La Cucina Anabolica Italiana


Once the lamb has been seared, transfer it to the cutting board. Earlier in the evening, I mixed some brown mustard with horseradish and chopped up pecans. The mustard gets liberally spread on the lamb and then I sprinkle the pecans on pressing them gently to make sure they adhere. I use an probe type oven thermometer which I place in the thickest part of the meat, then the rack goes back in the pan and into the oven. I like my lamb between med rare and rare, so I’m looking for 130 on the thermometer. My GF likes it a bit less rare, so I’ll let it get up to 135 and the overcooking take it a little higher even.

The lemon tarragon dressing is easy, just pick an oil (olive), and acid (in this case, lemon, but it could be red wine vinegar or some other flavored vinegar), and add fresh herbs, salt and pepper.

When the lamb hits 125, the bok choy goes in the oven, undressed but brushed with a bit of oil and the rabe goes in the pot of boiling water. Give it about 2 minutes to turn bright green, then fish it all out and place it in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

At the same time, I’ve got a pan on the stove with some olive oil and I’m cooking onion and shallot wedges until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook for another minutes turning down the heat if necessary so it doesn’t brown.

By this time, the lamb is done and comes out of the oven and I add turn up the heat on the stovetop and start to sautee the rabe. Two more minutes and some red pepper flakes later and the rabe is done. That gets placed into a serving dish and the bok choy comes out of the oven.


Lastly, I cut the rack into smaller pieces, plate the bok choy and serve. Even my GF, who has vegetarian tendencies loves this dish. Watching her lift the chop up to her mouth to remove the last bits of meat, I remarked that once again she’s reasserted her rightful place at the top of the food chain.

OH, HELL YEAH, Dr. P!!! Well done, sir, well done.


Here we go.

Cost:
1.7 lbs lamb $17
Baby bok choy $2
Broccoli rabe $3.5
Assorted ingredients $1

Total cost to feed 2 adults $23.50 plus wine.

this thread is viagra for the soul

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
this thread is viagra for the soul[/quote]

I was once asked what the definition of a perfect woman was, I replied with “a woman who can fill my stomach when it’s empty, and drain my balls when they are full.”

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Here we go.

Cost:
1.7 lbs lamb $17
Baby bok choy $2
Broccoli rabe $3.5
Assorted ingredients $1

Total cost to feed 2 adults $23.50 plus wine.[/quote]

Goes to show you the markup a restaurant has on a dish like this.

In a fancy shmancy place like Chey Whitey, that would cost upwards of $40 easily.

[quote]MaximusB wrote:

[quote]rds63799 wrote:
this thread is viagra for the soul[/quote]

I was once asked what the definition of a perfect woman was, I replied with “a woman who can fill my stomach when it’s empty, and drain my balls when they are full.”[/quote]

BAM!

test


I go grocery shopping on Monday, so Sunday night dinner is usually dictated by what ever is left in the fridge and pantry.

I had taken some lamb loin chops out of the freezer earlier in the day to defrost. The loin chop is to lamb what the Porterhouse is to beef. Like the rib chop, it usually best cooked with a sear then finished in the oven. I’ll add one more step at the end to really elevate the chop to restaurant quality.

Lamb loin chops
Roasted portobello served over polenta, roasted red pepper, and fresh buffalo mozzarella
Kale with onion topped with a poached egg.
Sweet potatoes dusted with tumeric and cumin, served with a homemade tzatziki

I should preface things by saying that I eat a very low carb diet. For the most part, any carb I eat is going to come from vegetables and the occasional piece of fruit. So, you won’t see plates of pasta or a lot of potatoes in my cooking, although I always try to incorporate something because my GF eats a more traditional diet replete with carbs.

Again, the first thing I do is get my mise set. The lamb chops get liberally salt and peppered, hit with thyme and oregano and set aside. The sweet potato gets cut into wedges, dusted with cumin, tumeric, salt, and pepper and put in the oven. The portabello cap gets brushed with olive oil and will go into the oven as well. I’ve put a non-stick pan on the stove and turned it up to high to get a boil going for the egg.

Having everything chopped and measured is absolutely necessary as there’s a lot coming together right at the end and I was sweating like a whore in church.

The tumeric and cumin works really well with the sweet potato, but I knew I wanted some heat. Rather than add it to the potato, I thought a homemade tzatziki sauce would go really well with the potato wedges. I used 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt, 3 cloves of garlic, and the juice of half a lemon. I mixed all those items, folded in dried basil and pepper and topped with the tops of green onions for color.

The portabello mushroom dish is very easy to make, it’s more about assembly than cooking. The polenta goes down on the bottom, then a roasted red pepper (from a jar), 2 thick slices of buffalo mozzarella, a few basil leaves, some pepper, and it all gets topped with the roasted portabello. I drizzled olive oil around the plate as well as balsamic vinegar and fresh basic paste.

The greens were simple enough, they went in with the onion and some chicken stock, then I covered the pan and let the greens soften for 10 minutes.

Before all this happened though, I seared the lamb chops for 2 minutes a side and then put them in the oven until the thickest part of the thickest chop hit 135. Once it did, I grabbed half a stick of butter and some chopped fresh herbs. The chops went back onto the stovetop and I basted them with the butter and herbs until the butter began to brown, about 3 minutes.

Just before this, I cracked 2 eggs into little metal bowls and poured the eggs into the boiling water to be poached. Three minutes gives a nice runny egg. I didn’t have enough water in the pan, so the top of my egg didn’t become opaque. I plated the chops and greens, and placed the egg on top of the kale.

Edit: sorry for the blown out pic, my food photography sucks.


Here are my girlfriend’s dishes.

From beginning until end probably took 45 minutes. Cost for the dinner was:

Lamb loin chops 1.25lbs $10
Portabellos $3
Kale $1.50
Mozzerella $1.50
Sweet potato, eggs, plus other assorted ingredients $1

Total cost to feed 2 adults was $17.

Dr. Pangloss is taking this to a whole new level.

Awesome sauce.

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
Dr. Pangloss is taking this to a whole new level.

Awesome sauce.[/quote]

question is: how you gonna respond to that Steely?

[quote]rds63799 wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
Dr. Pangloss is taking this to a whole new level.

Awesome sauce.[/quote]

question is: how you gonna respond to that Steely?[/quote]

Only one way to respond:

Kale, parsely, walnut, spinach, frozen berry, and vanilla whey smoothie shake.

It’s “Italian” because I used Italian parsley.

And it’s “anabolic” 'cause it’s got protein n stuff.

And it’s “cucina” 'cause it’s my cucina.

^ Needs celery.


I love steak. All kinds of steak. Porterhouse, T-bone, strip steak, ribeye, bone-in ribeye…

However, if there was just one steak I could eat for the rest of my life, it would be the lowly, humble skirt steak. To my mouth, it is the most flavorful cut with the best texture. Cooked on a grill, 3 minutes a side, Greek style with salt, pepper, oregano, and a little lemon is a little bit of heaven.

This cut used to be dirt cheap, but as it’s gained in popularity, it’s gotten more and more expensive. Around me, Costco has it for $8/lb, my butcher sells it for $10/lb, Wholefoods sells a grass-fed version for $16/lb and my butcher has Prime for $22/lb.

Pictured is 16oz of skirt steak goodness. When I grill it, I double up the thin part of the steak so it doesn’t over cook.

The rest of the menu will consist of broccoli and a homemade pesto using beet greens I had left over rather than parsley. The beet greens go in the food processor along with olive oil, parmesian cheese, salt, and a cup of walnuts. I use a little bit of lemon juice as well as orange juice because the beet greens are a bit bitter and the sugar from the OJ helps mellow them out. I’ll serve this pesto over millet (a type of grain) for my GF and dump it over broccoli for me.


It was 28 degrees tonight and I was out tending the grill wearing shorts and a tshirt. I had some baby bok choy left from earlier in the week that I brushed with olive oil and put the steak on for 3 minutes a side.

Easy peasy.

Total cost:

Skirt steak $10
Tilapia $2
Bok choy $1.00
Broccoli $1.50
Millet, fiddy cent
Assorted other ingredients $1
Total cost to feed 2 adults: $16 plus wine

Nutritional info:
Pro 93g
Carb 47 g (substantial amount of fiber)
Fat 59g
Total Cals: 1,100