Easter Special! Mint-Crusted Rack of Lamb with Honey Vinaigrette

This mint-crusted rack of lamb was inspired by a lamb steak recipe we did a few years ago, which featured a minted honey vinaigrette. I loved how the sweet, herbaceous dressing worked with the subtly gamey meat, and that memory filled me with confidence as I planned out this video.

Lamb is obviously a popular Easter menu option, and while I have no problem with you slathering your meat with green mint jelly…really, I don’t…my mom’s fridge always had a jar of the stuff…I do hope you’ll consider this slightly higher-end application.

I know some will be extra curious about the blanching of the mint, but I’m afraid my less-than-scientific answer may leave you unsatisfied. I learned a long time ago that if you give your green herbs a few-second blanch before using, the heat locks in the color, and they stay nice and green in whatever you’re preparing.

Of course you can Google for more information, or better yet, you can simply make the recipe in blissful ignorance. Speaking of bliss, one of my favorite things about rack of lamb is just how easy they are to cook. As long as you own a digital thermometer, you’re going to have to try really hard not to get pink, juicy meat. They’re not cheap, but there’s almost no waste, and the meat is mild and very tender.

By the way, yes, those are sweet potato tots! And no, I can’t show you how to make those at home. The recession has hit the U.S. tater tot industry very hard, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to put any more of those fine folks out of work. Anyway, if you’re looking for an easy and impressive option for Easter dinner, I hope you give this a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 Portions (*note: I only did one rack for 2 portions, so amounts in video may look off):

2 racks of lamb, trimmed, about 1.25 pounds each

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp vegetable oil for searing meat

For the crumbs:

1 cup mint leaves, blanched, squeezed dry

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste

1 or 2 tbsp finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

For the mustard mixture:

1/4 cup regular or herb Dijon mustard

2 tsp honey

For the honey vinaigrette:

2 tsp honey

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

New Year’s Day Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing – Good Luck with That!

This spinach salad with black-eyed peas is a twist on one of my favorite American culinary traditions; the custom of serving beans and greens on New Year's Day. Supposedly eating "poor" on New Year’s Day brings much wealth and good luck throughout the year.

The greens, usually braised with ham or sausage, represents paper money, and the beans, usually black-eyed peas, symbolize coins. Here, we’re presenting those ingredients in salad form, which is a great delivery system for our hot bacon dressing– the true star in this video.

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is, “Eat more bacon,” then here’s another delicious way to work it into your diet. This peppery, sweet and tangy sauce is fast to make, and shines on other things besides wealth-generating spinach salads.

Wouldn’t this be great in a warm potato and mushroom salad, as well as a sauce for a grilled chicken breast or pork chop? What about spooned over poached eggs, or slathered on sweet potato fries? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

If making and eating this salad on January 1st doesn’t really bring you prosperity in 2012, it will certainly bring you some tasty memories, and other pleasures money can’t buy. Happy New Year, and enjoy!

Hot Bacon Dressing Ingredients: (makes about 1 1/3 cup – or 6 servings)

1/2 pound bacon, sliced and cooked in 1/4 cup vegetable oil (reserve bacon pieces and bacon fat drippings)

1/2 cup minced onions

2 cloves minced garlic

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/3 cup of the bacon fat drippings

1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tsp cold water

salt and pepper to taste

cayenne to taste

For 6 Spinach Salads:

1 pound baby spinach, washed and dried

12 white button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes

1 (15-oz) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

Cranberry Mustard Salad Dressing – You’ll Be Tickled Some Kind of Pink

For whatever reason, pink sauces are considered somewhat visually offensive in the foodie universe, so when describing this cranberry mustard salad dressing to your friends and family, please use hipper alternatives like, “ballet slipper” or “rosy mauve.”

Whatever it’s called, I actually love the color of this vinaigrette, and think it’s especially gorgeous with the classic fall/winter salad palette. I served it over some endive garnished with persimmons, pistachios, and pomegranate seeds, and it tasted as bright and pretty as it looked.

One word of caution regarding the ingredient amounts listed below: I like my salad dressings on the acidic side, so be sure to taste and adjust the amount of oil you add. You want to be careful with the walnut oil, as too much can overpower the dressing, but you can add more vegetable or olive oil, until it’s perfectly balanced for your palate.

As I joke about in the video, this seasonal vinaigrette is perfect for the non-cook to bring to a family gathering. We’re talking about a minimal effort to get what could potentially be lots of loving praise, or at the very least, fewer disappointed glances. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 2 1/4 cups of dressing:

1/4 cup prepared fresh cranberry sauce

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1 small garlic clove

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

[note: you can use 1/2 cup of any vinegar(s) you like]

1/4 cup walnut oil

1 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil, or as much as needed to balance acidity to your taste

Peach and Escarole Salad – 'Cause I'm Tired of Greens You Can Gum!

This magnificent peach and escarole salad was inspired by one Michele and I had on our recent trip to New York City. We were taken out to dinner by my publisher (which has nothing to do with the story, but I really enjoyed typing that) to a place called Hearth, in the East Village.

The salad course was a plate of roughly torn escarole, dressed with a slightly sweet sherry vinaigrette. As I ate, I kept thinking to myself, damn, this is one delicious salad. The odd thing was, it took me a good while to actually put my finger on what exactly made it so wonderful.

Then it hit me. It was made with real, full-grown, somewhat tough, slightly bitter greens. 95% of the salads I eat in restaurants these days are made with the ubiquitous "baby greens" – that bland, one-dimensional, melt-in-your-mouth mixture of lettuce, so soft and delicate you don't even need a set of teeth to eat them.

This was the polar opposite of that. I had almost forgotten how interesting a salad could be! So, when Michele brought home a couple small heads of escarole one afternoon, I decided to film a salad recipe video, combining the mas macho greens with sweet peaches, goat cheese, and walnuts.

One trick with escarole is to make sure you are using a sweet enough dressing to offset the bitterness. I accomplished that with a dressing of sherry and rice vinegar, and then, just to hedge my bets, I added some perfectly ripe peaches to the mix. The result was one of the best salads I've had in years. Enjoy!




Peach and Escarole Salad Ingredients:
1 small head escarole (smaller is better, as it gets too bitter when large)
1 ripe peach
4 oz goat cheese
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 tablespoon olive oil
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

What Happens When a Toasty Corn Salad Meets a Creamy Italian Dressing?

Simple deliciousness, that's what. This corn salad recipe is one of my favorite summer side dishes. It's a perfect complement to just about any meat you pull off the grill, and can be dressed in countless ways.

This time, since I had just made and filmed a light, creamy Italian dressing, I decided to try this particular combo, and it was wonderful. The garlicky tang of the mayo-spiked vinaigrette balancing the sweetness of the corn like we all knew it would.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with using frozen (great quality, preferably organic) corn. I love fresh vegetables, and use them 95% of the time, but every good chef has a bag of sweet peas, and bag of corn in the freezer.

Of course this salad would be amazing with freshly shaved corn right off the stalk in August, but we don't always have the time or energy, and in that case, this recipe will do just fine.

Special thanks to Michele's friend Robert, who provided the wild boar you see pictured on the finished plate. As luck would have it, we received this much appreciated gift right before the Cochon555 event, so not only did I taste dozens of pork dishes that night, for our lunch before the pig fest we ate… wild pork!

It was awesome! I can't wait until wild pig is regularly available in the meat case at your local markets. The taste of this meat, how pork used to taste (or so I've heard), is so much richer, meatier, and flavorful, there's no comparison. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 lb frozen sweet corn
1 cup diced roasted red peppers
5-6 basil leaves, chiffonade
cayenne, salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

For the dressing:
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 tsp dried Italian herbs
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp water

Grilled Lamb Steaks with Minted Honey Sherry Vinaigrette - Culinary Cross-Dressing

Imagine the disappointment of someone who arrived on this page by googling "Cross-Dressing." Sorry, but the cross-dressing I'm referring to is using salad dressings to sauce meats. By the way, yes, that skirt does make your butt look big.

Using vinaigrette as a sauce for grilled meats is one of my favorite "cheats" of all time. They take minutes to whisk together, there's absolutely no culinary finesse required, and the combinations of oils, vinegars, and flavorings are limitless.

This grilled lamb steaks recipe was filmed over the Memorial Day weekend, but I just got around to editing it together. As I cut up the 15 minutes of raw footage into a somewhat presentable 4 minutes video recipe clip, my mouth was watering as I remembered the smoky, juicy lamb mingling with the minty, sweet, and tangy vinaigrette.

When I post these types of recipes, it's my hope that it serves as an inspiration to experiment with the concept, more so than that just to have you follow the steps. How about balsamic vinaigrette on some grilled skirt steak? Maybe mustard dressing on some pork chops? How could grilled chicken drizzled with Greek dressing and feta not be awesome?

So watch this video, and daydream-up some combinations (instead of concentrating on work today), and then get out to the grill this weekend to see if it works. If it doesn’t, I'll take the blame. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
4 lamb steaks (cut from the leg, about 1 1/2 inch thick)
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves chopped garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 bunch fresh tarragon, torn
1/2 bunch fresh mint, torn
salt as needed
For the vinaigrette:
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp sherry vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Pink Ice Ice Icing - It's Good Friday

It's not often I can work a Vanilla Ice song into a video recipe, but here it fit like a pair of baggy pants.

This quick and simple lemon icing recipe is what I frosted my Easter bread with, and it works nicely as an all-purpose glaze for all types of cookies, breads, and pastries.

You remember that comedian, the one with the big porn-stache, that did the, "you might be a redneck if" routine?

By the way, if you were at one of his shows, you were a redneck. This recipe reminds me of that bit. You could come up with a whole list of "you might be a bad cook if…" statements, but one of them for sure would be, "you might be a bad cook if you buy icing."

There can't be an easier recipe than a simple sugar icing. Can you stir? Good, then you have what it takes. I'm assuming if you do buy your icing, it's because you simply don't know the recipe, or just assumed (like everyone at a Jeff Foxworthy show is a redneck) it was too complicated. It's not. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest, optional
1 tbsp milk
1 small drop food coloring, optional

Flank Steak with Cabrales Cheese and Warm Garlic, Orange, Sherry Vinaigrette

This video recipe for Flank Steak with Cabrales Cheese, reminds me of my theory that American's fondness for blue cheese as a garnish for burgers, steak, and other foods, can be traced all the way back to the Buffalo chicken wing.

Now, I've done no research, nor will I, as I find it easier to simply guess about these kind of things, but think about it - who was crumbling blue cheese on their hamburgers before the chicken wing made it socially acceptable to eat our traditional meats and poultry with this funky addition?

This delicious incarnation features juicy flank steak topped with Spain's famous Cabrales blue cheese. This flank steak recipe is simple to make, and even if your grilling days are over this season, you can pan sear or use a grill pan inside to make this dish. Enjoy!

Click here for ingredients and transcript

Helping Solve the World's Other Oil Crisis

Right up there with debates about offshore drilling, and the nation's outdated and inefficient crude refineries, is the country's frustration with how the heck do chefs make those cool, colorful infused oils. Well, wonder no more. As promised, in Part 1 of the 24-item "Food on Foodbuzz" tasting menu, here's a video recipe showing the extremely easy method for making infused oils.

This smoked paprika oil uses the faster, heated method, as opposed to some chefs who simply mix oil and powdered spices, and leave them for a few weeks to infuse. This technique only takes a few hours and works just as well. Some would even argue that the heat at the beginning of this recipe brings out a deeper flavor in the pepper, than the uncooked version. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika, or other powdered spice
1/2 cup grapeseed, or other neutral flavored oil

Some Good Frickin' Paprika Chicken

My non-fat yogurt kick continues with this yogurt and paprika marinated grilled chicken. The name in the title is an homage to one of the best chicken take-out joints in San Francisco, called "Good Frickin' Chicken." I've always loved the name, so I'm stealing it for this recipe.

While this is a pretty straightforward grilled chicken recipe, the vinaigrette trick you'll see at the end was a last minute touch that worked out nicely. I really like oil and vinegar-based sauces on grilled meats. They work beautifully with the smoky, caramelized exterior. It's this part of the recipe where you can summon your inner chef and decide what oil, vinegar, and other flavorings you'll use to bath your chicken.

I mention in the clip to use a fresh Spanish paprika to get the best results. The cheap, rusty-brown dust in the back of the spice shelf you use to sprinkle on the deviled eggs once a year is not going to cut it. There's really a major difference in taste and appearance - it's like using bacon bits instead of real crumbled bacon. You wouldn’t do that, would you? Enjoy.



Ingredients:
1 cut up chicken
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp paprika
pinch of cayenne
1 tbsp hot chili sauce
6 tbsp plain yogurt
Sauce:
1 tbsp ketchup
dash of hot sauce
pinch of paprika
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste