodka over the onions at this point. The liquid will steam off, but the flavor is incredible. This helps bring the sugar out of the onions and they carmelize beautifully)
Remove the onion and garlic mix to let stand for a bit while you put the lamb into this nicely seasoned skillet. Turn the heat up a bit and break up the lamb so that it will cook evenly. Add the carrots, celery and mushrooms and let cook down til they have a chance to start tenderizing.
In a bowl add the milk to the flour and stir til smooth. Pushing the meat mixture aside in your pan, start to pour in the milk mixture and let it heat to a boil and thicken, creating a nice sauce. At this point add the onion mixture and cook for another 5 minutes adding more salt and pepper.
Pour this entire mix into a pregreased deep casserole dish and set aside.

In a Medium pot bring the butter, water and salt & pepper to a boil. Remove from the heat and start adding the potato flakes and milk stirring continuously until well blended. Add a bit more potato flakes if you want to make thicker. Add in the parsley, chives and garlic to season if using them. Add in the Romano Cheese and stir til melted in.

Put the potatoes over the top of the lamb mixture in the casserole and make sure it covers all the way around to the edges. I like the potatoes to be at least an inch thick. Thicker if I have enough. I then will top with more Romano cheese that I just grate right over the top. About a 1/4 cup. Put the casserole into the oven and cook for 10 minutes at 375 then turn it down to 350 and let cook another 30 minutes or until top gets a lightly golden crust.

...Just a note, you can prepare this ahead of time and cover the casserole and refrigerate overnight before cooking. This makes it great as a prepare ahead dish for parties. I usually let it cook 10 minutes longer to bring it fully up to heat when done this way.

Serves 4-6 people.

That long awaited Mac and Cheese...

Well, as you can guess I haven't posted for a while. I came down with the flu and Asthma at the same time. I had a rough few weeks and am still coughing, but mostly over it. So now to the recipe...

Ultra Creamy Mac and

Ingredients:

1 package of pasta of choice (I love Rotini best) Cooked and drained

1 large Vidalia or Sweet Onion, Chopped

1 TBSP Goat Butter

1/2 lb Manchego Cheese, Grated

1/2 lb Goat Gouda, Grated

1 3 oz pkg Chevre (with Pepadew if you can find it)

2 oz Goat Butter

1/4 cup flour (I like unbleached but I have used Rice flour too)

2 cups Goat Milk (Meyenburg now has a 2% for the weight concious)

(Alternately, when out of milk I have used chicken stock which makes the flavor very rich)

1/2 Cup Manchego & Goat Gouda shredded together

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

(Optional, you can add veggies, diced chicken, shrimp or stew meat to this to make it a full meal.)

First I put the pasta in boiling water and cook until it is Aldente, drain, toss with a bit of olive oil and put into a deep casserole that I presprayed with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large skillet I melt 1 Tbsp Goat Butter and add the chopped onion. Saute slowly to carmelize the onions. Once Carmelized, add to pasta and stir.

In a medium saucepan heat the 2 Tbsp Goat Butter and Chevre til melted and add the flour whisking rapidly to blend quickly and allow to come to light boil. Slowly add the 2 cups of Goat Milk (Or Stock) whisking continuously and let heat back to a light boil as this begins to thicken up again. Start stirring in the grated cheeses and continue to stir until everything is melted and smooth.

**At this point, if I am going to add veggies or meat I do now. I like peas with white meat of chicken. But I have used broccoli too. The fanciest I made was with Fresh Asparagras lightly steamed and chopped up and Shrimp.

Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and onions and stir well to blend together. Cover the top with the final 1/2 cup of cheese. Put the casserole into the oven and cook for 20 minutes or until the top has gotten lightly golden. Remove and let sit for at least 20 minutes before cutting into the casserole. This lets the cheese sauce to set up and when you cut in all the cheese won't run out.

serves 6-8

Side Note: If you need to make this in advance for a dinner, I suggest making the sauce ahead of time. Don't add it to the pasta until the day of the dinner and baking then. Pasta will keep absorbing liquid and cause your creamy Mac and Cheese to be just a lot of Pasta Glue that is a bit dry.

Mac and Cheese dinner and Puppy Gone Wild

I made Macaroni and Cheese the other day. Yesterday, the puppy was begging for some and after having his taste of it he had a wild child moment of excitement and I caught this video clip with my Nikon Coolpix 4300. I'm not sure if it was a cheesy high or just the fact that he totally loves the tub. But he is the bounciest little guy and he loves water. So the tub is the best game in town for him.

Anyhow, I made 2 batches of the Macaroni & Cheese, for my husband I used regular milk, butter and a combo of Mozarella and Muenster Cheese to make the sauce. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic and chives. And I baked it in the oven at 370 degrees for 20 minutes. A normal but very creamy recipe.

For me though, I improvised and I have to say, it is the bomb. Recipe to follow...

Recipe for Baked Beans

Ok, so I didn't get to make my Mac n' Cheese yesterday. Opened cabinet to find there was no pasta left to make it with. And since cheese sauce without the pasta is just Cheese I didn't cook. But this morning I woke up craving Baked Beans the way Aunt P used to make them for me.

Now I know, beans are on my allergy list since they do have tryptophan, but I really crave them sometimes. And besides, Richard loves them. So I bought 3 cans of red beans a few weeks ago just for this purpose. I carefully rinsed them and set to drain. Then I cut up a whole vidalia onion, and 3 cloves of garlic added them with a diced up hunk of salt pork and 1 oz of goat butter in a cast iron pot. I cooked this for several minutes until the onions had gotten lightly browned and then I dumped the beans in.

I stirred this up for a bit before adding 1/4 cup of honey, 1 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 3 tbsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 tbsp cloves, 2 tbsp paparika, 1 tbsp mustard powder, 1 small can of tomato paste and stirred well. I also added 1/2 can of crushed pineapple drained. When this reaches a slow boil I turned the heat down to low and let it simmer covered for 3 hours at least.

These are the best beans ever, sweet and lightly spicy with a delightful sauce. The salt pork seasons them incredibly well.

Tonight I will also make Corned Beef and Cabbage along with boiled potatoes to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Yes, the luck of the Irish I hope will be with me and I pray it will be with all of you too.

I will give you my recipes tonight for the good Irish dinner.

A Quick where to Find!

Like I said, I have to get creative to make dishes I can eat that still taste great. I love figuring out how to make something that tastes as good or better than the original dish and that I can safely eat. My favorite is using a cheese called "Manouri" which is a Greek Sheep Milk Cheese.

"Manouri is a traditional ancient Greek cheese that is made from the whey of feta, blended with sheep's milk cream. In addition to being used in the traditional Greek delicacy spanakopita, this rindless log-shaped cheese is an exceptionally delicious eating cheese. With a moist, soft texture, Manouri is at first soft and buttery, followed by a uniquely lemony aftertaste.
Made from pasteurized sheep's milk."

I get a laugh every time I say the name of this cheese cause face it, it's not flattering and sounds like something you use to fertilize your garden. But in reality, it is a nice, slightly dry cream cheese that is very delectable in flavor. I get this at a Russian / International Food store on Gaskins Road in the West End of Richmond. There are actually two locations there now, one in a white building just across from the cemetary on Gaskins (Near corner of Patterson Road). The other is owned by a very sweet younger Polish couple in Gayton Crossing near the Good Food's Health Food Store.

At Good Food's I get Goat Butter, and several very nice Goat Cheeses. A Cheddar and Jack Cheese with Sun dried tomates. Very flavorful. They are a great location for exotic honey and a sweetener that I like to use in tea made from the Honey Leaf Stevia plant. It's a natural sweetener that is 40x's sweeter than sugar. It can be used for baking and we will get into that later.

UPDATE: I have found this in St. Petersburg at Spiro's Restaurant and Deli, 6801 Gulfport Blvd S, South Pasadena, FL 33707 (727) 384-0750. It has gone up a bit in price over the years, but what hasn't right? It is now just over $8 per pound. But well worth it. They also have several other varieties of Sheep and Goat milk cheeses as well as a gorgeous deli and fresh produce market. So for Florida friends, you have choices.

Online, I have found one fairly good source for interesting cheeses from all over the world as well as other exotic foods. They have a store front on Amazon.com as well as their own site. The store is called IGourmet.com. I get sheep ricotta and other specialty cheeses from them. And if you can find it, there are some great exotic sea salts that are lower in sodium but great for flavor. My favorite is pink salt from Hawaii. I heard about it on one of the Food Network shows that I watch, East Meets West was the name of the show.

I will be making my Macaroni and Cheese tonight. So that will be the first recipe I post here. Hope you enjoy!
Rose

Rose's Kitchen Creations, The Beginning!

Hi, I started reading the "Julie/Julia Project" and thought, "I can totally relate with her". Then I thought, "Why don't I do something like that."

 January 4th, 2008 

So I gave it a bit of thought and realized, I may love to cook and I have tons of cookbooks. But with my food allergies, I could never follow the recipes verbatim, or even close to it. I would have to make revisions. Next I realized I have been doing this all along for years. I read a recipe, and I like how it sounds, then I carefully revise with ingredients that won't make me sick. I have come up with lots of tasty meals this way.

So here I decided to create my blog using lots of recipes from different cookbooks. The twist is, I am going to make them my way and post each revised recipe for those who also share my allergy problems. Things like homemade Macaroni and Cheese made with Sheep & Goat Cheeses for the lactose intolerant people. And my favorite is my Cheesecakes with a Greek Sheep Milk Cream Cheese called "Manouri".

Along with these revisions, I will give you links to places you can find these substitute ingredients. And for people in the local area (Richmond, VA) I will give you locations I go to buy some of my ingredients. Such as the Manouri, I can get this at several Russian Deli's / International Food Stores in the area. One is in Gayton Crossing near Good Foods. And at Good Foods I can find a really great Goat Milk Butter. It's wonderful for making sauces. And at Kroger you can get not just regular Goat Milk but a very nice 1% too. You can find it in the health food section. If your Kroger doesn't carry it, ask them to. They can get it for you.

Ok, so that is my proposal for a site. Every night I will come up with a new revised recipe. I will post pictures, the complete recipe and where to find the special ingredients used in them. I will have recipes for people with Lactose Intollerance, Gluten and Wheat Allergies and like me, allergies to Tryptophan. For those who don't know, Trypto is what makes you sleepy after a Turkey dinner or a warm glass of milk. It is actually in quite a few foods and for me it makes me terribly miserable.

If you have a special allergy like to peanuts or something, let me know I will see what I can come up with for tasty alternatives for you too. Let me know if it is just peanuts or all nuts.

Thanks and good luck everyone!