It added preserved lemons, which seem gross on their own but are fantastic as a seasoning. They also came from Williams-Sonoma and were super overpriced, but now my Dad and I are trying to make our own preserved lemons so once we’ve perfected that process I will share it.

One of the best things I learned in cooking school was to mise en place (French for “put in place”) – you know, to get all your ingredients out and measured before you start cooking, like they do on TV. I used to think it was silly to do that, but once you get in the habit you soon learn that it makes everything go much more smoothly and quickly. In this case, something possessed me to lay out all my mise en place on this nice plate, but I don’t normally mise en place with such an attention to aesthetics.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine

serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 2 onions, chopped finely
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 2 inch piece of ginger, chopped finely
• 1 cinnamon stick
• pinch saffrom
• 1 Tablespoon coriander seeds, cracked
• 1 1/2 lbs. lamb cubes
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 12 pitted prunes, cut in half, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, and drained
• 8 dried apricots, cut in half, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes, and drained
• 4 strips of orange peel (no white part)
• 2 Tablespoons preserved lemon, chopped
• handful of chopped cilantro for garnish

Method:

• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. (Or use a tagine, if you dare.)
• Add pine nuts and toast until brown, stirring often. (It will happen fast.) Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, to soften them.
• When onions and garlic are soft, add ginger, cinnamon, saffron, and coriander and cook 1 minute to release the fragrances.
• Add lamb to pot with the wine and enough water to cover the lamb. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and cook about 1 1/2 hours.
• Add the prunes, apricots, orange peel, and preserved lemon and stir to combine. Cook about 20-30 minutes more until sauce is thickened and has a jammy texture. Remove cinnamon stick. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
• Serve over couscous and garnish with cilantro.

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Here’s the how to: Chop potatoes and steak (or chicken, pork chop, meat loaf, whatev) into roughly equal size cubes (1/2 inch-ish). Chop a couple shallots or onions finely. If you’re like me, then for some odd reason your leftovers also fortuitously include a ziploc containing 5 cooked bacon slices and you should definitely chop those up as well. If you’re lucky enough to own a vegetable, like a bell pepper or broccoli or something, well then your fridge is better stocked than mine. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back, then give that the chop chop as well.

Heat some butter (or lard, duck fat, olive oil, whatev) in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the potatoes- those should get crispy so they need to cook the longest. If you have some hard vegetable like broccoli then throw that in with the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Toss or stir to brown the potatoes on multiple sides. When you’ve got some nice browning on at least a couple of sides, add the shallots (and your softer vegetable if you’re using one: I’m talking bell pepper or zucchini-type stuff) and cook another couple minutes until the shallots soften but not so long that they brown. Add the meat(s) and cook just until heated through, tossing or stirring, a couple minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust. If you really want to clog your family’s arteries, fry some eggs and put ‘em over the top. What the hell. You only live once.

I like to eat this with some Greek yogurt mixed in, but then again, I’m weird like that.

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I used my new favorite thing, quinoa spaghetti from Whole Foods. It tastes almost exactly like regular spaghetti but imparts the nutritiousness of my favorite pseudocereal. One more note: the recipe combines many meats (3 to be exact) but you could just use all beef if you like. Although secretly, I would judge you from afar if you did that. Not really. OK maybe a little.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
This will serve 4-6 easily.

Ingredients:

for the meatballs:

• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 slices bread (any kind) crust removed, torn into pieces
• 1 Tblsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped finely
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 Tblsp roughly chopped Italian parsley leaves
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup parmigiano-reggiano
• salt and pepper
• vegetable oil

for the sauce:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 20 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
• salt and pepper

Method:

Make the sauce:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook a couple minutes, until soft and opaque.
• Using your hands, pull the tomatoes out of the liquid in the can and crush them up with your hands a bit before adding them to the pot. Add about a cup of the liquid from the tomato can. Season with salt and pepper and cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes, at which point the sauce should get thicker.
• Reduce heat to lowest possible setting and cook another 20-30 minutes. Taste sauce and add more salt and pepper if necessary. If desired, add in some chopped fresh basil or oregano at the end and stir in.

While sauce is cooking, make the meatballs:

• Put milk in a large bowl and add torn bread pieces to soak. Set aside.
• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and parsley and cook until soft and opaque, about 8-10 minutes.
• Add onion mixture and all meats into the large bowl with the bread and milk, along with the egg, parmigiano, and some salt and pepper, and mix with your hands until mixed together. (Reserve the onion pan for cooking the meatballs.)
• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Heat about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in the onion pan over medium high heat. Form meatballs that are between the size of a baseball and a golf ball. Brown them on all sides, about 15 minutes total.
• Put about 1/4 of the sauce in a 9×13 pan. Add meatballs. Put another 1/4 of the sauce over the meatballs. Put into the oven and cook for about 15-30 minutes, until they are cooked through.
• Meanwhile, cook your noodles as directed.
• When the meatballs are done, mix the drained noodles with the remaining 1/2 of the sauce. Spoon the meatballs on top of the noodles and sprinkle with extra parmigiano if desired.

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The sauce comes out incredibly rich and flavorful, as well as very ORANGE. While I absolutely loved the taste and texture and everything else, Ross kept saying “this dinner is so ORANGE. Great, but, like, really ORANGE.” And it is. It kind of looked like the color of liquid Doritos. Not that that’s a bad thing. I love Doritos, and this sauce. (Objects in pictures may look less orange than they appear in real life.)

Find the recipe here and enjoy!

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