Mojito Lamb with Naan Bread

Ingredients for Lamb:

3 Servings of Lamb, cubed

Fresh Mint, one handful

4 Cloves of Garlic 

1 1/2 tsp Curry Powder

3 Limes (about 3oz of lime juice)

Salt/Pepper

1 TB Olive Oil

Sour Cream (optional)

Ingredients for Naan Bread:

2 Cups Flour (white or whole wheat)

3/4 Cup of Water (approximately, see below)

1 TB Dried Rosemary

Directions:

1.  Start preparing your marinade about an hour before you want to begin cooking so that the meat has time to absorb the flavours.  Mince the garlic cloves and the mint in a food processor with the TB of olive oil.  Sprinkle the curry powder on the cubed lamb, add the minced mixture and pour the lime juice on top.  Mix with your hands, and cover, letting it sit for at least an hour.

2.  Once the lamb has sufficiently marinaded, fry it on the stove top until it is cooked to your preference.  You can always take one of the cubes and cut it open to see how well cooked it is inside.  You'll want to start the naan bread pretty much as soon as you have the lamb on the stove.

3.  For the naan bread, mix two cups of flour with approximately 3/4 cups of cold water.  I say approximately because you want to add as much water as it takes for the dough to pull away from the side of your mixer (use a dough hook attachment if you have it).  The dough should not be sticky.  You can add herbs to your flour if you like, I added dried rosemary because it goes well with lamb.

4.  Divide the dough into eight pieces and generously flour your cutting board.  Make each piece into a ball and roll out as thin as possible, this will help it bubble up more.  Throw the rolled out naan into a hot pan (I prefer cast iron), do not grease the pan.  Depending on how hot your pan is, the naan will need to be cooked anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes per side.  You know the naan is done when it starts to create air pockets inside, but make sure they don't burn!

5.  To assemble my naan I put 3 or 4 pieces of meat, and a TB of sour cream on top.  These were sooo good, and reminded me of street food!  I think tzatziki sauce would also be really good with these.

Heart-Shaped Soft Pretzels

Greetings!  Welcome to February, I can't believe it is here already.  My first recipe of this month are these awesome soft pretzels.  I got this recipe from Alton Brown http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe/index.html

I decided that in honour of February I would try making some heart-shaped pretzels.  This recipe might look a little intimidating, but it is actually really, really easy.  These pretzels are great on their own but sometimes I like to make some bigger ones and use them as hamburger buns, yum!


Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water (115 degrees F)
1 TB White Sugar
2 tsp Salt
1 TB Active Dry Yeast (Or one package)
4 1/2 Cups Flour (You can use a combination of white and whole wheat, I used white)
2 oz Unsalted Butter, melted
Oil for pan
10 Cups Water (for boiling)
2/3 Cup Baking Soda (to add to boiling water)
1 Large Egg Yolk beaten with 1 TB Water
Coarse Salt


Directions:

1.  Combine the water, sugar and salt in your stand-mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes or until it foams.

After 5 minutes.

2. Add the flour and melted butter and mix using the dough hook attachment.  Mix on low until all ingredients are combined, switch to medium speed and mix for 5 minutes.

3.  Move the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with saran wrap and let it rise for about an hour.

After an hour!

4.  Once the dough is almost finished rising, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Prepare two baking sheets by covering them with greased parchment paper.  I brushed some olive oil onto mine.

5.  Bring the 10 cups of water to a boil and add the baking soda.  Make sure you use a big enough pot!

6.  Turn the dough onto a greased work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces.  The pretzel I made into a heart shape was 1/16 instead of 1/8 because I thought it would look cuter.  I have done this recipe making 8 large pretzels, and 16 half-size ones.  The large ones are great to use as hamburger buns, and the small ones are awesome for bringing to a party.

7.  Create a tube shape with the dough by rolling your hands back and forth from the middle, outward.  To create the pretzel shape, do the same thing you would to make the heart, but cross the ends over each other and pinch onto the bottom of the pretzel.

8.  Place each pretzel into the boiling water (one at a time is easiest) for no longer than 30 seconds.  Place the boiled pretzels onto the baking sheets.  I used a metal, slotted spoon for this part.

The pretzels will increase in size after being boiled.

9.  Mix the egg yolk with the tablespoon of water.  Brush this mixture on top of each boiled pretzel.  This helps the pretzel get the golden colour on top.  Sprinkle the pretzels with coarse salt.  I used some pink Himalayan sea salt I got from World Spice when I was in Seattle.

10.  Bake for 12 to 14 minutes.  Watch them carefully as they bake because they can get too brown on top really quickly!

 Enjoy!!

Bread

This recipe comes from my mother.  When we were kids we always had homemade bread in the house.  I think a lot of people find bread intimidating, but it is actually pretty simple.  It may seem time-consuming but once you get the hang of it, it`s a breeze!  There`s a lot of room to be creative with bread as well.  You can add extra sugar, or cinnamon and make a cinnamon loaf.  You can add olives, poppy seeds, herbs, anything you like!

 Ingredients:

7-8 Cups Flour (Combination of white and whole wheat)
3 TB Fast-acting Yeast
1 tsp Salt
3 Cups Water (Heated to 115 degrees)
1 TB Olive Oil
1 TB Honey
1 TB Dried Oregano (optional)
1 TB Dried Basil (optional)

Directions:

1. Measure 5 cups of flour into your mixer. You will be adding more flour later.  (At this point you can decide what the ratio of whole wheat to white will be.  I usually do 5 whole wheat and 3 white.)  Add the yeast and salt to the flour and combine.  You can also add the herbs at this point if you choose.

2.  Heat the water to 115 degrees and add the oil and honey.  A tip to make sure the honey does not stick to the tablespoon is to dip it in the oil and water before you squeeze the honey onto it.

3. Turn your mixer onto medium speed and add the water mixture to the flour.  Your mixer will likely have two attachments, a hook and a beater.  Use the beater at this point.  Once it has combined put your mixer to medium high and let mix for about 2 minutes.

4.  Change to the hook attachment and begin to add the last 3 cups of flour.  Add each cup slowly so it won't spill over the top of your mixer.  The flour can go flying if there is too much in the bowl.  Continue to add the flour until the dough stops sticking to the edge.  When you think you have added enough flour let the dough knead for about 2 minutes and check to see if it sticks at all.  It is okay to go over the 8 cups of flour if you think it is still too sticky.  You should also be able to poke the dough with your finger without it sticking.

5.  Dump the dough onto a large, floured cutting board.  Knead with your hands until there aren't any air bubbles in the dough.  Form the dough into a ball and place into a large, oiled bowl.  Cover the bowl with greased saran wrap but not too tightly.  Let the dough sit in a warm area for 10 minutes.  You could take this opportunity to begin your clean-up, or you can eat Halloween candy instead, which is what I did!

After 10 minutes.

6.  After 10 minutes put the dough back onto the cutting board and knead again.  Divide the dough into however many loaves you would like.  I would recommend making about 3 loaves, 2 pull-apart breads or 12 buns.  Cover each loaf with greased saran wrap again and let sit in a warm area for 30 minutes.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To make pull-apart bread you divide the loaf into three parts and make strands.  Braid the dough and when it is cooked you can just tear pieces off.  Great for having with soup!

7.  Cook for 35 minutes.  You will know the bread is done with you knock on it and it is hard.  Keep in a Tupperware or sealed bag so it stays nice and soft.

Cooked bun.