At the butcher, I felt a little embarrassed that I’d never heard of country-style ribs, given that I come from what is arguably “the country.” And even if you’re not willing to concede my particular home-census-tract is rural enough, it is, at a minimum, part of a country. Also, I really like ribs. So how had I not heard of country-style ribs? [Read more…]
rabbit stew with olives and apricots
Elmer Fudd knew a thing or two about good eating. Rabbit makes an excellent meal. It’s also the cutest of the animals we eat for meat (although lambs and suckling pigs might beg to differ), so eating rabbit proves you’re not a lookist when it comes to your suppers.
Rabbit stew meets a lot of the criteria we have for an excellent meal here at Brooklyn Supper. First and foremost, rabbit is delicious. It has a wonderful subtle gamy taste and when it’s stewed it’s fantastically tender. Second, rabbit is cheap. You could easily feed four adults with enough left over for two lunches with one rabbit and the whole stew cost us less than two burritos and chips and guac from our favorite Mexican takeout. Third, rabbit stew is pretty easy to make and is a fantastic make-ahead dish that really gets better if you let it mellow in the fridge for a day or two before reheating and serving. Our weeknights have been jam-packed lately, so that makes a big difference for us.
goat stew
I think if you live in America (and probably most Western countries) and you only know one thing about goats, it’s that they eat tin cans for some reason. I can’t imagine that they can actually eat metal, but I also can’t be bothered to look it up. I think because goats have a reputation for being walking trash cans, a lot of folks are hesitant to eat them. Which is weird because people love pork and if I had to judge one of the two for its eating habits, I’d pick the one that will eat rotten carcasses, Vegas buffet leftovers, and its own young.
Consider Bardwell Farms, our source for goat cheese, had some goat meat this weekend at the farmers’ market, so I picked some up. I’ve heard goat is somewhere between lamb and venison in flavor, and to me, it definitely tasted more like venison. Still, you should be able to use goat for pretty much any recipe you use lamb in. It’s really lean, so drying out is a concern, which makes it a good candidate for braises and stews. I used some pork broth for this stew because we had pork on Friday and I made broth from it, but you could also use another kind of broth or red wine.
Goat Stew
1 lb. goat stew meat, cut into 2 inch cubes, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 pint broth
1 small onion (red if you’ve got it), peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2 bay leaves
sprinkle of cinnamon
salt, pepper
little bit of oil
2 tbs. vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
In a deep heavy-bottomed pan, heat a little oil on high. Add the goat meat and brown it on all sides. Remove to a bowl, should take about 6 minutes total.
Turn the heat to medium, add a little more oil if it’s dry and add the onions and garlic. Stir occasionally.
When the onions are soft, return the goat to the pan, dump in the broth, add the bay leaves, the cinnamon, and the vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.
Turn the heat to high until the liquid starts boiling, then turn to low, and cover. Let it go for 1.5 hours or more. During cooking, if you want it to have more liquid, add some water.
Serve over something like rice or potatoes.
braised lamb necks with cauliflower
Sometimes when you cook, you learn a little bit about yourself. For example, did you know that I don’t know how to spell “cauliflower?” I just learned that about myself. I always thought it was spelled “cauliflour.” For real. But as I typed this recipe, spell check kept picking it up, so I looked it up and saw that I was totally wrong. It’s really weird. I’m usually a good speller. It’s not like cauliflower is an unusual ingredient. It’s one of my favorite vegetables. I worked in the produce section of a grocery store in college, so I’ve seen the word plenty of times. I would try and claim it’s a British spelling but, for whatever reason, we get a lot of hits from Scotland, so I can’t sneak that one by.
Anyhow, lamb neck is a tender, tasty meat. Totally worth it if you can get past the name. Like oxtails, it has a lot of collagen that breaks down as you braise it and leaves you with a really rich sauce, so it’s great for stews and braises. On the downside, it has a lot of little bones in it, so watch out for those. I did this one in a dry white wine, because I think that makes it less rich than if you do it in red wine, but that could be all in my head. I think it’s for real though.
Braised Lamb Necks with Cauliflower
serves 2
2 lambs’ necks
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 tbsp. butter
salt
pepper
4-5 sprigs thyme (or rosemary or whatever you like)
-Rub the lambs’ necks with salt and pepper.
-In a heavy pot with a lid, brown the necks in oil or butter over high heat.
-Add the garlic, wait one minute, and reduce the heat to medium.
-Add the wine, butter, and thyme, add salt and pepper to taste (you can add more later if you need).
-Cover and reduce heat to low. Braise for at least 2.5 hours, turning the necks every now and then.
– When you are a half an hour from being done, add the cauliflower to the pot.