Roasted Lamb Shank with Vegetables

Ingredients

2 Lamb Shanks (leg, with bone)

1 medium onion

9 red potatoes (quartered)

4 carrots

3 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons of oregano

Salt + Pepper

½ cup of water

Half a carton of “splendido” little tomatoes (Cherry works too)

1. Remove lamb shanks from refrigerator. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Remove all cast iron pans and trays from oven. – the oven to 425°.
3. Chop onion, garlic, carrots and red potatoes
4. Rub lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Set into a 9 x 12 baking pan (glass).
5. Add onions, garlic, carrots and red potatoes around lamb.
6. Sprinkle oregano over all ingredients in pan.
7. Add water.
8. Put dish into oven. Immediately turn heat down to 350°. Let roast for 2 ½ hours. Baste lamb with water in pan and rotate ever 15-30 minutes. Spoon vegetables around so they get a chance to roll around in the juices, and don’t just dry out on one side.
9. Enjoy with rice and lavash.

Shrimp Penne with Mushrooms

Last week I was really craving pasta and shrimp, and I didn’t want to make a white sauce so I played around with this red sauce. I love the oregano and chili powder. It gives everything a little kick. I apologize for not having any photos of this dish. I took the photos on my Canon, and forgot the cord to uploading the images went missing months ago. But enough about that, on to pasta!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 Pound of Penne Pasta

1 Pound of Large Shrimp

3 Tablespoon of butter

1 Tablespoon of chili powder

1 Teaspoon of paprika

1 Tablespoon of oregano

1 small onion

7 oz. of mushrooms

2 garlic cloves (chopped finely)

2 8oz. can tomato sauce

1/2 cup of heavy cream

¼ cup of flat-chopped parsley

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook penne pasta, drain, and set aside.
2. Shrimp – begin peeling and deveining shrimp in a strainer, rinse with cold water.
3. In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When the pan is hot, add the shrimp. Stir and cook shrimp until they turn pink, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Start chopping your onion and garlic!
5. In a large skillet, over medium heat add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
6. Add garlic and onion together. Stir together until the onions begin to look transparent and limp. (Note: To keep the best flavor of an onion, begin the pan’s heat on low-medium, and as the onions cook, bring the heat up. This keeps the flavor from cooking off in the moisture leaving the onion.)
7. Pour in the tomato sauce to onion and garlic, reduce heat to low.
8. Pour in the cream.
9. Add chili powder, paprika, oregano to sauce.
10. Rinse and prep your mushrooms. Remove the stems. Chop mushrooms.
11. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan and sauté mushrooms, 5 minutes.
12. Add mushrooms to large saucepan.
13. Stir well to combine, reduce heat to simmer.
14. Finally, add shrimp to sauce and stir gently to combine. Heat for 5 minutes.
15. Add cooked, drained pasta to sauce.
16. Dump in your parsley right before serving. Add salt and pepper to liking.

Enjoy!

Dillon Potpie

The name hails from a friend, since these are some of his favorite dishes, combined into one.

This is a three-step meal where each step can be done individually at different times and then combined later. It’s also a great if you have one of these dishes already made, but want to do something fun with the leftovers. Especially left over chilies.
The chili recipe that follows is spicy.
The Macaroni and Cheese recipe that follows is a little tricky if you’re new to making mad cheese sauce.
The cornbread directions come on the box. In this instance, I bought it premade. NEVER COOK THE CORNBREAD OVER THE MAC ‘N’ CHEESE. This will not work. You will get something awful and half cooked.
Kelly’s Helpful Kitchen Tip: Chop and clean everything a head of time. Keep the chilies separate from the rest of your ingredients.

Utilities:
- 1 2 quart casserole pan
- 2 large pots
- 1 skillet
- 1 small sauce pan
- A small whisk
- A large ladle

Spicy Chili
Please read this post addressing chopping chilies first. If you know what’s good for you.
- 12 oz tomato paste
- 16 oz. tomato sauce
- 2 15oz cans of red kidney beans
- 1 15oz can of chili beans
- 1 8 oz can of black beans
- 3 TBL onion powder
- 5 TBL garlic powder
- 1 TBL cumin
- 3 TBL parsley (fresh, chopped)
- 2 TSP oregano (dried)
- 1 Medium onion
- 3 whole habeñero chilis (cleaned, deseeded)
- 6 jalepeños (cleaned, deseeded)
- 1 New Mexico Chili (dried in the spice dept.)
- 1 lb. of ground beef (or Buffalo)
- 1 lb. of ground pork
- 1 can of Mexican beer (Modelo is my favorite)
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large pot sauté the onion in grape seed oil until limp. Add in habeñero and jalepeño chilies, sauté with onions for 2 minutes.
Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, all the beans (with juice), onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, parsley, oregano, New Mexico Chili. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
In a separate pan over high heat, grill and brown the pork and beef together. Once browned, add 6 oz. of the Mexican beer. That means HALF the can. Drink the other half while you cook.
Transfer the meat and all it’s juices into the saucepot, with the rest of your ingredients. Keep heat on low, set huge pot to the backburner.
We’re moving on to the mac ‘n’ cheese now.

Macaroni ‘n’ Cheese
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Remove all skillets and pans from oven.
- ½ pound of elbow macaroni
- 3 TBL butter
- 3 TBL flour
- 3 cups of milk (2%)
- ½ cup of onion
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ TSP of paprika
- 1 large egg
- 12 oz of sharp cheddar (Fresh! This is key to greatness. Ask your deli to shred you some fresh cheese)
- 1 TBL of salt
- Black pepper to taste
While your chili is keeping warm on the back burner, get a pot of water going to cook your pasta.

Meanwhile, melt butter into skillet over low heat. Careful for it not to foam. Once melted, begin sprinkling in flour while whisking together, free from lumps. This will form a nice light brown creamy paste.
Add milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir if you see a milk film forming on the top.
Temper in the egg, whisking all the while. Add ¾ of the cheese. Whisk.
Cook pasta half-way. I’m not talking al dente, I’m saying cut the time in half from what it says on the bag.
Drain paste, return to large pot.

Fold in the cheese sauce and remain cheese.

Taste some. Cry a little.

Last step! COMBINATION and Cornbread.

Cornbread crust.
- 3 TBL butter
- Cornbread (half a loaf)
The cornbread should be cooked way, way a head of time. Follow directions on box.
Melt the butter in small saucepan.
Crumble the cornbread into a small bowl.
Gradually add the melting butter into the crumbs, mixing with your hands. Careful not to make a paste, you simply want to fluff the crumbs with butter so it browns beautifully in the oven.
In 2-quart casserole pan, ladle in the chili just enough for the sauce and meat to cover the bottom about 2 cm.
Next, ladle over the chili the macaroni and cheese.
Top with a nice layer of cornbread crumbs. Bake in oven for 30 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Here’s the best part: YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE LEFT OVERS OF EACH DISH!
Meaning, if your guests don’t want the potpie, they can enjoy whichever dish separately.
Combined, you can feed 10 people with this meal, easily, or one Kelly for 3 days.

Helpful Tips with chopping Hot Peppers and Chilies

ALWAYS CHOP CHILIES WITH RUBBER GLOVES.
Or, if you’re on the fly like me, turn the plastic bags you bought them in inside out, slide them over your hands, and there you go.

Please practice caution with chilies.

If you don’t have these, and end up using your bare hands, never touch your face. Wash with scalding hot water and condensed soap. I once washed my hands with vodka then hot water and soap, and it worked beautifully.

What ever you do, never touch your face or use the restroom while cooking with chilies. Wait until the meal is prepared, time has past, and you are sure your hands are clean.

If your hands, cuticles, or under nail beds burn, be cautious.

Tomorrow!

Orochon Ramen

The salt from the Daikokuyo ramen still filmed my mouth when I decided to head down to Orochon Ramen in Little Tokyo for a spicy ramen treat.

Featured on Man Vs. Food due to it’s infamous flame bowl, “Special #2″, the bowl you see here to the left is only “Hyper” hot. Above it are hot levels of Extreme, Special #1, and then Special #2. If you finish the Special #2 in 30 minutes, your photo and clean bowl will be taken and tacked to the wall of legends.

Hyper kicked my butt as I am still a greenhorn when it comes to spicy foods. A few slurps in, and I was in a full sweat. Under my bangs, I could feel the moisture building. Was I at the gym? Lifting heavy boxes? Running from bears? No, just attempting to finish this bowl of delicious ramen.

Sadly, I couldn’t finish the broth. Someday…

You were born on a warm September morning in 1986 to a mother who was the first person in her family to go to college. Not because her parents wanted her to, but because her older brother flunked out. She persuaded her strict Italian family to let her go claiming that she could secure her degree in engineering in two years, not four. They reluctantly let her go. Your father had an obnoxious laugh. This is what your mother will tell you; she was sitting in the cafeteria one day, and heard him laugh (like a donkey) across the room. “What an asshole,” she thought. You too will find him by his laugh. You will also call him an asshole at first. She joined Yearbook to be next to him, to get to know him better. They dated for 2 years. He moved to New York City. He dated someone else, she cried herself to sleep in the summer of ’77. But everything worked out. You were born in a single-level house in Mission Viejo, California. The now infamous Orange County. You were told at a young age to paint, to draw, to create. Your mother heard the scotch tape dispenser in her sleep. Every idea that came into your head you acted on. There’s proof in journals, videotapes, and photographs. Then it stopped. No rolling credits, no thank you speeches. “Fin”, as the French say. Don’t worry, it’ll start again, your creativity will return. Don’t believe the French. You were born on a warm September morning, and one day you will know more than the life you’ve come from. Until then, there’s this thing called the Internet…

The Audrey Hepburn Complex

I’m just going to put this here, for the record.

Ladies, I understand your dorm room is sparse, those walls are just too white. Yes, Audrey Hepburn is iconic femme film class, elegance, beauty. But -you guys – Breakfast at Tiffany’s? Did we watch the same movie? We did. Well, Holly Golightly was a call girl, and I use that term loosely (Aa-oo). She was a woman of the night. She was Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman only in the 50’s, sans thigh high boots.

“He gives me $100 just for the powder room,” is a polite term for, “facial in between dinner courses.”

Think about it. Keep going. Okay stop.

The film was based on a short story written by Truman Capote, and Truman Capote didn’t make shit up. Mostly. He didn’t have time. He left that to Harper Lee. Hell, the role of Holly was supposed to go to Marilyn Monroe, but you know how she can be.

“She’s a phony. But a real phony.”

Now, I don’t expect you to understand all of this. When I see that poster on your wall, I will comment on how pretty Audrey Hepburn is, how it’s one of my favorite movies. Moon River? Love it, teary eyes every time. What girl isn’t looking for her Paul Varjak, or Clint Eastwood, or Cary Grant. Anyway- I’m just going to leave this little tid-bit of information here. It is a classic after all, and what kind of world would this be if beauty couldn’t mask truth?

The Yale Application is Pretty Cool

Molly Pearson writes,

Short Takes:
Please respond in 25 words or fewer to the questions below.

1. What would you do with a free afternoon?
2. Recall a compliment you received that you especially value. What was it? From whom did it come?
3. What two qualities do you admire most in other people?
4. What do you wish you were better at, being or doing?

Kelly responds:

1. Tell you what, Yale, I need some answers from you first. For starters, when is this afternoon? What’s the weather like? Am I in California or Switzerland? I wouldn’t mind hiking the alps for the day, or go on a swim with sharks, but these things take time, money, and connections. All of which I will probably acquire from my “education” with you, Yale. Work with me on this one.

2. “You’re like me, only set on fire,” – Kendall Hacche. I met Kendall the day my mom put me down in her crib. She has been my voice of reason, a hand to hold, and the first person to smack my wrist to say “No, Kelly, stop it.” when I’m being too wild. We grew up together, and are probably going to die together. Unless Kendall moves to Seattle to study law and becomes a total corporate tort-loving bitch, then we’ll have to talk. But for now, party on, Garth!

3. Equal parts ambition and humor.

4. Oh Yale, what are you getting at here? Are you trying to see if I’m modest by listing off things like “one can never stop improving” or “spend more time with the poor and sick”? I can’t lie to you, Yale. The premise of my application should already outline that I’m either a) a Genuis b) a legacy with money or c) Matt Damon in “Goodwill Hunting”. Hate to break it to you, I am none of those. The world needs only one Matt Damon. Yale – I’m going to give it to you straight (because we’re such good friends and all) – I don’t know. I don’t know what I “wish I was better at”. I haven’t attempted everything. What I do know is that I can’t advance until I’m given a brief, fleeting chance to tackle the unknown ability within me. At the age of four I learned that I couldn’t fly after jumping off my roof and landing in a jacuzzi, but to this day – I’m still aiming for that motherfucking moon.

And yeah, College is, like, totes important, ya know?