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For those of you that follow this blog and have quite a few infill recipes that I just added.  But here is a new one that I just made last night.  Jim thought they were the best crab cakes he’d ever tasted.  They were very good and the salad with arugula and orange slices was perfect to go with it.  

Ingredients:

1# large crab meat (Phillips brand best)

3/4 C panko bread crumbs

1 egg

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 T creamy mustard, Dijon

1/2 C mayonnaise

1 t Old Bay Seasoning

1 T Italian parsley leaves

Salt

Black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Add the crab t a large mixing bowl.  
3. Add bread crumbs and little salt.  Gently toss to coat, being careful not t break up lumps of meat.  
4. In a separate medium mixing bowl, stir together eggg, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, mayonnaise, celery salt and parsley until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.  
5. Gently fold creamy mixture into crab, being careful not t break up lumps.
6. Line a sheet pan with parchment.  Using 2 T shape 1-2” balls into small mounds of crab mixture not the sheep pan.  (I did not do this.  It says feeds 4-6 so i made 6 crab cakes.)
7. Chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.  
8. Remove and pres crab balls into lightly flattened cakes.  
9. Bake about 20 minutes until golden.  (We had to bake ours 15 minutes longer.)

I am finally following a recipe again.  Ellie Krieger is on Food TV.  I don’t record her but, I can’t resist a new meatloaf recipe.  I have to say this one was hard to handle but delicious.  

Ingredients:

3/4 C quick-cooking oats

1/2 C skim milk

1 medium onion, peeled

2# ground turkey breast

1/2 C chopped red bell pepper (really?!, just chop 1/2 and use)

2 eggs, beaten

2 t Worcestershire sauce

1/4 C ketchup

1/2 t salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the oats and milk.  
3. Thinly slice 1/4 of the onion and set aside.  Finally chop the remaining onion. 
4. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients above the tomato sauce including the oats and milk.  (I made this in the big bowl and just waited til the oats soaked up the milk..  Mix until well combined.
5. Transfer the mixture to a 9 X 13” baking dish and shape into a loaf about 5” wide and 2 1/2’ high. (It helps if you have exactly the oval dish to do this in.)
6. Poor the tomato sauce over the meatloaf and sprinkle with the sliced onions.  
7. Bake for about 1 hour or until an instant-reat thermometer registers 160 degrees F.  
8. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Again tasted great and served with mashed potatoes and green beans.  Meat

Big salads are our favorite.  This is one where I added the remaining lamb.  

I finally made the worst meal of my life.  I was very hard and took me 3 days.  I could hardly sleep I was so disappointed.  Jim even got out a really good wine in anticipation of this “spectacular failure.”  We have a friend who raises and sells lamb.  We bought lamb chops and a leg of lamb on the bone.  We had lamb chops from her before and they were spectacular.  The first set, this time, we grilled we so tough I gave up and gave mine to Lucy.  I talked to our friend and she said she had to find a new butcher and has been disappointed.  She suggested I marinate them.  So for Saturday night dinner I selected the leg of lamb, potatoes and broccoli.  

First I made the marinade.  It is so delicious you could stop there and use it as a smoothie.   So great anticipation.  Lamb and marinade in brining bag and turned each of the 3 days.  

The lamb recipe said bake for 3 hours, plus turning times.  Basically all day was dedicated to dinner.  

We have a new meat thermometer that Jim refuses to learn how to use as it will put an icon on his phone. So my only thing to go on was the recipe. This is from the Food Network App, someone called Paul Berglund.  Well, Paul likes meat more done than we do.  

Next problem.  Jim spent time on U-tube learning how to carve the leg of lamb.  I wanted to leave the vegetables on the stove until he had several slices carved.  No he wanted them on the table as he was a U-tube carving expert.  Well the first crisis was apparently the bone in our leg did not exactly match the one on U-tube.  I was told to watch the video.  I did and made suggestions.  Next first slice and the bitching starts about how it is overdone.  By the time we sat down we had over done lamb and cold vegetables.  

The taste from the marinade is really good.  Tonight we will chop up rest and put it in a salad.  When we lived in Gulph Mills, PA I had a recipe for marinating a boneless leg of lamb in tequila and grilling.  Easy and delicious. Lost it tossing magazines when moving to CA.  

After March 6, I will be learning the new meat thermometer and putting the App on my phone before I cook any more meat.  

Here is the recipe.  Just know that all is great except the length of cooking time.  Also, I would do a boneless leg of lamb.  Carving is easier.  

Ingredients:

1 (4”) piece ginger, about 14 C chopped

4 cloves garlic

1 yellow onion

1 bunch parsley, divided

1 bunch cilantro, divided

1 QT. whole-milk yogurt

2 T kosher salt (I used 1/2 T )

1 bone-in leg of lamb, 5-7# (I bet the timing is based on 7#, mine was 5#.

Directions:

1. Marinade:  Use a spoon to peel the ginger. (I never peal ginger.)  Peel garlic and onion.  Roughly chop onion and ginger, followed by half of the parsley and cilantro, including stems.  
2. In a blender, add the ginger, onion, garlic, herbs, 1/3 of the yogurt, and salt.  Puree until smooth.  Add remaining yogurt and purée again to combine.  Set aside.  (Must have one of the new gigantic blenders, not the original bar blenders.  However you will miss licking your fingers.)
3. Lamb:  Place lamb on a flat surface.  Use a sharp knife and poke holes in the lamb a 1 1/2” intervals; this will help the lamb absorb the marinade.  Flip over and repeat on the other side.  
4. Fit a brining bag into large container (or the roasting pan you’ll be using, if it fits in the refrigerator.)  Then place the lamb into the bag and pour in the marinade.  Massage  the marinade into the lamb so all of the meat is covered, then seal the bag.
5. Refrigerate for 1-2 days (longer marination will yield more tenderized lamb).
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Transfer the lambing all of the marinade into a roasting pan.  Lay parchment paper over the lamb to cover, then cover the roasting pan tightly with aluminum foil.  Roast for 1 hour (Total roasting time will be 3 hours.)
7. After 1 hour, remove lamb from oven.  Gently remove foil and parchment.  (The yogurt will have separated into curds and whey, which is normal.) Using tongs and forks flip the lamb over, then cover with parchment and foil again.  
8. Place back into the oven for 1 hour of roasting, flip the lamb again and place back into the oven, uncovered, for 1 final hour.   (I would guess 1/2 hour turn, 1/2 hour turn and final have a met thermometer.)  
9. After a total of 3 hours of roasting, remove lamb.  Pierce the lamb with a sharp knife to check for donees.  If there isn’t a lot of resistance, it’s done.  
10. Flip lamb over, spoon yogurt solids on top and let rest, 30 minutes. 
11. The rest is history.

This was a delicious soup.  It is from foodnetwork.com .  Soup is always a one dish meal, this one was even easier as it used canned beans.  We had 2 dinners plus Jim had a lunch from this recipe.  

Ingredients: 

2 T EVOO

1# (4) sweet Italian turkey sausage links, sliced 1/2” thick

1 large onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1  fennel bulb, chopped, fronds reserved for topping

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 t Italian seasoning

2 (15.5 oz. cans navy beans, drained and rinsed

3 bay leaves, preferably fresh (got a tree in your backyard?)

4 C low-sodium chicken broth

1 (5 oz) package baby spinach

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or other pot over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned all over, about 6 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate.
2. Add the onion, carrots, fennel and a pinch each of salt and pepper to the pot.  Cook stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, 5-7 minutes.  
3. Stir in Italian seasoning.  
4. Add the navy beans, bay leaves, chicken broth, 2 C water, the sausage, 1 t salt and a few grinds of pepper.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a steady simmer; cover and cook until reduced slightly, about 15 minutes.
5. Stir the spinach into the soup until wilted.  
6. Add the lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.  
7. Discard the bay leaves.
8. Divide the soup among bowls and top with fennel fronds.