life lessons

[lagilman]

Watching Jamie Oliver's Great Italian Escape.

Basically, this hot-shot young UK chef, majorly feted in his hometown and in the US, goes off to Italy, speaking very little of the language and knowing nothing of the cooking styles, to learn what he can learn.

and he does it, not by coming in and taking over, but by eating street food, and working in small, highly-regarded kitchens as an assistant cook, and taking his lumps from diners who aren't impressed by this cheeky UK chap who thinks he knows how to cook. And, y'know, learning. And having a lot of fun.

Go, Jamie. Methinks the boy has learned the meaning of life.


This is also having the side effect of making me very very wistful for Italy. Although I'm not sure I'd be willing to try a proscutto of octopus. In the meanhile, I have garlic-lemon-ginger lamb chops in the oven. It will have to do.


ETA: The chops were good, but not quite there yet. Back to the mixing board...

Comments

[skidspoppe.livejournal.com]

Octopus can be very good if it's not too tough.

[lagilman]

Octopus is also reported to be smart. And social. And one of the few critters I'm not sure I feel comfortable consuming.

[skidspoppe.livejournal.com]

They are very smart and social. Of the invertebrates, they are the ones which you can actually consider a pet (only one of the reasons I just had one permanently placed on my arm)

[girasole.livejournal.com]

My favorite lamb recipe, although it does involve getting ground lamb. Based on a recipe I found in the Sunday supplement of the London Times in 2002.

Lamb patties from London

1 lb. ground lamb
1-2 Tablespoons cumin seeds (heaping)
1-2 Tablespoons sesame seeds (heaping)
1 heaping teaspoon dried mint leaves
1 small onion, diced finely
2 garlic cloves, diced finely
I teaspoon sea salt (level)
Dash cayenne pepper
Lemon
Olive oil

Toast the cumin and sesame seeds in a dry, cast iron pan until the sesame seeds turn slightly golden. Remove from the pan and mix with the sea salt and set aside. Put a little olive oil in the pan and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is soft. Add the mint, salt and seeds mixture, and the cayenne and mix. Scrape all of this out of the pan and mix it thoroughly with the ground lamb. Form mixture into four patties. Preheat the cast iron pan with a little more olive oil in it, and cook the patties over medium high heat five to ten minutes on each side. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for that recipe. My SO likes lamb so I'm always lloking for new ways to cook it.

FF

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

Jaime's always struck me as someone who takes his fame with tongue firmly planted in cheek and very down to earth. Other than Julia Child I think he's the only one of the big names that would be seriously interested in how I (or anyone) make boxed macaroni and cheese (this is just a fer-instance, not anything special about my mac&cheese).

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

Hey, I sent an email to your SFF address this morning. Just want to make sure it got there okay.

[vcmw]

Maybe a different citrus? Those fancy/sweeter Meyer lemons, or orange instead of lemon?

Best lamb I ever had was in this tomato based stew full of bay leaf and cumin and other things I wasn't then cook enough to know. Served over rice. Yum. I still have food fantasies about it 10 years later.

[lagilman]

Maybe a different citrus? Those fancy/sweeter Meyer lemons, or orange instead of lemon?

It was actually lemon olive oil, with the garlic and ginger marinated in it. The tastes were good, but I think next time I might add some sharpness to it (pepper, or maybe some white vinegar), as lamb can be a 'soft' flavor if not woken up.

Best lamb I ever had was in this tomato based stew full of bay leaf and cumin and other things I wasn't then cook enough to know. Served over rice. Yum. I still have food fantasies about it 10 years later.

I make a lamb ragout that is to die for. But it's a bit more prep work than just zipping up some chops...

[(Anonymous)]

All this talk of food made me hungry. So I started going through my recipes and stumbled again on a veggie recipes cite. http://www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/christmas.html#coun

I had much trouble finding festive veggie dishes and thought you might all enjoy this site as much as I did.

FF

[lianneb.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Jamie, have you checked out his podcast? Lots of fun (especially episode two, which reportedly was recorded immediately after episode one, and they'd all been indulging in wine through the production)

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

Jamie, Nigella, Gordon Ramsay... You know, there was a time when we Brits exported civilisation and technology to all corners of the world. Now it's celebrity chefs. Go figure...

[lagilman]

well, as the martial civilization winds down into decadence, the food improves, so....

(I'm pretty on-mark about finding good eats anywhere, but once outside of London, lunch can still be a challenge for the foodie)

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure the food has improved, really - it's more that different influences have been coming in over the past few decades. I'm from the pre-foodie generation and a place where the words `jus,' `galette' and `timbale' were never heard and olive oil was something you warmed up and dripped in your ear to cure earache (hand to god) so to me a lot of `foodie' food is fine as a novelty - I'd just rather not try to live on it.