Dead Lamb

The post-Christmas meal is a lamb shank. I discovered a recipe (again, from Bon Appetit) for a Gochujang sauce. Gochujang is the new Sriracha, apparently. But, I'm not about the go get a new sauce when I have one that works just fine for me. :) Though I will eventually try Gochujang, I'm just waiting to use up the rest of the Sriracha. JHC, I can barely spell these words...and I don't even know if JHC is an acronym - so hopefully you know what I mean. Regardless 

I went shopping for supplies and totally forgot to get the dates that were required in the recipe linked above. But...I've been on this kick about not having to buy things that I don't need based on the fact that that when you are limited and restricted, you are more creative. So...instead of going back to the store, I looked in my cupboards and found something that I could substitute for dates and found golden raisins. They worked fabulously!! The sauce was intense and sweet.

I seasoned the lamb shank with salt and pepper and cooked on medium-high heat for 9 minutes, turning it every minute. After 9 minutes I kept it warm in an oven and added chopped onion to the hot pan and than added the raisin, oil, and sriracha sauce. Oh man, this was a tasty treat. Obviously I was so caught up in making this perfect protein that I didn't even bother making a veggie or a carb. Is that weird? I had fried pickles for an appetizer so I kinda had some variety of food that night...

Fried Pickles with Spicy Mayonnaise

Fried what?? I've never even heard of fried pickles until I was reading Bon Appetit. Apparently, some restaurant in Virginia fries pickles and serves it with a spicy mayonnaise sauce. Um...yum! It's super easy, unless you are like me and get easily distracted. So, it took me longer than most people. Either way, this is super tasty! So...you should totally make it by clicking on the link above. 

Pear Edamame Salad

Whew! After all that heavy food I think we needed a salad to cleanse the palate. So for a Christmas Day appetizer I made a pear salad. The pears were a courtesy of Miriam and Tom, my soon-to-be in laws who were kind enough to have local pears and apples delivered to our home for Christmas. So grateful! So I made this salad with edamame, pear, mixed greens, sesame seeds, and Beecher Cheese. The dressing consisted of EVOO, minced raw garlic, parsley, and champagne vinegar (I think). We were both very happy with this salad. Will definitely make it again! 

Breaded Fish

I guess vlogging is the new thing. So new that blogspot underlines it in red, signifying that I spelled it wrong. I would vlog but that would just be bad for all. My voice is really nasally. Or, at least that is what it sounds like the few times that I have heard it played back to me. Plus, it seems like a lot of effort to edit the videos and delete all the nonsense that I talk about. So, I will continue to write. However, for those of you interested in watching videos so you don't have to read I highly recommend My Drunk Kitchen and Jenna Marbles. The latter, not cooking related...just fucking funny. :) 

Happy Holiday's to all! *sip wine*. Casey told me that in Italy they eat fish for Christmas Eve. I never did verify that... 

Regardless, we had breaded snapper for Christmas Eve and it was quite tasty. Case bought this super tasty spice and nut blend that I blended with panko and breaded the fish with (flour and egg style). 

Floured Snapper...

Breaded with panko and Dukkah

Cooked in the oven and voila!

I originally cooked the fish at 450 for 15 minutes. Not so successful...
I had to cook it for 10 more minutes uncovered and than it was a tad overcooked. Despite this everything else was perfect. We had a side of frozen jasmine rice that I reheated with paprika and covered in a really good sauce. The sauce consisted of EVOO and butter with overripe tomatoes, pesto, garlic, chopped onion and a dash of the Dukkah. The green beans I cooked with pearls onions and butter.