Lamb and Adzuki Bean Chili

The nice thing about making chili in a slow cooker is that there’s less risk of burning the bottom of the pot and therefore less need to watch it closely. You can go about your afternoon and come home to a nice hot bowl of spicy, meaty goodness. It’s also pretty quick compared to other slow cooker recipes – 4 hours on high and you’re good.

In the winter, when fresh tomatoes are either not around or taste like cardboard, I like to use canned whole peeled tomatoes. A combination of beans is also a nice touch. Little adzuki beans are sweet and offer a nice contrast to larger red kidney beans in both taste and size. Another interesting flavor kick is the use of ground lamb along with the beef.

A note to the chili purists out there: I totally get that this is not an authentic, rancher-style, traditional-type chili. Adzuki beans are from Japan, not Texas, and the addition of lamb could potentially raise an eyebrow, but whatevs. I make no claims.

Lamb and Adzuki Bean Chili – serves 4-6

1 T cooking oil (canola or olive)
1 onion, diced
1 T tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced
1 – 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
3/4 – 1 lb ground lamb
1 lb ground beef
1 – 15 ounce can adzuki beans, rinsed and drained
1 – 15 ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t ground coriander
1 t paprika
1/2 t chili pepper flakes
1/4 – 1/2 t salt
cheddar cheese, grated
fresh parsley, finely chopped

Heat the oil in a skillet over a medium flame. Add the onion and begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, garlic and peppers with the onions and stir to combine. Lower heat and continue to cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onion is caramelized and pepper is softened. Remove from heat.

Pour the liquid from the can of tomatoes into the slow cooker. Remove the stems from the tomatoes and loosely chop into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces. Add the chopped tomatoes with the kidney beans and adzuki beans to the slow cooker.

Combine the ground beef and lamb with the chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and chili pepper flakes. Add the meat mixture to the slow cooker. Set to low  and cook for 4 hours or high.

Serve hot, topped with a good amount of grated cheddar cheese and parsley, and a nice piece of fresh crusty French bread.

Pulled Lamb

Why choose lamb over pork for a pulled meat dish? Lamb is slightly leaner than pork, though only by 2 grams per 3 ounce serving for a bone-in shoulder cut. Like red meat, it contains more iron than pork, as well as high levels of zinc, potassium, iron and B vitamins. Slightly lower fat and better nutritional value are both good reasons, but the best reason to choose lamb over pork is for flavor. Lamb has a grassy, more exotic and slightly sweeter flavor than pork.

Another reason I go for the lamb is for sustainability. Grass-fed, pasture-raised lamb is becoming more and more convenient to find in areas where local farming is popular, and obviously, local lamb beats imported lamb when it comes to sustainability. We buy ours from Riverslea Farm at the Newburyport Farmers Market. After the Newburyport market closes for the season in December, Riverslea will also have a stall at the Seacoast Winter Farmers Market in New Hampshire, which runs every other Saturday from November to April, alternating locations between Exeter High School and Wentworth Greenhouses.

Sweet and slightly spicy, this recipe for pulled lamb is great on a sandwich or served over rice or couscous.

Pulled Lamb - serves 4 – 6

2.5 – 3 lbs lamb shoulder
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 white onion, loosely chopped
1 T garam masala
1 t cumin
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 C vermouth
1/4 C water

Combine the spices and salt. Rub the spice mixture into the lamb shoulder until thoroughly coated. Set aside

In a large skillet, caramelize the onion in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and butter. Transfer to the slow cooker.

Add the second tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Place the lamb into the hot skillet and sear all sides. Transfer to the slow cooker.

Deglaze the skillet with vermouth, scraping up any solids in the pan. Add the water to combine and pour over the lamb in the slow cooker.

Set the cooker to 6 hours.

After 6 hours the meat should be tender and falling off the bone and there should be liquid and rendered fat at the bottom of the slow cooker. Transfer the meat to a cutting board and remove the bones. Using two forks, pull the meat apart into pieces.

During this time, the fat should have settled to the top of the liquid in the slow cooker. Using a ladle, carefully skim the fat from the surface of the liquid.

Return the meat to the slow cooker and toss with the liquid.

Serve hot over couscous or on a sandwich.

Slow Cooked Beef Stock

It is raining, cold and windy here today. There are whitecaps out on the water and raindrops on the windows. It’s the perfect weather for making a nice soup. Homemade stock makes all the difference with soup. Sure, it’s easy to open up a carton of beef or chicken stock, but it’s just as easy to make a good stock at home, it just takes a little while longer.

A few simple ingredients arranged in the slow cooker, covered with water, and voila! 12 hours later, you have a rich, flavorful stock and a house filled with the aroma of homemade soup. What’s great about using the slow cooker for stock is that you don’t have to keep an eye on it or worry about it boiling over. Even set to high, the water content of the stock keeps it just under a simmer. Marrow lends sweet undertones to the stock and the veggies keep the beat.

Note: After a chat with our friendly butcher, I learned that marrow is sadly under appreciated these days and because it is, it’s always a good idea to ask the butcher for a fresh cut of marrow or soup bone if you’re buying it in a supermarket, because (horrors!) due to low demand, they often don’t replace the bones that are out in the refrigerator case and they could be a few days old.

Slow Cooker Beef Stock – Makes 4 cups

1.5 lb beef marrow bone
1 large potato, peeled
2 carrots
1 onion
1 celery
3 sprigs parsley
2 quarts water

Loosely chop vegetables and arrange the bones, vegetables, parsley and peppercorns in slow cooker.

Cover with 2 quarts water and cook on high for 12 hours.

Using a slotted spoon, remove bones and large vegetables from stock to prevent splatters. Pour the rest through a mesh strainer and into a stockpot or heat proof bowl (or whatever… it’s your kitchen). Discard bones and vegetables.

Allow the stock to cool in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Remove solidified fat with a slotted spoon.

Use the stock to make a tasty homemade soup, sauce or gravy.

Ingredient origins: Beef marrow bone – unknown; Organic potato – Maine; Organic Carrots – unknown; Organic onion – Washington; Organic celery – unknown; Organic parsley – Massachusetts; Peppercorns – India. As you can probably guess, a lot of these ingredients were purchased at a conventional supermarket, which is an unfortunate fact of life in winter in New England. Sometimes the best we can do is purchase as thoughtfully as possible, given the circumstances, so in this case I tried to keep to organic produce. Oftentimes though, even if an item is raised organically, the location of origin is not disclosed because the distributor buys from many different suppliers. I think it may be time though to consider signing up for a meat share

Slow Cooked Chipotle Country Ribs

Nope. This is not a traditional New Englandy-type dish, but what can I say? We’re living in a global society and this is the world wide interweb, after all.

Start with ribs that have good marbling. As the fats melt away, the ribs transform into tender nuggets of falling-apart goodness. Chipotle peppers and cider stew together with the ribs, creating a smoky, piquant and mildly sweet sauce. Browning the ribs after slow cooking forms a nice crisp crust.

Since country ribs are not the leanest source of protein, I decided to even out the decadence by serving it with nutrient-rich roasted carrots and simple steamed quinoa.

Slow Cooked Chipotle Country Ribs - serves 4 – 6

2.5 – 3 lbs boneless pork country ribs
2 T canola oil
1 dried chipotle pepper, seeds removed and diced
1 t granulated garlic
1/4 C tomato paste
3 T brown sugar
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 C apple cider

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium. Add garlic and chipotles and allow to soften for 1 minute. Add the vinegar, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce, and stir until combined, forming a paste. Stir in the brown sugar and cider. Allow to simmer lightly for 5 minutes.

Arrange country ribs in the slow cooker. Pour sauce over the ribs, adjusting to be sure they are all coated and covered.

Set the slow cooker to low and cook 6 hours.

Spoon off any excess fat. Using tongs, remove the ribs from the slow cooker, allowing excess sauce to drip off. Set the ribs aside. Increase slow cooker temperature to high and allow the sauce to cook an additional 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a griddle to medium high. Arrange the ribs on the griddle and brown on both sides to form a crisp crust, about 5 minutes each side.

Serve with the sauce on the side or drizzled over the top.

Ingredient origins: Hormone Free Country Ribs – These guys came from the supermarket, so I know not where they came from. Shopping in a hurry before the storm. But they are hormone free, vegetarian fed (which means cornfed, but you can’t win ‘em all); Canola oil – California; Dried Chipotle pepper – New Mexico; Granulated garlic – California; Tomato Paste – Italy; Brown Sugar – Florida; Worcestershire sauce – California; Apple cider vinegar – Vermont; Apple Cider – Maine.

Slow Cooked Short Rib

This holiday season, I was given the greatest gift of all. A slow cooker! Yay! I decided to christen it with short ribs.

The meat melts down over the course of hours, turning into rich, tender bits of falling-off-the-bone loveliness. I like to use vegetables that hold their shape well, like mushrooms and onions for dishes that cook more than two hours and I avoid ones that turn to mush, like carrots. The onions add a subtle sweetness and the mushrooms lend additional heft. Served over mashed potatoes, this dish becomes a serious winter warmer.

One last note is that I like to remove the meat from the bone before serving just to make it a little easier to eat and slightly more presentable.

Slow Cooked Short Rib – serves 2 – 4

2 lb beef short rib
1 T olive oil
16 oz whole button mushrooms
2 leeks, cleaned and loosely chopped
1 yellow onion, quartered
1 C dry red wine
1 C beef stock
1/3 C brown sugar

Prepare vegetables and arrange the first layer of leeks and smaller mushrooms in the slow cooker.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high. Sear the short ribs on all sides. Remove ribs from skillet and arrange on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker. De-glaze the skillet with red wine, scraping up any small bits. Stir the beef stock and brown sugar into the wine.

Arrange the larger mushrooms and quartered onions over and around the ribs. Pour the wine mixture over the short ribs. Cover and set the slow cooker to low. Cook for 8 hours.

Slide the meat off of the bone and serve with vegetables over mashed potatoes.

Ingredient origins: Short rib – can’t be sure (I know it’s terrible! I bought it at a store whose name rhymes with stop and flop, which means the cow was probably raised on a brown, hideous feedlot somewhere in the Midwest, consuming corn and other things that cows should not eat, like hormones and antibiotics. I know, I know! I’m sorry! The natural foods store was out of local short rib. Sigh. I’ve lost all cred now, haven’t I?); Olive Oil – Italy; Mushrooms – Pennsylvania; Leeks – New Hampshire, Onion – New Hampshire; Red wine – California; Beef stock – Colorado; Brown sugar – Florida