Lamb's Liver Pate

What do you do when you overcook the beautiful lamb's livers that you purchased fresh from the farmer's market?  You make pate!

I'm very familiar with cooking beef or calves liver but it was my first time cooking lamb's liver.  I figured cooking times would be the same, but these delicious little things came out tougher than I would have liked.  Not wanting it to go to waste, I decided to whip up a delicious pate.

Lamb's Liver Pate

1/2 lb lamb's liver *
2 slices of bacon
1/2 large onion, sliced
1 large portobello mushroom, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
Bacon Fat
Red Wine
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Thyme, sea salt, black pepper or herbs of your choice

* My liver was already cooked, but you can add the liver to the veggie saute below and cook together.  Cook liver until tender and moist.

On medium heat, fry up bacon and add onions, mushrooms, and garlic.  You can add a little extra bacon fat to the pan if needed.  Cook the onions and garlic till soft and onions slightly browned.  De-glaze your pan with a good splash of red wine or alcohol of your choice, then place deliciousness in a blender of food processor.  Blend on low and if too thick, drizzle in some of your best extra virgin olive oil.  I prefer a creamy mousse like texture, but if you prefer a course or fine texture, blend accordingly.  Once you get the consistency you like, pour into a low long dish to cool off evenly and cover or it will form a skin.  Place in the fridge to cool and enjoy with fresh veggies!

Simple and Quick Pork and Spinach

After such a busy week at home, school, and work I came home to focus on some overdue laundry and to unwind with some garbage tv shows and random internet browsing (mostly reading nutrition related articles and recipes).  After laundry I started getting a little hungry and put this little dish together in no time at all. Super delicious and so few ingredients; paleo in a pinch!

Simple and Quick Pork and Spinach

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon of ghee or coconut oil
1 lb ground pork
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 bunch spinach, chopped
good pinch of salt

1. On medium heat, saute onion in desired fat until almost tender, then add the garlic.
2. Add ground pork and continue to cook with onions/garlic
3. When pork is almost cooked (very little pink left) add your chili and cumin and salt
4. With pork fully cooked through, add spinach and turn off heat.  Mix spinach until nicely wilted.
5. Enjoy!

Kale, Spinach and Bacon Saute

Whipped up this deliciousness for a late breakfast today (1 in the afternoon) and it turned out so well, I wanted to share it with you all!  Super quick and easy to make!

Kale, Spinach and Bacon Saute

Ingredients

4 strips of bacon
1 bunch of Kale, stalks removed and chopped
1 bunch of spinach, roughly chopped
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar

In a large saute pan, cook bacon on medium heat to your liking.  For dishes like this, I prefer the bacon cooked soft, but if you like it crispy, it wouldn't lose its awesomeness.

Set cooked bacon aside and saute onion in leftover bacon fat for two minutes on medium heat.  You can add a few tablespoons of water to loosen up any bacon goodness stuck on the bottom and this will also prevent the onion from burning (If at any time you find your saute drying out, just add some water or stock). 

Add garlic and then celery for another minute.  Stir in your chopped kale and apple cider vinegar and allow to cook.  When the kale is wilted, mix in the chopped spinach and remove from heat.

Your bacon should be well cooled by now so chop it up nicely and throw it in to the pan.  Amazing on its own or as a side.

Enjoy!

Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast: Eggs cooked in ghee topped with salsa and a side of steamed french beans

Lunch: Leftover grass-fed beef, sauteed onions and snow peas with steamed sweet potato.

Good eats!

Making Ghee

Giving up dairy has been a tough one for me.  At the beginning of 2011, I successfully eliminated dairy for 6 months and felt great.  My skin glowed, digestion felt better, minor instances of sinus congestion disappeared and I had an extra punch of energy.  How and why I got back on the dairy train I'm not sure.  I've been adding cream back into my coffee instead of my usual coconut milk and I had a not so pleasant ice cream experience on the weekend (moment of weakness, resulted in intestinal cramping and a migraine).  I think it's time to try again.

melting!

In my dairy free days I used a lot of coconut oil, homemade rendered animal fats, olive oil and ghee.  Using the ghee gave me the richness of butter that I love with zero dairy effects.  Ghee is great for cooking at higher temperatures, has an amazing shelf life, can be stored at room temperature and tastes great!


Ingredient:

prepare strainer with cheese cloth

1 lb organic butter, unsalted

Tools:

Double boiler or 1 pot and 1 stainless steel bowl (to fit over pot)
wire mesh strainer
cheese cloth
spoon
extra bowl
glass jar for storage

Using a double boiler or stainless steel bowl over a sauce pan, bring water to a boil.  Place butter in bowl and reduce heat to a medium simmer.  Butter will melt.

skim your milk proteins

While butter melts, prepare your wire mesh strainer by wrapping it in cheese cloth (two layers on top and two layers on the bottom).  This will provide sufficient layers to catch any stray milk proteins from getting in your ghee.  You will know after a few weeks if any have made it in as your ghee will turn to funky cheese.  Take my word on that.  As my husband said, "not cool".  He was the one that discovered it and cleaned it out.

slowly pour through strainer

As the butter melts, you will notice a white film form on the surface.  This film is made up of the milk proteins/solids.  When butter is completely melted, use a spoon to skim this film and discard.  Try to get as much as you can from the surface and make sure you do not stir the mixture at any point as milk solids will settle on the bottom too.

ghee collected

You may want to grab some oven mitts to grab the bowl from the heat.  Slowly pour the ghee through the strainer.  Any remaining film on the surface will be caught by the cheese cloth.  It may seem tedious, but do not dump the entire contents through.  We want to avoid the milk solids at the bottom as they are in a liquid form and will not be properly strained.  Remember: funky cheese! 

Stop pouring when you see a white cloudy film at the bottom.  You'll lose some precious ghee at this point, but it's better out than in.

Pour strained ghee into a glass jar for storage and allow to cool for a bit before screwing the lid on.

Ghee is best stored at room temperature.

Enjoy!  I especially love it for making eggs and sauteing veggies!

Bacon, Kale and Mushroom Stuffed Squash

I used to hate squash.  That and turnips, brussels sprouts and cabbage.  My tastes have really turned around in adulthood and I'm really enjoying exploring the tastes and aromas of these old enemies.  The only way I would eat squash as a kid was when my mom prepared it, roasted in the oven with butter, brown sugar and curry.  Of course, my childhood taste buds were mainly after the sweet buttery "soup" that filled the squash cavities.  It masked the squash enough for me to enjoy.

I enjoy squash regularly now, it's one of my favourite root vegetables.  Tonight I decided I wanted to try a more paleo savory stuffing and came up with this.

Bacon, Kale and Mushroom Stuffed Squash

Ingredients

1 acorn squash, halved and seeded
8 mushrooms (white or brown), sliced
4 strips of bacon
2 tsp coconut oil
3 large kale leaves, stalks removed
garlic (either 1 clove fresh or 1/4 tsp powdered)
1 tsp thyme
water

Preheat oven: 400 F

Prepare acorn squash by slicing in half and removing seeds.  Place 1 tsp of coconut oil in each cavity and massage.  Season with salt and place in the oven for 40 minutes.

On medium heat, cook bacon until crisp.  Poor off bacon fat, but keep roughly 2 tbsp on reserve in the pan.  Throw in sliced mushrooms and saute plus 1/4 cup of water to remove and bacon goodness left on the bottom of the pan. 

While mushrooms are cooking, prepare kale by removing stalks and chopping leaves.  Bacon should be cooled by now, so go ahead and chop that up to.

Most of the liquid should be evaporated from the mushrooms.  Add kale and bacon to pan with mushrooms plus another 1/4 cup of water, thyme and saute until kale is tender.  Once done, set aside and wait for timer to finish on squash.

Remove squash from the oven and evenly fill cavities with bacon, mushroom and kale.  Place back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Squash is done when flesh is tender when poked with a fork.

I love how the sweetness of the roasted squash complements the saltiness of the bacon and the kale on top crisps up like kale chips.  I served this with some baked tilapia, but this would accompany well with chicken, beef, pork and lamb.  Delish!

Grass-fed Sirloin Tip Roast Beef

I've been on a real roast kick lately and who can blame me.  Roasts are a perfect winter food, filling the apartment with meaty scents and of course lots of leftovers for the week ahead.  This week I picked up a 4 lb grass fed sirloin tip roast from my favourite locavore hub.

Grass fed Sirloin Tip Roast Beef

If you've ever had grass-fed, you'll know it's much leaner in comparison to grain fed beef and garners a much "beefier" taste.  It also has a greater nutritive content far superior to feed lot beef:

• higher levels of vitamins A, E and K
• higher in beta-carotene
• greater levels of antioxidants
• higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
• higher amounts of omega-3 fats and a more favourable ratio of omega -6 to omega-3 acids

Although grass-fed can be a little pricier, it's definitely worth it, both in taste and nutritional value.  I'm not used to roasting a whole sirloin tip and usually use this cut for stewing beef and braising.  I found this amazing recipe from Paleo Joy and adapted it for my roast.

Veggies

Preheat oven to 325 F

Ingredients:

1 4 lb grass-fed sirloin tip roast
1 onion, cut in 6
6 cloves of garlic
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 fennel, sliced and chopped
1/3 cup red wine or broth
1 cup water
1 tbsp coconut oil

Herbs (you can use any blend of herbs you desire, these are just the ones I had on hand that day)

rosemary
parsley
marjoram

Ready to go in the oven!

Mix desired herbs together with coconut oil and massage over roast.  Place roast in a roasting pan with chopped vegetables, wine/broth, and water and place in the oven.

As this cut can dry out easily, it's recommended that you baste it every 20 minutes.  A bit of a daunting task, but well worth it in the end.  I also covered it with foil after the first hour to prevent the surface from over roasting.

This 4 lb roast took roughly an hour and forty minutes, but the general rule for roasting beef is 18 - 22 minutes per pound.  Roast will be done when it reaches an internal temperature of 130 degrees using a meat thermometer.  Because this cut is generally leaner, it's best served medium rare.

Beautiful medium rare!

This was a BIG roast and gave us leftovers for a week!  I would definitely buy this cut again.

Enjoy!