Goat or heavy lambs with linguine

GOAT OR HEAVY LAMBS WITH LINGUINE

Recipe for 6 people

Ingredients

1.5 kg heavy lambs or goat

700 g. Linguini

2 large dry onions

600 g. ripe tomatoes

5 cloves garlic

1 tsp. coriander grains

1 tsp. pepper grains

Salt, pepper, savory to taste

150 g. olive oil

200 g. grated Parmesan

1 piece of red hot chili pepper in the size of a watermelon seed

Instructions

Preparing the meat

Buy the meat two days ahead.

I prefer meat from the neck and front leg, because it is softer, but you can use meat from any part of the animal.

Rinse the meat well.

Sprinkle on it salt, pepper, oregano and savory.

Pour al little olive oil over the meat.

With your hands rub around the meat so the herbs and the oil goes everywhere.

Place the meat in a pan. Wrap it around with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.

Leave it for two days to marinate.

The evening of the second day, since you put the meat in the fridge, put 5 liters of water in a pot.

Place the pot over high heat and wait for the water to boil.

Once the water is boiling pour the marinated meat into it and wait to boil again.

A few min before boiling foam appears on the surface of the meat.

Collect the foam with a spoon ladle and toss it.

Decrease the heat to medium.

Add salt and the grains of coriander and pepper.

Let the meat boil for 1.5-2 hours.

Remove the pot from the heat.

Let the boiled meat overnight in the pot in its broth, at room temperature.

This helps the meat to soften more.

The next morning put the meat in a pan.

Cover the pot with the broth and keep it aside.

Scour carefully the meat. Remove the fat, the bones and the tendons.

Put the cleaned meat ina a bowl, cover it with aluminum foil and set it aside.

When the broth of meat cools, a white layer of fat appears on its surface.

If the broth is still warm, put it in the fridge to cool and to coagulate its fat.

Gather the fat with a spoon and throw it in the trash.

Strain the broth into a clean pot.

Cover the pot and leave the broth aside for later use.

Sauce

Peel the onions and the garlic and chop them.

Put in a pot the oil and place it over medium heat.

Pour the onions and the garlic into the pot and stir.

Let them cook until they are soft and light brown in color.

Wash the tomatoes and cut them with a knife into small pieces.

Pour the tomato pieces into the pot and stir.

Add the hot pepper and stir again.

Let the tomatoes cook for 15 minutes.

Pour into the sauce the cleaned meat pieces and stir.

Boil 5 minutes the meat in the tomatoes.

Add 1 cup broth and boil for 15 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave the sauce on the stove.

Linguine

Put the pot with the remaining broth over high heat and wait to boil again.

Pour the linguini into the broth and stir to avoid sticking.

Add some salt. Let them boil until they become as soft as you like them to be.

Look at the broth that they have when they are prepared.

If the broth is too much, then strain most of it..

Serving

Put in the center of a dish a layer of linguini.

In the center of the linguini layer put the meat and over it and around it put some sauce.

Sprinkle grated cheese all over the linguini and the meat.

Veal with red sauce and mashed potatoes

VEAL WITH RED SAUCE AND MASHED POTATOES

This recipe is for 5-6   people

Mashed potatoes

Ingredients

2 kg medium size potatoes

100 grams of whipping cream 35% fat

250 g. milk

80 g. margarine or butter

Veal

Ingredients

1.5 kg beef from chump, without any bones or fat

2 large onions

1/2 kg ripe tomatoes

120 g. olive oil +80 g. olive oil to smear the meat with it

2 bay leaves

Salt for taste

1tsp of ground coriander

1tsp of ground cumin

1 piece of red hot chili pepper in the size of a watermelon seed

Instructions

How to make the puree

Rinse the potatoes well.

Wash them with plenty of water and rub them with a hard kitchen brush to remove all the soil.

Put the potatoes in pot and cover them with water.

Place the pot over high heat to boil.

As they start boiling, lower the heat to medium.

The potatoes need to boil about an hour to soften.

When the potatoes are done, their skin is chapped and their white mass has appeared.

Once ready, remove them from the heat and strain their water.

Let them cool down. Peel them and put them in a pan.

Mash the peeled potatoes in a food processor.

Put in a small coffee pot the margarine, the milk and the cream.

Heat them and when margarine melts pour them over the mashed potatoes.

Pour the puree into Pyrex and spread it evenly.

Cover the puree with aluminum foil and leave it aside.

How to prepare the beef and the sauce

Buy the beef two days ahead.

Wash the meat before cutting it.

Cut the meat into pieces that are a little bigger than a walnut.

 When the pieces of meat are not very big, they absorb more sauce and they taste improves.

Put on the pieces of meat salt, pepper, oregano, coriander powder and cumin powder.

Brush the meat with 80 grams of olive oil.

Rub the meat with your hands so that the oil to go everywhere and to cover all the pieces.

Cover the meat with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge.

Store it in the refrigerator until you will use it.

The meat softens and relishes if marinate 2-3 days in the refrigerator.

When you are going to prepare the food, take the meat from the refrigerator and leave it on the kitchen counter.

While you cook the onions the meat will warm up.

Put in a pot 1.5 glass of water. Place the pot over high heat to boil the water.

Drop into the water the chopped onions and cook them for 5 minutes.

Add the pieces of meat and cover the pot. Once the meat starts boiling lower the heat to medium.

Let the meat simmer for one and a half hour.

If the meat is still hard, pour half a glass of cola into the beef and continue boiling until it becomes soft.

Rinse the tomatoes and mash them in a food processor.

Check if the meat has softened enough with a fork.

Peg a fork into the meat. If it plunges easily into the meat, it is cooked properly.

When this is done, go ahead and prepare the red sauce.

Add a piece of red hot pepper in the size of a watermelon seed.

You must be very cautious with the hot chili peppers.

If you put too much of it, the food will burn your mouth so much that you won’t be able to eat it.

Put into the pot with the meat the laurel leaves, the pureed tomatoes, salt and olive oil.

Boil the meat with the sauce for 20 more minutes.  

Turn off the heat and remove the pot from the stove.

Let the food to cool slightly before serving.

Serving

Pour the mashed potatoes in the middle of a dish and give them a circular shape.

Put the meat in the center of the puree circle.

Pour with a spoon sauce over the meat and puree making different shapes..                                                                                                                                                                                          

Milk pie from Mani of Greece

MILK PIE FROM MANI OF GREECE

First recipe

Ingredients

1600 ml milk

200 g. sugar (Some people like the dessert very sweet and others less sweet. It is better to try the milk when you mix it with the sugar to see if it is sweet enough or if it needs more sugar)

70 g. of margarine

140 g. coarse semolina

3 large eggs

Zest of 1 lemon

Instructions

Put in a pot the milk, the sugar and the margarine.

Place the pot over medium heat and heat up.

When the milk warms up a bit, pour the semolina little by little into the pot stirring constantly.  

The ideal is the semolina to dissolve in the milk without making any lumps.

But if lumps are created, submerge the hand blender in the custard and knock it until homogenous.  

Boil the custard until it thickens.

Remove the pot from the heat and leave it to cool slightly.

Beat the eggs with a whisk. Pour them into the pot and stir.

Add the lemon zest and mix again.

Add a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Grease a round 34 cm in diameter non-stick pan.

Sprinkle the pan lightly with sugar to prevent the sticking of the custard.

Empty the custard into the pan. Spread it evenly throughout the pan.

Place the pan in the oven on the first rack from the bottom.

Bake at 180 C degrees for about 40 minutes.

The cream should not be very stiff. It is okay if it trembles slightly.

Remove the milk pie from the oven and leave it to cool completely.

Put it in the fridge to set.

When you serve the milk pie, put cinnamon on its surface.

Second recipe

In this recipe you need the same ingredients as before. There are differences in the way you will make the milk custard.

Instructions

Put in a pot the milk and the sugar and heat over medium heat.

Put in another pot 70 grams of margarine or 35 g. of butter and 35 g. of margarine, or 70 g. of butter.

Place this pot over medium heat.

Wait for the butter or the margarine to melt.

Once melted, pour into the pot semolina and stir.

Let the semolina to cook and get golden in color.

With a big cup take hot milk from the first pot and pour it in the semolina.

Add milk over and over again. Continue this way until you pour all the hot milk into the pot.

Leave the custard to boil until it thickens.

If lumps are created use the hand blender to knock them and homogenize the custard.

Remove the custard from the heat.

Let it cool slightly.

Beat the eggs with a whisk.

Pour them into the custard and stir well.

Add the zest of one lemon and a tablespoon full of lemon in the custard.

Butter one nonstick round pan 34 cm in diameter and sprinkle it lightly with sugar.

Spread evenly the custard into the pan.

Place the pan on the bottom rack of the oven.

Bake at 170 C degrees for about 45 minutes.

When the cake is ready, it takes a dark beige color and smells nicely.

Remove it from the oven and leave it to cool.

Put the pie for one hour in the fridge to set.

When you will serve it put cinnamon on its surface.

I prefer this recipe.

The milk pie that I make following this recipe is more compact and more stable than the one I make with the first recipe.

 Both recipes are widely used.