Eating Parker: Chili

We’re getting low on Parker-parts, but tonight I thawed a brick of ground lamb to make lamb and white bean chili from the New York Times recipe.

I prepared the chili using Penzeys Chili 9000, because I thought the powder’s modern, bright notes would mesh with the lime and cilantro that are served with the chili. I threw in some extra cayenne powder and ancho powder as well.

With about 15 minutes to go in regulation, I tasted the chili and my impression was a dull attack, followed by the chili powder and pepper flavors. To add complexity to the initial bite, I added half a bottle of dark beer, and a good quantity of apple cider vinegar. The additional liquid prolonged the cooking, and allowed the flavors to meld some more.

The final result was very good, with the limes and yogurt helping to provide some needed acidity. If I were making it again, I would replace some of the water with a bottle or two of beer, and add a can of tomatoes to boost the acidity further.

Eating Parker: His middle name is Stu

For more about our 4-H lamb, Parker, see the first installment of Eating Parker.

For an early Valentine’s Day dinner, I made an Irish stew, using a 3.5-pound lamb shoulder. I followed this recipe from PBS, adding one head’s worth of whole peeled garlic cloves to the pot with the liquid. I used a bottle of Yuengling Black & Tan for the beer. The stew turned out really well, with tender, flavorful meat and a nice broth. There were ample leftovers, some of which we’ll eat tomorrow, and the rest we’ll freeze.

The wine was 1986 Ridge York Creek cabernet sauvignon. Based on CellarTracker notes, we should have opened it five years ago. Unfortunately, I only bought it 6 months ago.

Clear medium brick-red. Mature nose of crushed fall leaves, sour cherries, tobacco, cedar, thyme. Quite mature on the palate, with much of the fruit faded. Slate, forest floor, tobacco. Thin mineral finish. Hint of grilled meat and redcurrant. A little over the hill. (87 points)

Eating Parker: Greek “pizza”

For more about our 4-H lamb, Parker, see the first installment of Eating Parker.

This is a quick one… no pictures or anything.

I was home for a night between Thanksgiving travel and work travel, so there wasn’t a lot to eat in the house. I decided to thaw a brick of ground Parker, and make some pita sandwiches. Brown the meat with onions, cinnamon, cumin, serve with some tzatziki and tomatoes. Basically a gyro with ground meat instead of gyro meat.

Giant Eagle had no pitas, so I bought some Pacifico’s pizza shells instead. Seriously, that was the closest thing I could come up with. Also, the only plain yogurt I could find for the tzatziki was nonfat, which is a far cry from Greek full-fat yogurt. I cooked the seasoned meat and onions. Then I put a little mozzarella cheese on a pizza shell so that the meat would stick, and added the meat/onion mixture and some feta. Baked until done, and topped with tzatziki and tomatoes. Not bad.

Tzatziki was the nonfat plain yogurt (bleh) with half a cucumber, diced, a splash of red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Side was a second baked pizza shell with COTS hummus.

Paired with 2005 Novelty Hill Syrah:

Dark blood red. Sweet, appealing nose of chocolate, wet stones, mixed berries, mint, blood. More austere on the palate, with sour cherry, mocha, iodine, talcum powder. (90 points)

Eating Parker: Feta lamburgers

For more about our 4-H lamb, Parker, see the first installment of Eating Parker.

Tonight I made use of our first package of ground lamb, to make grilled lamburgers with integral feta cheese. Into a pound of ground lamb, I incorporated some red wine vinegar, dried oregano, cinnamon, cumin, hot red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and feta cheese.

Eating Parker: Grilled loin chops

It was time for the annual question:  What should I cook* for my birthday? I had a bottle of a birth-year wine, a 1976 Burgess Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that I wanted to drink this year, figuring that it wouldn’t get any better at this point, so I needed something that would pair with the wine.