Lamb Barbacoa Tacos

 So I've mentioned that I have all this lamb in my freezer, and some of it is in cuts that you don't see too often at the grocery store, like lamb shoulder.  I've seen lamb shoulder chops occasionally, but never a whole shoulder at my local Harris-Teeter.  Lamb shoulder, like pork shoulder, takes well to braising, but when I've tried that with the chops I feel like I just get tiny bits of meat and lots of sharp bone fragments.  I found this recipe for Lamb Barbacoa and it came out great.  My shoulder was just under 2 lbs, but I made the recipe pretty much as written.  In addition to queso fresco and chopped avocado (tossed with lime juice, salt and pepper) I also served it with pickled red onions (from Smitten Kitchen - note that the recipe is part of a charred cauliflower taco recipe, I just quadrupled it) and this Cilantro Lime Slaw.

  Lamb Barbacoa Tacos

• 3 –5 lb lamb shoulder ( mine was bone-in, just under 2 lbs)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• one large onion, sliced
• one orange, sliced
• 3 bay leaves
  

Marinade

•     2 dried ancho chilies -stems removed, seeds removed. No need to rehydrate.
•     1 chipotle pepper (from a can)  
•     4–6 cloves garlic
•     2  cups  water
•     Juice from one orange
•     2 tablespoons cumin  seeds
•     2 tablespoon whole coriander
•     1 tablespoon chili powder
•     2 tablespoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
•     2 teaspoons kosher salt (I used Diamond Crystal)
•     1 teaspoon cinnamon
•     1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
•     1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Score the fat on the lamb.  Generously season all sides of the lamb shoulder with salt.  Set aside while you make the marinade.
3. To make the marinade, de-stem the dried chilies, break them in half and discard the seeds ( you don’t need to remove every single one, a few strays are OK). Break the chilies apart into smaller pieces and add to the blender (dry) with the remaining ingredients.  Blend until very smooth, for a full minute. (Note: I toasted the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry pan briefly before I added them to the blender)
4. Heat a dutch oven to medium-high heat and add oil. Sear the salted lamb shoulder, patiently browning each side to create a deep colored crust.
5. Once all sides are seared, remove dutch oven from heat. Nestle the onion and orange slices all around the lamb shoulder along with bay leaves. Pour the marinade over top and shake the pan to get the marinade to the bottom.
6. Cover tightly and bake in a 325F oven for 3½-4 ½ hours (mine was done in 3.5 hours)
7. Roast is done when meat pulls apart easily.  Pull the meat off the bones and discard the bones along with any large chunks of fat.  Shred lamb and place into a serving dish. Strain the remaining marinade and pour over the meat keeping to keep it moist (I didn't get very much here!). (Note: I parked this in the fridge overnight and we had it the next day.  I heated it up on the stove before making tacos.)

Cilantro Lime Slaw

•     3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used Fage 2%)
•     1/4 cup mayonnaise (Hellman's Light)
  
•     1/2 cup tightly-packed fresh cilantro
•     1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lime juice
•     1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
•     1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
•     1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
•     3 green onions (just the green parts) -I think I subbed some garlic scapes here -’tis the season
•     2 garlic cloves
•     (optional) 1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, stemmed and cored (I used a few good shakes of Tapatio)
• 8 cups shredded cabbage (could also use a bag of coleslaw mix)

Directions

1. Combine the Greek yogurt, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, salt, black pepper, green onions, garlic and jalapeño (if using) in a blender or food processor*.  Pulse briefly a few times until the mixtures is combined.
2. Place the cole slaw mix in a large mixing bowl.  Drizzle the sauce on top of the cole slaw, then toss until the mixture is evenly combined.  Season with extra pepper and/or lime juice if needed.
3. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Some pics!  With and without slaw:

 

 

Greens Tacos

I've made collard greens tacos before, using this recipe from Serious Eats.  With two weeks worth of collards sitting in fridge, I needed to do something.  Forgetting I'd already made tacos with greens before, I searched and found almost the identical recipe at Rick Bayless' web site, which also comes along with a little video for "taco Tuesday" showing Rick making the recipe.  You can use any kind of greens in the recipe, the only thing that will vary is the cooking time for the greens.  I needed to cook the collards for about 25-30 minutes to get them to the tenderness I like, but you do you.

Collard Green Taco Filling

Ingredients

• 1 large onion (I used a vidalia), halved through the root and sliced thinly crosswise
• 1 lb clean, chopped collard greens (yield from two bunches - last week's was a little bigger than this weeks)
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp red chile flakes
• 3/4 cup chicken broth, vegetable broth or water (I used chicken broth)
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Heat olive oil over medium heat in 5-qt non-stick dutch oven. Add onion, a sprinkle of salt and saute for about 20 minutes until caramelized (you may need to reduce the heat the heat to low).  Add chopped garlic and chile flakes to pan, and stir around for about 30 sec (until you can smell the garlic).  Increase heat to medium high, add 3/4 cup of broth, and the greens.  Let the greens wilt down, and when the broth comes to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the greens are done to your liking (about 30 minutes for collards).  Remove lid and let most of the remaining liquid evaporate.

To serve, place a scoop of greens into a warmed corn tortilla (I warm mine over a gas flame) sprinkle with queso fresco.  Add salsa if you like, the Serious Eats recipe linked above has a recipe for a chipotle salsa that's pretty easy.  I also like to mix the greens with scrambled eggs for a breakfast taco.

Some pics!

onions

onions cooked down, adding the garlic and chile flakes

adding the greens

all cooked

This week's CSA box and a melon smoothie

I think we're at week 7 or 8?  I've been traveling and last week's box went to my friend Sarah.  We've moved from the onslaught of greens to more summer veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers.   Here's the lineup from this week's box:

• 2 lbs purple potatoes
• 2 lbs tomatoes (one GIANT Cherokee Purple and a slicing tomato)
• 1 small green cabbage
• 3/4 lbs collard greens
• 4 red onions
• 1/2 lb radishes
• galia melon
• 1 lb zuchinni (one tiny, one enormous)
• 2 cucumbers

So far....

• I've already roasted the potatoes (wash well, cube up, toss w/ 1 tbs olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary and roast at 400°F for about 30-45 min). 
• I sauteed the one of the tiny red onion and the tiny zuchinni (both chopped) and added a little bit of chorizo (< 1 oz) and an egg to make a breakfast taco filling.
• I used one of the cucumbers to make a chicken salad: peeled chopped cucumber, 4 oz leftover chopped chicken, 3 tbs greek yogurt, 1 tbs mayo, 1 tbs chopped fresh tarragon, salt and pepper.  Could have used some lemon juice or some other acid.
• The other cucumber and the tomato went into this gazpacho.

 The galia melon (like a honeydew) I already had peeled and cut up into chunks, and I may put some of those into one of these melon smoothies my friend Ara sent me the picture of and recipe for:

To quote "Very easy to make with cut up melons, ice, and agave in the ninja."  I'm hoping that my non-ninja blender will be able to handle it!  Also I'm assuming the Ranier cherry on top is optional (I love them, I just don't have any!).

Collard greens in tacos?

Yes, you can put anything in a taco.  Tacos with greens apparently aren't all that uncommon, though it's not something I've ever seen in a restaurant.  Last year I made some breakfast tacos with beet greens and egg, and they were pretty good.  Week before last I had some folks over for tacos and end-of-curriculum celebration, and I wanted to have a vegetarian taco available along with the beef and chicken, and also, I needed to use up some of the greens from the week 3 CSA box - along with all the lettuce, there was a bunch of collards.  I found this recipe for Braised Greens Tacos on Serious Eats, and decided to give it a try.  I used a Vidalia onion in place of the red onion, and blistered the cherry tomatoes for the salsa under the broiler rather than a frying pan.  I used water instead of chicken or veggie broth for the braise (I wanted to keep it vegan, and I didn't have veggie broth).  I found that I needed about 15 minutes of braising to get the collards to a tenderness I liked.  Surprisingly tasty!  Also good with scrambled eggs in a tortilla. No pics of an actual taco, but here is the filling in the pan:

And we're back!

So today was the start of the 10-week fall CSA.  And a lovely start it was:

According to the note we had:
peppers (both hot and sweet)
potatoes
onions (one red and one yellow)
eggplant (Thai and purple)
okra
onions
garlic

Tonight I used some leftover roast chicken and made tacos with one of the peppers and onions from the CSA basket. Very easy and quick, and I forgot to take a photo.  I cheated a bit and used  one of the pouches from Frontera.  I also add a little bit of salsa and some of this ancho adobo sauce (easy to make and keeps for months!)

Since I forgot to take a picture of dinner, I thought you'd enjoy some of these pictures of animals at the Guilford College Farm:

This is Polly - she belongs to Nick and Audrey (Nick is the farmer).  She's a big sweetheart.  Glad her days of bounding across New Garden Road seem to be behind her.

And this is Oliver, one of the barn cats.  He's a feral rescue (from the Feral Cat Assistance Program), and also a big fuzzy sweetheart.  Unless you're a mouse in the barn.  Then he's a stone.cold.killer.

SRSLY DONT MESS WITH OLIVER.

Breakfast tacos with beet greens

One other green I had was some beet greens that I'd chopped off of the beets I got last week (and the week before, and the week before - but those had not quite survived).  They were pretty wilted, but a soak in water for about an hour and them putting them in a glass overnight perked them up.  At any rate, I cut the stems off, and got them chopped up:

Then I sauteed them for about 7-8 minutes in some fat from about 1/2 ounce of chopped pancetta I'd rendered down using the same technique I described here. 

Once the greens were tender enough, I added the pancetta back in, and added a beaten egg, and stirred everything together on low until the egg was cooked.  Heated a couple of corn tortillas, added a bit of mexican blend cheese to both (about 1/2 oz or 2 tbs), and then put the greens/egg mixture on top:

Not shown, the tablespoon of salsa and sliver of avocado I put on each taco.  Should've taken a pic with that! 

Shrimp Tacos

Ok, one more post tonight.  I made shrimp tacos using the onions from this week's box.  Here's the mise:

Yes, don't judge me, I used a package of Rick Bayless' Frontera Key Lime Taco Skillet Sauce.  That ish is delicious, dammit. Add some beautiful onions from the Guilford College Farm, a poblano pepper and some shrimp it's a super fast dinner.  I add avocado and queso fresco, but other than that it's pretty much the recipe on the back of the package...saute some onion and pepper, then the shrimp, then add the sauce.

And it will make good leftovers too!