Tom Kerridge's Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Pommes Boulangères

Recently I made slow-roasted lamb shoulder with pommes boulangères for the second time. This dish, courtesy of Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food TV show, is extremely easy to prepare and really delivers amazing lamb flavor. Mr. Kerridge is the owner chef of the world's only pub to be awarded two Michelin stars and, as he says, he is all about simplicity and great ingredients.

Slow-roasted leg of lamb with pommes boulangères and green beans

While Mr. Kerridge advises you to leave this alone for the full five hours (or so) of cooking time, I removed a fair amount of liquid every so often starting after three hours so that the potatoes would crisp better. So a bit less simple than written but not much. And a pretty spectacular result.

I preceded the lamb with a radish, mushroom and arugula salad with pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette, sprouts, pumpkin seeds and parmesan shavings, inspired by Grüner in Portland.

Radish, mushroom and arugula salad with pumpkin seed vinaigrette

 We finished with a rosemary polenta olive oil cake, served with Cowgirl Creamery crème fraîche and rosemary syrup, a dessert designed to take advantage of the shipment of amazingly fragrant rosemary delivered by our friend S from Galveston.

If you like lamb, try this recipe.

Bobby Jay

Anthony Bourdain vs. Paula Deen et al.

I have great respect for Anthony Bourdain and immensely enjoyed his Kitchen Confidential and, to a lesser extent, his television shows and other writings. He is extremely knowledgeable about food and a witty raconteur.

The criticisms he recently and very publicly leveled against Paula Deen and a number of other Food Network stars were legitimate, but his decision to attack the TV chefs personally served only to change the focus from the worthwhile issue - the unhealthfulness of much of the food presented - to the personalities involved, including himself. Ratcheting down his exuberant rhetoric might have led to a worthwhile debate on the responsibility (if any) of television food networks to preach the gospel of healthy food. This is a complex issue, and, although I deplore much of what is shown on Food Network, I feel there is enough good stuff to balance it out. Besides, I am suspicious of too much paternalism, even when I agree with the thrust of it; generally, it's better to let people choose what they like.  And in any event who's to say it's not better to make fried chicken at home than to buy it at Popeye's?

Personally, I am a Food Network junkie, but I cannot watch Paula Deen because the food she prepares gives me the creeps. I don't think it's amusing, as Alton Brown recently pointed out, that there is a new measure of butter called a "Paula." And I was appalled watching the new show The Pioneer Woman, today, when Ree Drummond and Paula (guest starring) were joking about how many pounds of butter they keep around and how they cannot fathom cooks who measure butter in mere sticks. This is a terrible message to be sending in the midst of an obesity/diabetes crisis.

HOWEVER . . . there is a huge amount of great and wholesome food showcased on Food Network and its companion Cooking Channel. Beautiful simple Italian dishes (David Rocco, Mario Batali, Gabriele Corcos) feature what is essentially the Mediterranean diet, with heart-healthy olive oil instead of butter and the focus on excellent seasonal ingredients. Mark Bittman (The Minimalist) makes it his mission to get people cooking easy and flavorful food which, not incidentally, is not laden with fat. Ellie Krieger's Healthy Appetite features excellent, low-fat nutritious dishes. And even Bobby Flay's more complex offerings are not particularly loaded with fat and cholesterol; in addition, he occasionally features healthy meals. There are many other good chefs and shows, and plenty of opportunities to learn great recipes that are good not only for the soul, but for the body. Sure, there are many items that I consider to be too fat- or cholesterol-laden, at least for every day, but that's a personal choice.

For a list of the Food Network and Cooking Channel shows I like, click on  More below:

More...

Aarti Party (Indian or Indian-influenced food)
All Bobby Flay cooking shows (Boy Meets Grill, Grillit!, Bobby's Barbecue Addiction)
Everyday Italian with Giada DeLaurentis
Extra Virgin with Debi Mazar and her Tuscan chef husband, Gabriele Corcos)
Molto Mario (Batali)
David Rocco's La Dolce Vita
Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello
Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell (just ratchet back on the salt)
Spice Goddess with Bal Arneson
French Food at Home with Laura Calder
The Minimalist with Mark Bittman
Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger
Good Eats with Alton Brown
Tyler's Ultimate with Tyler Florence (the old ones where he cooks)
Jamie (Oliver) at Home

This does not cover the many excellent cooking shows that can be found on educational channels, featuring some fantastic chefs who prepare a lot of delicious yet sane food, most notably Lidia Bastianich, Jacques Pépin, Ming Tsai and Rick Bayless.

Bobby Jay

Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

I recently made a simple and delicious Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya that I saw Emile Stieffel make on Throwdown with Bobby Flay (he defeated Bobby). It is composed of boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat, andouille sausage (I used a combination of Niman Ranch and Aidell's) and tasso ham, with chopped basil and parsley and lots of white and black pepper. Following Mr. Stieffel's recommendation, I served it with dried red peppers and assorted hot sauces on the side. Most of the diners found it hot enough without, but two of us tried some sauces. My preferred sauce was classic Tabasco, but the other adventurous guest liked the Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce.

The recipe is clear and takes about 90 minutes to prepare. The whole thing comfortably makes two meals for 6, and you can easily freeze half at the stage when all the meats are cooked but before the stock and rice are added.

Not being from New Orleans, I can't vouch for its authenticity, but this is an excellent Jambalaya.

Bobby Jay

Tutti a Tavola with Lidia Bastianich

I have a confession: I love Lidia Matticchio Bastianich.

She is a great restauranteur, cookbook author and television cooking teacher. She has a charming, welcoming manner without a trace of arrogance.

In 1998, PBS offered Lidia her own cooking show, which became Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen. She has been a fixture in the PBS cooking show lineups ever since, hosting two additional television series, Lidia's Family Table (still in reruns around the U.S.) and Lidia's Italy, launched in April 2007. Lidia closes out every episode with a heartfelt invitation to join her and her family for a meal, "Tutti a tavola a mangiare" (Italian for "Everyone to the table to eat").

To accompany her various television series, Lidia has authored several cookbooks:

La Cucina di Lidia
Lidia's Family Table
Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen
Lidia's Italian Table
Lidia's Italy

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They are very good and inspiring. The one I know best is Lidia's Italy, which is organized by geographic region and contains interesting recipes that you won't easily find elsewhere. I would also recommend this as a travel book to people about to go to Italy; advance knowledge of a region's cuisine will make for a more rewarding culinary experience.

Lidia's restaurants are among New York's best. Felidia is consistently excellent, featuring the best food of her native Istria (now part of Croatia), as well as other regions. Del Posto, which she founded with Mario Batali, is one of the best restaurants in New York. I haven't been to Becco, which she owns with her son Joseph, in years, so I can't comment on it.

Bobby Jay

Food Shows on Television

I have to confess that I’ve become a TV cooking program junkie. I love Jacques Pépin and watch him when I can on PBS. More Fast Food My Way, which has just started, seems to continue where his fine Fast Food My Way left off. Also on PBS, I watch Lidia’s Italy, enjoying not only the cooking but also the information presented on the different regions of Italy. I have the companion books to all these series and all are full of practical, easily executed delicious recipes.

Most of my watching is on the Food Network, though. The important thing is to have a recording device (I have a DVR) so you can skip over the commercials (which cuts a 30-minute show down to 18 minutes) and the things you really have no interest in cooking. Watch them all and then choose those whose recipes seem consistent with your own cooking and life style, and whose shtick doesn’t bother you too much.

Recipes that you like are available on foodnetwork.com, which has an annoyingly complex web site.

That being said, I like

Good Eats, with Alton Brown. Pretty annoying shtick but really a treasure trove of information on specific foods and ingredients (for example, salt, pepper, bananas, eggs, chocolate, etc.) and good recipes, too.

Molto Mario, with Mario Batali. Lots of information about Italian regional specialties, and lots of fun to watch. The only problem is that I have had hit or miss results with the recipes. Editing, editing, editing.

Easy Entertaining, with Michael Chiarello. Very interesting takes on traditional dishes, and recipes that always seem to get delicious and impressive results.

Everyday Italian, with Giada de Laurentis. I always want to dislike this show, but many interesting, well-presented and clear recipes, which work in practice.

Boy Meets Grill, with Bobby Flay, one of the most brilliant and creative chefs around. I don’t have a grill and the recipes are a bit complex, but that’s because he’s creating multiple layers of flavors and textures in his brilliant recipes. Usually capable of being done on a stovetop grill pan or broiler.

Tyler’s Ultimate, with Tyler Florence. Enthusiastic chef with interesting whole menus and careful research; he really does create wonderful recipes by taking the best of the classics and simplifying for home use.

Jamie at Home, with Jamie Oliver. Great stuff, with his infectious personality and bold, bold use of herbs and spices. I’m only sorry I didn’t see his earlier series. By the way, the companion cookbook is excellent.

Healthy Appetite, with Ellie Krieger. Healthy dishes that are simple and delicious. A balanced approach to healthy eating.

Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, with Anne Burrell. A new series that looks promising. It seems to be what it purports to be: insights as to how the pros do it that you can use at home.

And I have to admit to liking Iron Chef, the Japanese prototype of which I used to watch in Japan in the late 1990's, and Throwdown with Bobby Flay. They are just fun to watch.

Bobby Jay