COOKING...BACK TO MY ROOTS

Some of you may already know this....but prior to quilting, I was immersed in cooking.  I still love to cook, but with only the 2 of us, aging bodies and all......elaborate meals don't often fit our lives.

However, we had a guest so that was excuse enough.....while the meal was cooking, the dogs played and played.  Our weather has been GREAT.....nip in the air of course....it is winter.  But daytime temps. have been mid. 60's.....I'll take it.  This IS what we expected moving here....though the past couple of winters seemed like we were still living in Wisconsin!

 This was a new experiment for me.....baking a head of cauliflower!  It was smothered with a mixture of olive oil, dark mustard, and crushed fresh garlic.  Baked for an hour at 425 degrees.....

When removed, it was topped with a mixture of mustard, chopped fresh parsley, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  I snapped a photo before the final topping melted.....and AFTER I began cutting it into wedges.  (Thus the messy looking dish.)

 Our protein was my newest favorite, a burgundy/black pepper boneless leg of lamb.  (Purchased at Trader Joe's....finally there's one in Asheville!!)  Even though I'm not much of a meat eater.....this is fabulous.  

We cooked it for 48 hrs. in our Sous Vide at 130 degrees.  If you aren't familiar with this equipment...I'm not surprised.  This home model is fairly new to the market.  It's a take off of what restaurants use.  Haven't you ever wondered how on earth you can order a medium rare piece of standing rib roast and it's delivered to your table in a short amount of time...cooked perfectly??  Commercial kitchens use these 'water bath' cooking machines...which can cook and hold items vacuumed sealed for several days at the exact correct temperature...never overcooking!  

It's a bit of a learning curve to begin with.....but we've never had better tasting meat.

One negative can be the appearance....since the meat isn't roasted in the typical fashion.  We now have that problem solved.  'The husband' under-cooks' roasts very slightly.....removes from the water bath and finishes off on the wood fired grill.  It improves the taste, crust and look of a roast.  Sorry.....he was nearly finished carving before I could take a picture.

 As long as we were feasting.....potatoes made an appearance too.  A food item we rarely have anymore.  Here, thinly sliced raw potatoes are arranged on a foil covered shallow baking pan....drenched with garlic infused olive oil....salt, pepper, and a tad of fresh rosemary.  

Baked @ 425 - covered with foil for 45 mins. and uncovered the last 15 mins.

Yummmmmm!  I'll be walking twice today.....