56 — Wednesday, October 21, 1992

4

Shore News

THE FRUGAL GOURMET
MANY OF the menus f
choose for this column are
inspired by my _ assistant,
Craig Wollam. This is one

of his favorites .
RACK OF LAMB

(Serves 6)
2 raeks of lamb (approximately
4%: pounds per rack)
Sak and freshly ground biack
pepper to taste :
3 tablespoons Dijon-sty ie mustard
Va cup CE stick) butter
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh
parsley .

Season the racks of lamb with
salt and pepper. Heat a heavy fry-
ing pan and brown the fat on top
of the lamb over high heat. This
will take 1 or 2 minutes and no oil
is needed.

Remove the meat from the pan
and allow to coof. Rub the meat
{not the bones) of each rack with
1% tablespoons of the mustard.
Set aside.

in another frying pan heat the
butter and in it saute the garlic a
few seconds. Remove from the
heat and stir in the bread crumbs
and parsley.

Coat the meat with the bread
crumb mixture by rolling the racks
of lamb directly in the frying pan
of bread crumbs. There should be
a coating of bread crumbs on the
meat only, not on the bones.

Place the racks on a rack in a
shallow roasting pan. Roast in 2
preheated 450°F oven for 15
minutes for rare. (Add 10 minutes
if you like it medium, but be
carefui not to overcook.)

Remove the pan from the oven
and allow the meat to stand in a
warm place (but not on iop of the

Roasting retains fu

Inquisitive
Cook

ANNE
GARDINER

SUE
WILSON

stove) for 5 minutes.

Slice into individuai bone sec-
tions and serve at once. Serve with
Mushroom Shallot Wine Sauce
(recipe below).

MUSHROOM SHALLOT
SAUCE FOR LAMB
(Makes abou: 4 cups)

¥z ounce dried porcini mushrooms
(or dried Seuth American type)

3 cups fresh or canned beef stock

2 cups fresh or canned chicken
stock

Vs cup dry red wine

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cup minced shallots

Y% pound fresh mushrooms,
chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Salt and freshly ground black
pepper (0 taste

In a small baw! soak the dried
mushrooms in 4 cup warm water
for 45 minutes. Drain and chop
the mushrooms, discarding the
liquid.

In a small pot combine the beef
stock, chicken stock and wine and
simmer, uncovered, for 20

* minutes.

Heat 4 frying pan and add the
butter, olive oil and shallots.
Saute until the shallots are tender.

Add the fresh mushrooms to
the pan and saute until tender.
Add the drained and chopped
dried mushrooms to the pot of
stock, along with the sauteed
mushroom mixture.

Sinmer gently, uncovered, for 1
four. Add the mint and salt and
pepper to taste. :

SAUTEED BELL PEPPER

(Serves 6 to 8)
4 medium red bell peppers

4 medium green bell peppers

3 tabiespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 medium yellow onion, peeled
and sliced

1 teaspoon dried oregano, whole

I teaspoon dried rosemary, whole
Ys cup dry red wine

Salt and freshly ground black
pepper to taste

Vs cup chopped fresh parsley

Core both the red and green
peppers and cut into large strips;
set aside.

Heat a large frying pan and add
the olive oil, garlic and onion.
Saute a few minutes unti! the
onion begins to collapse. Add the
bell peppers, oregano and
rosemary and saute 5 minutes.

Add the wine and continue
cooking until the peppers are
tender. Add salt and pepper to
taste and the parsley and toss
together.

IT’S NOT just crisp morn-
ings and slanting sunshine
that beg the change in
cooking styles. Ingredients
themselves demand new
ways of cooking in the fall.

Take vegetables, for instance.
Delicate fingerling carrots have
crescendoed to firm, large spears.
Potatoes now seem like distant
relatives to the tiny nuggets with
rice-paper skins that we relished
last June.

Yes, the vegetable patch has
passed tts prime. Those that are
feft are hardy. Much of their
summer sugar has beer stored as
starch for the coming winter.
Fibre has accumulated and tissues
are stronger.

Sharter days and less sunshine
reduce sugars used for fuel, and
stow the production of

ee

BULGUR PESTO TIMBALES
(Makes 6 to 8, depending on
the size of the moulds)

T cup coarse-grain bulgur wheat
2 cups fresh or canned ck) ken
stock .
V2 eup orzo pasta (find in Htalian
or Greek markets)
3 green onions, chopped
% cup pine nuts, toasted
1 tablespoon chopped fresh
parsiey
2 eggs, beaten
Ys cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons pesto (buy in a ginss
jar or frozen at the market)
Sali and freshly ground black
pepper to taste
Combine the bulgur and the
chicken stock in a small saucepan.
Bring to a boil and simmer,
covered, 15 minutes until the
bulgur has absorbed the stock. Set
aside.
In another small saucepyn bring
2 cups of water to a boil. Add the
orzo and cook until just tender.
Drain well and set aside to cool.
Combine the cooked bulgur,
drained orzo and ‘the rernaining
ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pack
the mixture into well-greased tim-
bale moulds and place in a baking

| flavor o

chlorophyll. Vegetables left on the
vine flush with yellows and reds,
as greens fade.

In addition to mature summer
varieties, there is an abundance of
those that don't ripen until fall,
such as squash, pumpkin, turnips,
and parsnips. These too are higher
in starches and fibre so they can
survive falling temperatures.

Thus, cooking meuhods must
allow time for softening cellulose
and starch, and maximizing fla-
vor. As you contern; ite using
these vegetables, you might con-
sider roasting.

Roasting uses only the water
naturally found in each vegetable,
plus a randerately hot oven, to
turn water to steam.

The combination of vegetables
is your choice, bur it’s hard to
leave out pepper, onion and
gartic. Preheat the oven to 375°F

pan, Fill the pan with hot water
so it comes one-third of the way
up the sides of the moulds.

Bake, uncovered, in a 375°F
oven for 45 minutes. Remove the
baking pan from the oven and
remove the moulds from the pan.

NELLIE’S LEMON TART
(Serves 8)

This tart is a classic finish for a
very rich meal. It is the gift of Dr.
Nellie Campbell, a dear friend of
mine from Toulouse, France. I
knew it will become a favorite.
THE DOUGH
¥ cups (1% sticks) butter, at
room temperature
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1% cups all-purpose flour
THE FILLING
2 eggs, at room temperature
% cup granulated sugar
Grated pee? of 24emons
Juice of 2 lemons (use the lemons
you just grated)
¥s cup (1Y2 sticks) butter, at room
temperature
GARNISH
1 lemon
Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Cream together the butter and
confectioners’ sugar for the
dough. Add the flour and blend
until coarse and grainy.

NEWS photo Brad Ledwkigs
SUMPTOUS RACK of lamb courtesy of Pasparos Taverna, 132 W. 3rd, North Van. :

Place the dough in a plastic bag
and refrigerate 30 minutes. Press
the dough onto the bottom and
sides of a {G-inch tart pan.

Bake the pastry shell in a
preheated 425°F oven for: 10
minutes. Remove and cool.

Blend the eggs and the
granulated sugar. Add the grated
peel, lemon juice and butter and
mix well,

Place the tart pan on a cookie
sheet and pour the filling into the
pastry shell. Peel the outer rind
off another lemon so that-only a’
thin layer of white pith remains (a
potato peeler works well for this).

Cut 8 thin slices from the peeled
lemon and carefully place the .
slices in eighths on the tart. .

Bake in a 350°F oven for. 35
minutes. Remove from the’ oven
and sprinkle a little granulated ~
sugar on the slices of lemon on
the tart. Turn: the oven to a high
broil.

‘Place the tart under the broiler
on the top rack and allow to
brown slightly on top.- Watch this
closely so you don’t burn the
crust. .

Allow. to cool completely. You
can also use a blowtorch to add
an attractive browning to the top
of the tart.

mature vegetables

(190°C). Cut vegetables into
half-inch pieces and toss them
lightly with olive oil. The oii holds
in moisture, so vegetables glaze
and soften, rather than dry.

Roast, stirring occasionally, un-
iil tender and lightly blistered, for
30 to 45 minutes.

As the heat slowly softens the
fibres, volatile molecules holding
flavors and aromas are released.
Without extra water, flavors stay
full and undiluted.

Indeed, the satisfying pungency
of roasting tomatoes, green pep-
pers, fennel, garlic and onian fills
the kitchen.

The steam created also softens
starch granules so they swell with
interior moisture and = slowly
become tender.

Some vegetables, such as onions
and carrots, caramelize during
roasting, Their natural sugars col-

‘Aa

or to a cich amber as the process
of caramelizing creates a new
amalgum of flavors. _,

You can encourage caramelizing
by adding a little brown sugar. Or
add to browning and change !la-
vors with a sprinkling of a tawny
sherry, or orange juice, each high
in sugar. .

Serve roasted vegetables with
pasta or as a vegetarian entree,
accompanied by thick slices of
crusty bread for soaking up the
last delicious dribbles.

Try adding a handful of
crumbled feta cheese and lightly
toasted pine nuts. Or tuck in fresh
sage and sptigs of marjoram.
Season to vaste with salt and pep-
per.

You'll likely go back for se-
conds, But if by chance there are
extras, use thent to enrich the
broth of a hearty autumn soup.

sean err enntiet menmntaeinenfes