Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Horseradish Sauce

Recipe Source: de Nola, Ruperto.  Libro de Cozina.  1529 edition, translated by Vincent F. Cuenca.  Self-published by the translator in 2001, pp. 58-9

I promised you a while ago that I would post this recipe. It's from the same recipe as the sage sauce I posted a little while ago. Both recipes are recommended variations on a parsley sauce, and all three are vastly different sauces. The thing is, horseradish isn't something I really grew up with. It made an appearance once a year with the Easter ham and only the men in the family showed any interest in eating it. I don't remember it even being offered to us kids. This sauce, though, has got me craving horseradish in the worst way. And if you have friends who think that medieval food lacked heat, make them this sauce.

I made this in exactly the same way as I made the sage sauce, so I'm not going to re-post my thought processes behind the redaction. If you missed the previous post, please click the link above – I don't want to bore everyone by posting the exact same thing again. I'm serious, though. I thought the sage sauce would be my favorite of the two, and I loved it, but the horseradish sauce is really the way to go here!

Horseradish Sauce (makes about enough sauce for 15 servings; approx. $0.20/serving)

Approx. 1 ½ ounces grated fresh horseradish root

4 ounces fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

2 ounces honey

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Mini-prep food processor

1. Combine the breadcrumbs and the vinegar in the small bowl and let soak at least 10 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the mini-prep and grind to a liquid consistency.
3. Serve with meat. I served this alongside beef, but if you like ham this would be a great accompaniment.

Recipe: Sage Sauce

Recipe Source: de Nola, Ruperto.  Libro de Cozina.  1529 edition, translated by Vincent F. Cuenca.  Self-published by the translator in 2001, pp. 58-9

My husband and I recently attended a gathering of medieval history enthusiasts. We go to this event every year. It is up in Maine and is a favorite summer tradition. It's one of very few dog-friendly events, so we bring the dog and everyone has a good time. We also cook a huge meal for this event, and all are usually welcome. We bring our Big Green Egg and my husband makes something nice and meaty. This year he made a huge amount of roasted beef and I served two sauces alongside, among other things. This was one of the sauces.

Both of the sauces we made were great – not at all heavy, very flavorful even in small quantities, and unusual enough that people were excited to try them. They were also both from the same source – the same recipe, really, just with one change. I'll post the second sauce at a later date because it was different enough to merit its own post. I interpreted "white vinegar" to mean "white wine vinegar" because regular distilled white vinegar – the kind you get in the giant industrial-sized tub – isn't very good. I omitted the part where you put two hot rocks into the mix as well – I wasn't entirely certain what the point of that was. I guess that it would cook the stuff just enough, but I thought it was just fine without cooking it.

Sage Sauce (makes enough sauce for about 15 servings; approx. $0.29/serving)

1 1/3 bunches fresh sage, minced

4 ounces fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

2 ounces honey

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Mini-prep food processor

1. Combine the breadcrumbs and the vinegar in the small bowl and let soak at least 10 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the mini-prep and grind to a liquid consistency.
3. Serve with meat. I served this alongside beef, but this would work particularly well with poultry.

Recipe: Carrot Puree

Recipe Source: The Book of Sent Sovi. Joan Santanach, ed. Robin Vogelzang, trans. Barcino-Tamesis, Barcelona, 2008 p. 141

You may be asking yourself, "Has the world gone mad? This is two things Fearless cannot abide: carrots and vegetable puree! How is this possible? Has she received a nasty head wound?" Well, the world has not gone mad. I have not received a nasty head wound, not that I remember anyway. And I continue to despise carrots and vegetable purees. However, I needed to make a vegetable side dish for a large gathering of medieval history enthusiasts. I knew I wanted to use Sent Sovi because I've been dying to use it for a while. I decided on this puree because it was easy to transport, brightly colored, and relatively cheap to make. Besides, I am in a distinct minority when it comes to carrots. I will admit that I did not like this. I tasted a small sample when I finished it and said, "Ick! Carrots!" However, there was nothing left over at the end of the night, and that says something.

The original did not specify goat cheese for this recipe. I decided to use goat cheese because I had it on hand and the original recipe (from the 13^th century!) recommended using goat milk. The original author also recommended using "mutton and salt pork broth, or whatever kind of broth you want." Since I was making this for a camping event, had no mutton broth anyway and cannot consume anything with salt pork, I saw this as license to use Lemony Vegetable Broth. This worked out well.

Carrot Puree (serves about 30; approx. $0.20/serving)

5 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped

2 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

1 cup goat milk

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Immersion blender

1. Put the carrots in the saucepan with water to cover and bring to a boil. Boil until the carrots are reasonably tender.
2. Remove from heat, drain, and return the carrots to the pan.
3. Add the Lemony Vegetable Broth and use the immersion blender to puree to a paste.
4. Add the goat milk and cheese. Reheat thoroughly.
5. Serve. This recipe can be made ahead of time and reheated.

Recipe: Lamb and Barley Paella

Recipe Source: Casas, Penelope.  Paella!.  Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1999 pp. 114-5

I've loved paella ever since the first time I tried it, in a small village just south of the French border in Catalonia.  Unfortunately, paella has a lot of calories.  It's all that rice.  As a result, I've been kind of reluctant to make it recently.  My husband, however, loves high-carbohydrate dishes, especially when he's been doing something physical.  I decided to make this for him recently.

I made a few changes to this recipe - I used Lemony Vegetable Broth for the broth, increased most of the spices, decreased the amount of oil, that sort of thing.  The biggest change that I made, though, was the rice.  I've been trying to incorporate more whole grains into our diet lately, and as part of that attempt I've been using barley in all my risotto dishes.  Why not try it in paella?  I tried it here, and I feel that it worked quite well.  My husband's certainly been eating the leftovers at every possible opportunity, much to my chagrin - I was planning to serve it as a side dish later in the week! 

Lamb and Barley Paella (serves 6; approx. $5.47/serving)

1 14-oz can chickpeas

6 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

20 garlic cloves, crushed

1 onion, peeled

4 parsley sprigs

2 rosemary sprigs

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon saffron

1/2 cup white wine

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into pieces

Kosher salt to taste

2 red bell peppers, cubed

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

2 tablespoons brandy

3 cups pearl barley

2 tomatoes, cut into slices

Equipment:

• Paella pan or VERY large oven-proof saute pan
• Large saucepan
• Mini-prep food processor
• Strainer
• Bowl

1. Put 1/2 the chickpeas in the food processor and puree. 
2. Add the puree to the stockpot along with the broth, chickpea canning liquid, garlic, whole onion, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, cumin and saffron. 
3. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
4. Strain and measure out 5 1/2 cups. 
5. Add the wine and keep ot over very low heat.  Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
6. Heat the oil in the paella pan. 
7. Add the lamb and cook over high heat, seasoning with kosher salt to taste, until lightly browned.  It should absolutely not be fully cooked - overcooked lamb tastes like shoe leather.  Trust me on this. 
8. Evacuate the lamb to a platter. 
9. Add the bell peppers to the pan with the chopped onion.  Saute until slightly soften.
10. Add the chopped tomato and brandy.  Cook away the liquid.
11. Add the barley and stir to coat. 
12. Add the broth mixture and bring to a boil.
13. Add the remaining chickpeas.  Boil 2 minutes, stirring.
14. Return the lamb to the pan.  Boil another 3 minutes, still stirring.
15. Arrange the sliced tomatoes over the barley. 
16. Transfer to the oven and bake 10 - 12 minutes. 
17. Remove from the oven and let rest, covered, at least 5 minutes.  Note: This can be made ahead of time and re-heated.
18. Serve. 

Recipe: Chicken in a Saffron Sauce

Recipe Source: Harris, Vicky.  The Food of Spain.  Murdoch Books, Millers Point, 2008 p. 178

I made this for a Sunday dinner one week when the weather was supposed to be cold and blustery.  It seemed like the perfect sort of dish for that kind of day.  The smell when it cooked was phenomenal, really adding some cheer and comfort to the day.  Unfortunately, when I came to the last step in the recipe I found that despite all my precautions the stew had burned.  There was a thick layer of burnt black sludge on the bottom of the pot.  What was I going to do?  Well, there were two options.  I could order a pizza, which I'll admit was kind of my preference at that point, or I could do something to try to save it.  Despite my inclinations I opted for the latter, and as it turns out I'm pretty darned glad I did. 

I made a few changes.  I did use slightly less olive oil.  I'd somehow run out of ground cinnamon, so I put a whole cinnamon stick in with the chicken.  I increased the garlic.  I used Lemony Vegetable Broth for the chicken stock and dried thyme instead of regular.  I also used Marsala instead of sherry, because that's what I had on hand.  When I found the problem with the sludge, I made a sauce by combining the contents of the food processor with the lemon juice, egg yolks, more broth and more Marsala.  The result was, while not what I'd intended when the day started, a frankly delicious chicken dish that my husband actually wanted even more of than we had on hand. 

Chicken in a Saffron Sauce (serves 4; approx. $4.86/serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 3/4 ounces almonds

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 pinch saffron threads

1 cinnamon stick

6 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces

2 onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1 1/2 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup Lemony Vegetable Broth

1/2 cup Marsala

Equipment:

• Mini-prep miniature food processor
• Large Dutch oven or other stew pot
• Medium saucepan

1. Combine the almonds, bread crumbs, saffron, garlic and parsley in the mini-prep.  Process to a coarse consistency.
2. Heat the oil in the Dutch oven.  Add the chicken pieces and brown.  Remove the chicken pieces from the pot. 
3. Add the onion to the pot.  Season with salt if desired.  Cook gently 5 minutes or so. 
4. Return the chicken to the pot.  Add the Marsala, broth, bay leaf and thyme.  Cover and simmer 1 hour. 
5. Evacuate the chicken to a plate. 
6. Pour as much of the cooking fat from the Dutch oven into the saucepan.
7. Add the contents of the food processor to the saucepan along with the lemon juice, egg yolks and additional broth and Marsala. 
8. Cook over very low heat until heated through and thickened.  Do not let the mixture boil.
9. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve. 

Recipe: Clams with Tomatoes and Garlic

Recipe Source: Weir, Joanne.  From Tapas to Meze.  Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, 2004 p. 44

Shellfish are an important part of New England culinary life.  It's not all baked scrod and deep-fried haddock around here.  Most of the time the shellfish even comes from New England, so you're supporting at least semi-local businesses by using them.  They're a healthy source of protein, and if you're an (observant) Orthodox Christian they're an acceptable source of protein during Lent.  They're tasty and, depending on your source, they can be a lot easier on the budget than some other piscene food sources.

They're also dead easy to make. 

I used to be afraid to make them.  I was terrified of food-borne illness.  For the most part, the shellfish population in this country is safe.  There are places around here that produce shellfish that ought not to.  My husband has actually seen people digging for clams off Logan Airport, which seems like a colossally bad idea to me.  Your fishmonger is required to tell you where your shellfish came from, so if in doubt, ask.  Anyway, if you follow some basic rules about storage et cetera and you eat them the day you buy them, you should be okay. 

So I really enjoy shellfish and tend to make it once a week or so, although sometimes I'm just not feeling inspired by mollusks and go for meat.  I decided to make this on a recent Friday night for me and my husband.  Then we heard some friends were having a tough day - their roof was leaking badly and the wife was trying to make the cupcakes for a baby shower... in Nyack.  We decided that we would bring dinner to them.  Now, this is a tapas dish intended to serve 6 as part of a tapas spread.  I figured it would serve two as a main course, not four.  I remembered something a very wise friend taught me years ago.  Starch is filling.  The right kind of starch can also provide an excellent vehicle for sauce... like the sauce from this dish.  But what kind of starch?  Bread was right out - I didn't have enough time to make it.  Rice would have been okay, but kind of dull.  Barley was kind of what I was in the mood for, but I hadn't any.  I did however have a huge sack of quinoa.  The lady of the house we were bringing the food to is quite fond of quinoa.  I decided that the dish you see here would be served on a bed of quinoa. 

I made a few other changes as well.  I reduced the amount of olive oil slightly to reduce fat.  I used more tomatoes than called for, all of the canned variety.  I'd opened a can for another recipe and wanted to use up more of those leftovers.  Besides, tomatoes are incredibly tasty and are packed with lycopene, which is good for you.  I was distinctly lacking in a white wine I wanted to use for cooking, so I substituted some hard cider.  It's my understanding that in some parts of Spain that would be perfectly normal.  I could be wrong though.  Anyway, I used Lemony Vegetable Broth instead of fish stock because I had it and because it's a lot cheaper than fish stock or clam juice.  I also increased the amount of garlic.  How can a recipe have garlic in the title and only include one clove?  Seriously. 

Clams with Tomatoes and Garlic (serves 4; approx. $3.80/serving)

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

21 ounces (approx.) diced canned tomatoes with their juices

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 cup hard apple cider (I'm a big fan of Harpoon cider if you can get it)

1 cup Lemony Vegetable Broth

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

8 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 pounds fresh clams

2 cups quinoa

4 cups water

Equipment:

• Large wok, pot or saute pan with lid
• Immersion blender
• Medium saucepan with lid

1. Combine the quinoa and the water in the medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes, then let stand (covered) and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in the other pot.
3. Add the onion and cook until it begins to turn golden and gets soft.
4. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste.  Cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Add the cider.  Simmer until the mixture is reduced by half.
6. Add the broth.  Simmer another 5 minutes.
7. Using the immersion blender, puree the sauce.  I was more than willing to leave a few chunks in there for texture.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Add the clams, parsley and garlic to the pan. 
9. Cover and cook over high heat 5 - 10 minutes, or until the clams are open. 
10. Put the quinoa into your serving vessel.
11. Pour the clams and the sauce from the pan over the quinoa and serve. 

Recipe: Game Hens in Vinegar Sauce

Recipe Source: Andrews, Colman.  Catalan Cuisine.  The Harvard Common Press, Boston, 1988 pp. 96-7

I made this a while ago for a Sunday dinner.  It was actually a comparatively easy dish to make, which was about my speed at the time, and plenty filling.  I made a few changes, because I kind of had to.  The first change was substituting game hens for the original partridge.  I might have seen partridge available in one or two odd markets here and there, but it is by no means a common enough ingredient for me to be able to find it on the South Shore of Massachusetts.  (If you have a line on where I could find it down here, please let me know.)  I used canned tomatoes because it was December, and December tomatoes usually have all the flavor of old shoes.  I think I substituted tarragon for the parsley, because I had it on hand and I have little use for parsley.  We both really enjoyed this dish, and it had an additional, unexpected bonus: the leftover sauce provided the basis for another dish later in the week, which I'll post at a later time. 

Game Hens in Vinegar Sauce (serves 4; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 game hens

About 2 tablespoons olive oil

8 onions, very thinly sliced

1 carrot, grated

2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes

1 carrot, grated

1 sprig tarragon, minced

1 cup red wine vinegar

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large Dutch oven

1. Heat the oil in the Dutch oven.
2. Add the game hens and brown thoroughly.  Some of the fat will render out; this is desireable.
3. Remove the game hens from the casserole and set aside.
4. Add the onions, tomatoes, carrot and tarragon to the oil and cook slowly, until the onions are very soft indeed. 
5. Return the game hens to the pan.  Add the vinegar, bring to a simmer and then cover. 
6. Simmer until the game hens are done, about an hour.  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. 

Recipe: Haddock and Clams with Cider

Recipe Source: Goldstein, Joyce.  Savoring Spain & Portugal.  Oxmoor House, Menlo Park, 2000 p. 145

This is the fish recipe I made for the impromptu dinner party I mentioned yesterday.  What attracted me to the recipe was really the apples and the cider.  I've rambled on at length about my love of apples, which becomes particularly pronounced in the fall. The recipe called for hard cider.  I had some hard cider on hand, commercial stuff, but that's not the best kind of cider.  The best kind of cider is the kind that you leave in the back hallway for a while, until it just starts to carbonate.  There isn't a whole lot of alcohol in that kind of cider - you'd have to drink enough of it to cause water intoxication before you could get drunk off it - but it has just the right amount of kick and flavor to liven things up a little.  (Thank you, Dad, for that.)  As it happened, I had some slightly elderly cider of exactly the right kind on hand, and I had exactly enough for the recipe and not a drop more. 

I made a couple of other changes to the recipe.  I used a few more tomatoes than the original called for, because I had them on hand and they're good for you.  I omitted the chile, since one of our guests considers black pepper to be dangerously spicy.  Instead of hake, I used haddock.  I also increased the garlic and reduced the oil, but you probably guessed that already. 

Haddock and Clams with Cider (serves 4; approx. $4.92/serving)

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, crushed

4 ounces flour

5 tomatoes, chopped

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup apple cider - slightly hardened, for preference

2 large boiling potatoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 1/2 lb haddock, cut into 4 equal pieces

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 lb littleneck clams, scrubbed

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Equipment:

• Large saute pan
• Oven-proof serving dish (I used the bottom of a tagine)
• Large saucepan
• Plate
• Blender

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in the large saute pan over medium heat. 
2. Add the onions and garlic.  Saute until the onion is tender.
3. Add the tomatoes, apples and cider.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until the apples are soft.
4. Remove from heat and puree in the blender until smooth.  Set aside.
5. Preheat your oven to 450.
6. Fill the saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
7. Add the potato slices and boil until half cooked.  They should still stick slightly to a fork when tested, but only slightly.  Drain and set aside.
8. Spread the flour on the plate and mix with salt and pepper to taste. 
9. Dredge the haddock pieces in the flour.
10. Heat the remaining oil in the saute pan over high heat. 
11. Fry the fish until lightly browned, turning once.  Evacuate to a plate and set aside.
12. In the same pan, fry the potatoes until golden on both sides. 
13. Transfer the potatoes to the oven-proof serving dish.  Add the clams, fried fish and the sauce from the blender. 
14. Cook 15 minutes in the oven. 
15. Sprinkle with parsley and serve. 

Recipe: Moorish Eggplants

Recipe Source: de Nola, Master Ruperto.  Libro de Cozina.  Vincent F. Cuenca, Trans.  Self-published by the translator in 2001, p. 29. 

In preparation for the class that I'm teaching about Italian Renaissance cookery, I've been making a few dishes from Italian Renaissance cookbooks for our Sunday dinners.  This is one of those dishes, although it may or may not count strictly as "Italian."  The author, Ruperto de Nola, was the chief cook to Fernando I of Naples, who ruled from 1458 - 1494.  This would argue strongly for the recipe being Italian, and that's actually why I chose it.  (Most of the Italian books I have are more Northern Italian in origin, but my own ancestors come from Naples.  I wanted to showcase a part of Italy that is often overlooked by historians.)  However, Fernando's own origins were Catalan, and up until Fernando became king Naples was ruled from Catalonia.  Catalans held many of the important positions in the Neapolitan court and classy dishes were said to be made in the Catalan style.  While Nola was a village in Italy, the earliest editions of the text that we have are in Castilian, not Italian (or Catalan, for that matter) and some of the words used indicate a Valencian origin. 

Whatever.  Even if the origins of this dish are Catalan or Valencian, it was certainly enjoyed in Italy in the period under discussion.  It was also enjoyed by diners at a recent Sunday dinner.  I do tend to make a lot of eggplant when it's in season for Sunday dinners, because it's my friend's favorite vegetable.  One of our guests took me aside recently and said, "Every week I find myself eating eggplant here.  I've always hated eggplant, but you always make eggplant dishes I like!"  That's the nicest compliment.  There weren't many leftovers of this dish.  It served 20, but would serve a smaller number easily. 

What really strikes me about this dish is that "authenticity" is a concern for the author.  Naples was (and is) pretty staunchly Catholic, and medieval Catholicism is not noted for its tolerance of other faiths and creeds.  Nola does recommend using "good bacon" as the cooking fat, but then corrects himself:  "...or with oil that should be sweet, because Moors do not eat bacon..."  The medieval taste in Italy and in Spain was certainly to use bacon, but he acknowledges that it is inappropriate in this dish.  It seems remarkable in its acceptance to me. 

Something else that seems remarkable is the dish's simplicity.  The ingredients, in contrast to many medieval "haute cuisine" dishes, are few and easily obtained.  I skipped a step where it appears as though the eggplants are par-boiled - I can't think of a reason to do so other than removing the bitterness, and salting and draining the eggplant is a better way of doing so than boiling them.  If you can't find verjuice (the juice of unripe grapes), use white wine vinegar.  It's not the same by a long shot, but it serves the same purpose. 

Moorish Eggplants (serves 20; approx. $0.45/serving)

4 eggplants, peeled and diced

Kosher salt

8 tablespoons olive oil

1 carton chicken broth (about 32 oz) (This might have been a little more than necessary.)

2 cups grated pecorino cheese

1 tablespoon (or more to taste) ground coriander

4 egg yolks

4 tablespoons verjuice

Equipment:

• Colander
• Wide, deep saute pan
• Small bowl

1. Place the diced, peeled eggplants in the colander.  Salt generously and let drain at least 1 hour.  Rinse well with cold water before proceeding.
2. Heat the oil in the pan. 
3. Add the eggplants and reduce heat to medium.  "Sweat" the eggplants until browned and softened slightly.
4. Add the chicken broth and the cheese.  Mix well and let cook, stirring often, until the eggplants are very tender. 
5. Add the coriander.  Mix well.
6. Combine the egg yolks and the verjuice in the small bowl.  Beat well, then add to the eggplant mixture. 
7. Stir well and let cook until the sauce is thickened. 
8. Serve warm.  This dish works quite well if prepared in advance and reheated. 

Recipe: Ground Lamb and Barley Paella

Recipe Source (sort of): Casas, Penelope.  Paella.  Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1999 pp. 88 - 9. 

My husband often complains about the fact that I most frequently shop at the most expensive supermarket in the Boston area.  I fully expect those complaints to stop after our Duck Disaster.  If you happen to own a copy of this book, go ahead and grab it off the shelf.  Flip to page 88.  You'll notice that this was intended to be a duck paella.  I couldn't find duck at Whole Foods, so I went to one of the less expensive stores on my way home.  They had duck.  When we opened the package to actually use the duck, the stench was overwhelming.  I was stuck.  What was I going to be able to use?  Well, I had some very nice ground lamb that I'd thawed for another recipe that I wound up halving.  That would do, but what else was I going to do with it?  I added a few spices and decided to go with that. 

I made enough other changes, enough that this really bears no resemblance to the original recipe.  I used a mix of green and black olives I'd bought for another recipe I never made; they'd been lingering in my fridge and I wanted them gone.  I didn't chop them because they still had the pits in.  I didn't have chicken broth readily to hand - I have some locked away somewhere, but I prefer homemade.  Anyway, I used Lemony Vegetable Broth that I'd thawed for another recipe, and filled out the difference with increased amounts of wine.  Speaking of wine, I didn't have any dry sherry, but I had some Chinese shao xing wine.  When I've used some Chinese recipes, they've suggested sherry as a substitute for shao xing wine.  Why should shao xing not be a substitute for sherry?  I omitted the saffron because it's still AWOL, and I omitted the carrot because I don't like it.  I used cilantro in place of the parsley as a matter of personal preference.  I also increased the amount of tomatoes, because our garden is spitting them out like there's no tomorrow and because tomatoes are extremely good for one's health.  

Finally, the biggest change I made was using barley instead of rice.  Someone had left a comment on someone else's blog - I can't remember whose blog, I want to say it was either 5 Star Foodie or One Frugal Foodie, but I could be way off here - about using something like quinoa instead of rice in a specific dish to give more protein and fiber.  (I have absolutely no recollection at all of who left that comment.)  Anyway, it stuck in my head.  When I went to make this dish, I noticed some pearled barley sitting in the Pile O Odd Ingredients That Don't Fit In The Cabinet.  I didn't think quinoa was really appropriate here, but if barley works for risotto why not paella?  The rice varieties in both dishes are similar. 

The result was pretty darned tasty, if I do say so myself.  The barley provided a wonderful texture and a bit more flavor than plain white rice would have done.  The broth-wine combination also worked very well here.  I'm still wishing a plague of frogs on the grocery store where I bought the duck, but ultimately I suspect this might have been better. 

Ground Lamb and Barley Paella (serves 6; approx. $4.08/serving)

1 lb ground lamb

1 onion

5 garlic cloves

5 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cumin

1 bottle white wine, divided

1/2 lb mixed olives

Equipment:

• Very large, deep saute pan or paella pan
• Small saucepan
• Medium saucepan.

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Combine the olives and 6 tablespoons of wine in the small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.  I'm not sure why someone thought of this step, but it definitely altered the flavor of the olives.
3. Combine the broth and the wines in the medium saucepan over low heat.  Keep warm.
4. Heat the oil in the paella pan.
5. Combine the onions, garlic and bell pepper in the pan and saute until softened.
6. Add the spices and the ground lamb.  Break up the lamb with the back of a spoon as you brown it. 
7. Add the barley to the mixture.  Stir well to coat with the pan mixture and cook about a minute.
8. Add the broth mixture and bring to a boil.
9. Add the tomatoes and cilantro.  Cook about five minutes, until the mixture is no longer "soupy" but still has enough liquid to cook the barley.
10. Add the olives and transfer, covered, to the oven.  Bake 15 minutes.
11. Serve.