Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Zombie Meal*: Halusky and Lamb Stew

The weekend saw the last of our holiday house guests depart. FEMA would be required to return my home to a state of human habitation. Knowing of the mountains of work needed to clean my domicile what was the weekend spent doing? Nothing. There was a primal need to relax. My petite copine spent the bulk of her weekend on the couch and working through a back log of Instant-Cue Netflix itmes. I relaxed the way I know best, with food.

The icebox needed to be consolidated after having fed far more than its normal capacity. Chinese left over from New Year's Eve, fondue from Festivus, Halusky from the last night of family dinner and the slowly decaying remnants of a dozen meals past, present and future. Stew was the answer...lamb stew.

Part One: The Ingredients
-Lamb from the Fondue Party-Already cubed and ready for the pot.
-Tomato (chopped)-Sandwich remnants that were quickly becoming unusable
-Garlic (3 cloves) & Onion (chopped)-Not a left over, but I am never with out it.
-Halusky-Is a Halusky is a cabbage and noodle dish native to Eastern Europe.
-Red Stripe Beer-Lager style Jamaican beer.
-Celery (2-3 stalks chopped) -That had lost its crunch and was looking for a graceful way to die.
-Sweet Potato (cubed)-Also, always on hand.
-Vegetable Broth-I used a powdered one.

Part Two: The Process
1) Brown the lamb in a large skillet with a little bit of Canola oil, Kosher salt and black pepper.
2) Place the onion, garlic, tomato, celery and sweet potato in the bottom of a slow cooker.
3) Once the lamb has browned nicely add it to the slow cooker pot.
4) Deglaze the browning skillet with the Red Stripe and the add that to the slow cooker.
5) Add two cups of the vegetable broth the slow cooker pot.
6) Cook on very low heat for 6-8 hours.


Note: You can add an combination of seasonings to this you like. I used ground fennel seeds, a bay leaf and crushed mint.

Part Three: The Service
Serve stew over the top of the left over Halusky. The cabbage and noodles mixed with thick meaty stew make an excellent winter time meal. The earthy flavor of the lamb mixed with the hoppy herbal flavor from the lager great an amazing balance of flavor that tastes like comfort. The haluski provides texture and crunch to balance the tender salty lamb.

*Zom-bee Meel:(N) A meal where you resurrect dead ingredients in your kitchen.

9 comments:

  1. It was amazing. It reheats really well as a lunch the next day well.

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  2. I do have stew meat in our freezer...I think it would be good over the leftover rice we always have in the fridge, no?

    I wonder if Ella would eat this if I told her the name. There was this glorious 2 week period where she ate everything we gave her as long as we said it was a hot dog.

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  3. I meant to mention how it would also be good with the rice left over from the Chinese food.

    I think it is worth a try to get Ella to eat Zombie themed food.

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  4. I like the name of the meel.

    I was feeling accomplished today because I made bread and remembered to start my crok pot. Way to bust my bubble.

    Also a wine glass background?

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  5. We all do what we can. If it makes you feel any better I am pretty sure a Totino's Frozen Pizza is in my future, but I will add fennel seeds and other Italian herbs to make it taste less like frozen cardboard.

    I like wine and wine glasses. I may do a wine Wednesday.

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  6. I'm intrigued by the halusky. The combo of noodles with cabbage sounds like a good base for any stew to sit on to make it more interesting.

    Is this something that you purchased prepared?

    Also, just a note - Britta recently upgraded her pots and pans to include enamel coated cast iron dutch ovens that sit on the stove. This has now replaced in many instances our reliance on the crock pot as it retains the heat so well while sitting on the stovetop on minimal heat for hours. And you can brown the meat in it to start. I've been very happy with the results, and a bit surprised at how well it works as I've been a crock pot advocate for many years.

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  7. And I may look for more instances to refer to myself as a crock pot advocate... there's just so many ways this could be interpreted (right and wrong) and could be a great conversation starter with anybody, foodie or not.

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  8. The Halusky was made from scratch by my beau-pere(father in law) on his last night staying with us. It featured a Christmas Kielbasa he brought with him from Pittsburgh. And it was fantastic.

    Agreed crock pot advocate is a term that should move further into the world's lexicon.

    I am in deep envy of the enamled dutch oven. They are great to use in place of a crock pot, but I like the crock pot if I am not going to able to be home for the entire time I am cooking it. I really want the dutch oven for Ropas Vieja and Coq Au Vin.

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