by Jenise » Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:03 pm
So I made a Cheer Up Joseph Carey dinner last night after thumbing through Chef on Fire. I had thought it would be an easier choice than it turned out to be: I was very intrigued by his Irish Stew but the lamb required would have required a 25 mile drive into town and I couldn't do that AND go to the farmers market in Lynden, so the lamb lost that fight. His Coquilles St. Jacques sounded very appealing as I haven't made that in years, a Coulibiac was also calling out to me but I didn't think I'd have the time for that degree of labor, Joseph's mother's recipe for red beans and rice scored high with me because I can't imagine what, lying in a hospital bed, could give him more warm fuzzies than that, but Bob who just didn't think it was bean weather.
So I went with Lobster Creole, a mash-up of his recipe for Creole Sauce and a comment made elsewhere in the book that boiled lobster with drawn butter is his favorite food in the world. I had four shrimp and a good sized lobster tail in the freezer, good summer tomatoes, and as it turned out later, an assortment of fresh, colorful chiles from the farmers market--given to me by the seller because it was the end of the day and, as she said in a lowered voice so as not to overheard by anyone standing close, "Lyndenites don't eat spicy food". Lynden is the Dutch town where the Mexican restaurants serve cole slaw on the combo plates, for gosh sakes. I served it with a molded mound of basmati rice and a gem-like scatter of dehydrated okra ground to a pretty sand consistency. A salad of Belgian endive, shaved Brussels sprouts, shaved celery and baby greens preceded the Creole.
In the meantime I'll get some lamb for that Irish stew. It's similar, in method, to a dish I remember Richard "El Lay" Morgan, who many of you who have been around a long time may remember. Though a longtime Los Angeles resident, Richard was English-born and this was something he grew up with though he didn't call it Irish Stew. Meat, potatoes and onions are layered, covered with beef broth in Joseph's case and mere water in Richard's, and baked until all the liquid is gone and the onions and potatoes break down into a wonderful goo. Joseph calls for the lamb to be cubed, Richard called for it to be sliced about 1/4", IIRC--a textural difference. Richard's version, which I made once, was a bit on the plain side, but Joseph's won't be!
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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