Corned Beef!

Every Saint Patrick's Day my mom make corned beef, cabbage, and red potatoes and it is perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  She recently e-mailed me the recipe, so even though it's not the right holiday I'm making some delicious corned beef.  My roommate and carved our Halloween pumpkins today, and I thought that a nice dinner would round out the roommate bonding.  This recipe is easy and delicious!


Corned Beef


1 package of corned beef (get a flat that comes with a seasoning packet)
water


To cook the corned beef, take it out of the package and rinse it off; put it in a roaster, or pyrex dish, add water until it is 1/2 inch from the top; sprinkle the packet of seasonings over it; cover with foil tightly, and cook at 325 for at least 3 hours.  Check at 3 hours with a fork, fork should easily pierce the meat.  Let the meat sit on a cutting board (you can place foil loosely on top) for 10-20 minutes before slicing.

I can't wait to have leftovers on rye bread with a little mustard!

Lamb with Friends!

When I was younger my parents got me a stuffed lamb for passover one year.  I named him lamby, and he was one of my favorite stuffed animals.  I have a very distinct memory of playing with lamby in my room one night before dinner.  My mom called me to dinner and I asked her what we were eating and she said lamb.  I turned to lamby and said "baaah, we're having you for dinner!"  Anyways, lamb is my favorite meat.  It is so succulent and has such a different taste than other red meats.  I don't have it very often, but I found a recipe on Epicurus for mint crusted lamb chops and knew I had to try it.  So tonight I invited three friends over and we had an amazing meal!

Savory Mint Lamb Chops (serves 4)
1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

4 large garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons salt (This seemed like a lot, so I did 1 and a smidgen)

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 lamb loin chops, trimmed

(The recipe also called for 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, but I excluded it because of my acid reflux)

Place olive oil, chopped mint, minced garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, and black pepper in a bowl and mix well. Spread the mixture over both sides of the lamb chops.  Place in broiler pan.  (I don't have a boiler pan, but foil on a regular baking sheet works just as well.)  Let stand for ten minutes, so the flavors can sink in!  Preheat the broiler.  Broil the lamb until brown and crusty, about 4 minutes per side for medium rare.

These lamb chops were so delicious I picked the bones clean!  Thanks to Kayla, Leah, and Karl for enjoying them with me!