Greek Lamb with Yogurt Mint Sauce

August 28, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Each week I follow along with Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa) and attempt to recreate one of her dishes in my tiny New York City kitchen. The catch? This is my version of cooking school and I’m making these recipes for the first time. I’ll share both my successes and um, challenges, along the way and we’ll see if I can keep up with the Contessa!

Episode: “Herb Story”

The Set-up: Ina is taking her cues from the herbs she grows in her garden.

The Menu: Greek Lamb with Yogurt Mint Sauce, Oregano, Tomato and Feta Salad, Heirloom Tomatoes with Tarragon

0:21 – Ina takes us back into the garden where she has a Fort Knox level wall around her herbs to keep out the deer. Certainly more attractive than chicken wire fencing!

1:33 – As she lists off everything she grows back here – parsley, basil, chives, thyme, mint – I can see why fresh herbs are such a big part of her cooking this is bordering on a farm!

2:06 – Ina says when she thinks about making a marinade for the Greek Lamb with Yogurt Mint Sauce she goes immediately to the classics. As she said, “what grows together, goes together” … “why fight it?”

3:10 – In this case she’s using a ton of rosemary because it has a strong flavor that can stand up to the lamb.

4:27 – Ina is mixing the marinade right in the dish that the lamb will rest in which I am all about, except that my “dish” is a ziplock bag inside a food storage container. The better to clean up quickly, my dear!

5:39 – Lamb chops are on the grill and Ina cautions us not to overcook them – easy to do with a too hot fire and a teensy piece of meat.

6:44 – We also get a little food safety lesson when she reminds us not to use the marinade on the cooked meat.

10:03 – Back in the garden to collect mint and dill for the Greek Lamb with Yogurt Mint Sauce. Pro Tip #1: Measuring herbs accurately is easier when they’re roughly chopped.

11:18 – This is a straightforwardly Greek inspired recipe and I think I read somewhere that dill is a heavily used herb in Greek cooking. Google will know for sure…

12:42 – The mini food processor makes another appearance for the yogurt sauce which Ina says is so thick that she’s going to put it underneath the lamb chops.

13:01 – Now for the Oregano, Tomato and Feta Salad essentially big wedges of tomato, slices of feta, and a little arugula dressed with a splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, and a sprinkle of dried oregano.

14:14 – Pro Tip #2: Rub the dried oregano between your palms to release the oils before sprinkling over the salad.

15:26 – Ina’s friend Frank shows up and they escape to the garden to pretend they’re in Mykonos over dinner. (“Don’t tell Jeffrey!”)

19:33 – We’re in New York now at Eli Zabar’s greenhouse on top of his specialty food store picking tomatoes for a salad of Heirloom Tomatoes with Tarragon.

20:05 – A few herbs are selected and then Eli and Ina go down into the kitchen with their flat of loot.

21:47 – We’re getting a little arranging lesson as Eli cuts the tomatoes into vertical slices and wedges of all sizes emphasizing the variety of colors and textures.

22:11 – On to the seasoning and Eli explains that since tomatoes are a fruit the heavy dose of salt and vinegar will draw out the sugars and juices to create the dressing.

23:30 – We’re supposed to let the seasoning sit for a little, but Ina is impatient so they taste immediately. Here’s the word: basil is OUT, tarragon is IN when it comes to tomato salads.

27:02 – A little “Ask Ina” on herb related questions. Not that kind of herb! Bill wants to know if he can substitute dried herbs when Ina’s recipe calls for fresh. Short answer: no. Long answer: who knows how long those dried herbs have been preserved? PS: Look at my spice drawer – no herbs!!

28:38 – Deborah would like a recommendation on which herbs to grow, and Mike needs advice on which variety of basil is best? Ina says you should grow what you like and recommends Genovese basil (the large leafed type commonly found in stores.)

29:45 – Last question - Kim needs help storing her fresh herbs? Ina says wash, dry very carefully, and keep in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Or, mince them up and store them in an ice cube tray in the freezer so you can pop a cube into a recipe when you’re cooking.

Final Thoughts:
I absolutely need to try Ina’s method for storing herbs – they are the bane of my existence the way they wilt so quickly!

I love the simplicity of the recipes in this episode, just allowing the flavors and freshness to be the stars.

Did anyone else have major flashbacks to My Big Fat Greek Wedding? “That’s okay; I make lamb!”

Lessons Learned:
I have never cooked lamb before and most of my experiences with it have been of the shady, “what’s in this gyro?,” mystery meat variety; the most egregious of which was during our trip to Croatia when we tried the much-hyped ćevapčići. No thanks. All that to say, I didn’t think I liked lamb, but if anyone could convince me it would be Ina Garten and her Greek Lamb with Yogurt Mint Sauce.

Read the Recipe – I must have been half awake when I mixed the marinade for this recipe because in re-reading it I realized I was supposed to use the food processor and the ingredients called for red wine, not red wine vinegar. I also didn’t buy enough lemons (why?) and had to substitute lemon greek yogurt in the sauce. Thankfully it appears that my mistakes were imperceptible in the final results, and dare I say might have even improved the recipe?

Marinating – The recipe recommends at least 2 hours, I marinated mine over night (about 20 hours in total) and it’s well worth doing that far in advance. The flavor really permeates the meat. Same deal with the yogurt sauce, the longer the herbs are in contact with the yogurt the more they meld and develop.

Cooking Lamb – If you can cook a pork chop or a bone-in steak then lamb is essentially just a miniature version of those two cuts. A cast iron grill pan pre-heated over medium flame is your friend and Ina’s cooking time (4-5 minutes per side) is perfect. Make sure the meat good contact with the pan so that it sears and don’t neglect to crisp up the edges!

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes! A small food processor will be helpful in both stages, along with and measuring cups and spoons. I also used a medium cutting board, chef’s knife, a cast iron grill pan, and tongs. A ziptop bag, aluminum foil and a large food storage container will come in handy too.

The Verdict:
I was really prepared not to like Greek Lamb with Yogurt Mint Sauce and frankly I was nervous to serve it to Mike, but we both though this recipe was delicious!!! (Yes, three exclamation points.) The marinade imparts a great blend of bright lemon and spikey rosemary; and the sauce is beautifully fresh and light. I don’t know if I’ll be ordering lamb left and right in restaurants now, but I can fully endorse this recipe, even for people who think they don’t like lamb. A perfect special occasion dish that takes very little effort to get great results.

Herb Baked Eggs

July 15, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Episode: “Bring the Magic Home”

The Set-up: Ina remembers her trips to Paris and makes a dinner inspired by the city.

The Menu: Endive, Pear and Roquefort Salad, Profiteroles, Herb Baked Eggs

0:29 – We begin with a trip to Le Grand Epicerie in Paris – one of Ina’s favorite specialty food shops. It reminds me a bit of Eataly, open space, lots of variety.

1:11 – Back in Ina’s kitchen where she’s preparing to make Profiteroles. First step: pâte à choux.

2:24 – This dough is already scaring me - cooking the dough, then adding cold eggs to a hot mixture without tempering first? Somehow it turned out fine, but now a pastry bag is required to pipe the profiteroles.

3:33 – Ina tries to reassure me that if you make a piping mistake you can just scrape the dough back into the pastry bag. Why does that one piece of equipment make me want to abandon all hope?

3:50 – Pro Tip #1: dip your finger in water and press down the little tips so they don’t over cook.

4:45 – Back to Paris where Ina is visiting her favorite flower shop for arranging ideas. Idea #1: pick a color and gather a few flowers that are all in that shade, for example pale pink peonies, roses, and sweetpeas.

5:14 – Idea #2: Pick one flower, say hydrangeas, and make a massive arrangement. Idea #3: Combine one flower with an herb.

6:03 – Ina has decided to practice Idea #1 with a few different orange flowers and confesses that like many of us, finding the right size vase is the hardest part.

10:26 – We take a trip to a fromagerie in Paris for a little cheese tasting. Ina recommends choosing three very different cheeses and selects a soft goat cheese, harder cow’s milk cheese, and her favorite Roquefort, which is made from sheep’s milk.

11:38 – Back in the U.S. Ina is making her favorite salad with Endive, Pear and Roquefort including a dressing with champagne vinaigrette.

13:17 – Flashback to a dinner with Jeffrey at Café de Flore for a simple, but elegant supper of champagne and omelets with ham and cheese.

14:44 – As they eat their dinner Ina begins to scheme a similar recipe to make at home. I can totally relate, eating in restaurants these days is a combination of research and a search for inspiration…

19:29 – The recipe that emerged from their omelet experience is Herb Baked Eggs, which sounds amazing.

20:42 – So far everything that’s going into these eggs is perfect – butter, cream, garlic, parmesan, herbs. Mmmmm.

21:13 – The trick to this recipe seems to be pre-cooking the cream and butter a little bit in the gratin dishes so that the eggs begin cooking as soon as they hit the pan.

22:26 – Back to the Endive, Pear and Roquefort Salad and it’s time to assemble the plates, which basically entails strewing the leaves with crumbled blue cheese, slices of pear, and toasted walnuts.

23:30 – The finishing touch on the Profiteroles is a chocolate sauce enhanced with coffee and honey. Jeffrey is a lucky guy.

27:15 – Dinner is served on the back porch as dusk begins to settle, the birds chirp, the crickets sing. Trust me when I tell you it’s incredibly idyllic.

28:34 – Time to assemble dessert. Each profiterole gets a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce from the most charming little earthenware pitcher.

29:50 – A final toast: “to Paris!”

Final Thoughts:
Ina and I are on the same page – there’s so much inspiration to be found traveling!

When I discovered baked eggs it was a revelation. I can’t wait to try Ina’s version.

I really need to address this fear of the pastry bag. Maybe not with profiteroles though…

Lessons Learned:
I’m obsessed these days with softly cooked eggs and I thought Ina’s Parisian Herb Baked Eggs would be the perfect way to start a moody, grumpy Bastille Day.

Prep: This dish comes together so quickly that you really will want to have both the herb/parmesan mixture, toast, and eggs ready to go before the gratin dish even hits the oven. Trying to do much more than press the lever on the toaster while the eggs are cooking will pretty much guarantee missing the magic moment of done, but not too doneness.

Dish Selection: I know an artist should never blame his brushes, but honestly sometimes the key to cooking lies in the equipment. In this case a wide, shallow baking dish is a big element. The eggs need even contact with the heat to allow the whites to set first while leaving the yolks still soft. When the eggs don’t have room to spread out it’s nearly impossible to achieve that balance. If you don’t have individual gratin dishes and don’t want to buy some then I’d recommend using the largest, shallowest ramekin you have or reduce the eggs by one so that they’re not overly crowded.

Timing: These eggs are a simple dish, but don’t be fooled they require careful watching. If you want a truly soft yolk, I’d recommend starting with 5 minutes (assuming you’re using a shallow dish) in the oven, since the eggs will continue to cook after they’re removed from the oven.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Indubitably, this is small kitchen friendly. I needed shallow gratin dishes (one for each person), small coffee cups (one for each dish), a baking sheet, measuring spoons, chef’s knife, microplane grater, and small cutting board.

The Verdict:
Trust Ina to bring back a dish so deceptively simple and elegant. I loved making Herb Baked Eggs for breakfast because it had all the trappings of a fancy breakfast, but required very few fine motor skills – essential when I’m cooking pre-coffee. The herbs, garlic, and parmesan add just the right amount of seasoning even with out salt & pepper, but a little sprinkle of both wouldn’t be over the top. This would be the perfect dish to make when you have a crowd for breakfast – the same effect as a lovely poached or fried egg, but much simpler and it feels special too.

Herb Marinated Pork Loin

October 22, 2014 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Episode: “What Are Friends For”

The Set-up: Ina’s friends, Frank and Steven, have guests coming for dinner and everyone is stuck in traffic. Guess who is saving the day?

The Menu: Herb Marinated Pork Loin, Greek Panzanella, Plum Crunch

0:44 – We’re starting with the Herb Marinated Pork Loin, since well it has to marinate. (Timing!)

1:59 – I can hear English & Science teachers everywhere cheering when Ina makes a point of differentiating between “1 tablespoon minced rosemary” and “1 tablespoon rosemary, minced.” A subtle but important difference in the order of cooking operations…

2:37 – As she minces, then measures the rosemary and thyme Ina advocates for fresh herbs vs. dried. I think my cooking improved a lot once I started using fresh herbs.

3:15 – Trust that Ina wishes there were a more “glamorous” way to marinate meat other than a plastic Ziploc bag.

4:01 – Thank goodness we don’t have to see it for too long, the pork loins in their pedestrian plastic are whisked away to the fridge.

5:23 – Wait a minute, Ina is bringing the flowers for the table too? Did Frank and Steven forget they were having guests or are they just champion procrastinators?

6:09 – In any event, Ina selected a white and green flowers since that’s what Frank likes and is arranging them in a short drinking glass. Pro Tip#1: low arrangements on the table so people can see over them.

9:34 – I think Ina’s worried about the opinions we might be forming of Frank and Steven, but I’m afraid it’s too late. I now have them pegged as irresponsible hosts!

10:20 – Moving on to the Greek Panzanella – an Italian dish reimagined with Greek flavors like olives and feta.

11:36 – A little vegetable chopping montage – bell peppers, red onion, cherry tomatoes, English cucumbers – so soothing!

12:48 – As she’s making the dressing for the salad Ina acknowledges that’s “unusual for her” but that she has one exception to her fresh herbs rule: oregano, which she finds too strong in its fresh form.

13:14 – Pro Tip #2: Crush dried herbs, like oregano, between your hands to release the remaining oils in the leaves.

14:23 – A brief check-in with our delinquent hosts as they drive home. That’s right, Frank & Steven, you better sing Ina’s praises for saving your dinner party bacon.

15:43 – Back to Ina as she finishes the Greek Panzanella by adding Kalamata olives and diced feta. I’m still waiting to develop a taste for olives – so far they’re still on my “avoid” list.

19:19 – Ina’s still trying to rehabilitate Frank and Steven’s image, but it won’t work no matter how “big [she] owes them for so many things” or how “delighted” she claims to be to make Plum Crunch for them.

20:05 – Ina is stirring the sliced plums together with flour, cassis, and sugar, which will combine to make the “goo” of the filling. She says it takes a little judgment to determine when a little more or less flour is called for, depending on how juicy the fruit is. So tricky, I still don’t know for sure!

21:32 – Ina compares Plum Crunch to Apple Crisp, but I think this might be even more low-maintenance, because she isn’t peeling the plums.

22:21 – As she crumbles the topping over the plums Ina says that one of the pleasures of baking is the scent filling the house – isn’t that so true? Especially on a rainy, chilly fall day.

23:46 – The “dinner to-go” is packed with the efficient-getting-things-done music in the background and then Ina’s “so out of here” on her way to save the day!

26:07 – Frank and Steven tried to get out of helping, but Ina put them to work setting the table. Way to not let them off the hook on everything!

27:23 – The guests have arrived and Ina is plating the Greek Panzanella and baking off the Plum Crunch so it will be warm out of the oven. Man, is she good!

28:38 – Raiding the freezer which contains only vodka and vanilla ice cream. Hilarious.

29:12 – Ina seems to have been included in the dinner after they released her from the kitchen. Gracious to the end, though, she says they can call her for take out anytime.

Final Thoughts:

That Herb Marinated Pork Loin looks amazing…

I love the idea of translating a dish from one flavor profile to another – could a Middle Eastern version of panzanella be far behind?

Ina is probably the best friend ever – I can’t picture a time when I’d be able to pull off an elegant dinner for six at a moment’s notice.

Lessons Learned:

The flavors and ingredients of the Herb Marinated Pork Loin sounded delicious and the preparation straightforward, but I actually had a lot of trouble cooking the meat. The recipe calls for browning the pork loins in olive oil and then placing the sauté pan in the oven to finish cooking.

I found that even with the oil quite hot and the meat fairly clean of marinade it took a long time to brown the exterior and again the cooking time in the oven was too short to cook through. When I sliced the tenderloins I found the thicker pieces weren’t just pink, but actually a little raw looking even after resting. Not good and more than a little frustrating when they look so delicious on the outside!

In the future I’d recommend adding another 5-7 minutes to the time in the oven and rotating the meat halfway through the cooking to make sure they’re evenly done.

Small Kitchen Friendly?

Yes, definitely. The most important item is a sauté pan large enough for the pork loins. I also used a chef’s knife, microplane grater, measuring spoons and liquid measuring cup, as well as tongs, a meat thermometer and aluminum foil.

The Verdict:

To be honest, I only tasted a small piece of the Herb Marinated Pork Loin and the flavors were wonderful, but I was so aggravated by the cooking process that all I wanted was peanut butter toast. Mike, on the other hand, did have the tenderloin for dinner and deemed it delicious. He claims he’d like to have it again, but only if I’m sure there will be no kitchen meltdowns in the process! My plan: learn from my past experience and try again; if you have success, I’d love to know your advice too!

Scouting: Roberta's Garden

September 19, 2014 by Laura Messersmith in Scouting

Garden at Roberta's | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Garden at Roberta's** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

My friend Alana seems to have her ear to the ground (no pun intended) on all things fun and happening in Brooklyn – this is a talent I wish I had, but for now I pretty much rely on her to tell me when there’s something we should check out. She is also game for exploring with me and this has led to scouting missions in Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Gowanus, and yesterday Bushwick to see the garden at Roberta’s Pizza and do a little herb planting.

We learned during our tour from the lead gardener Melissa that the produce she grows supplements the food purchased by the kitchen. On a quarter acre there are fruit trees, tomato vines, edible flowers, and of course, herbs.

Part two of our class involved how to grow new herb plants from cuttings. We were given a dozen or so different herb plants to choose from – purple sage, English thyme, basil, mint, lavender – and instructed to snip a small sprig from a lighter green area of new growth. After we removed some of the lower leaves and pruned the upper ones a final diagonal snip of the rooting end completed the prep.

Herbs | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Herbs** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

I love the bright flavor fresh herbs add to my cooking and many of the recipes I make call for them, but keeping them on hand and in usable form is tricky, so having a pot of thyme or rosemary ready to donate a few leaves would be awesome. My little herbs are now nestled into a tiny seeding pot and I am (semi-patiently) waiting to see if new growth happens….

Herb Cuttings | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Herb Cuttings** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

In the interest of journalistic integrity I have to tell you that at this very moment a dish herb garden is struggling for life on my windowsill, so I’m not making any promises that these little shoots will survive. But if Mother Nature is with me on this project then my grocery store herb days might be numbered…. I’ll keep you posted!