More Farmer's Market Food Finds - Rack of Lamb
I know I've been going on about Farmers' Markets and such, but my personal opinion is that, most of the time, vendors at markets have far better deals than your local supermarket. However, with the recent rapid increases in the price of fuel, that seems to be changing. Nevertheless, even with summer almost over, you can still get the last batch of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as great cuts of meat.
Case in point, two summers ago, at one of the bigger of 4 area Farmers' Markets, I found one vendor with a tantalizing full rack of lamb. Fifteen bucks per pound. No matter how much I asked, though, he wouldn't let me buy half. I had just barely over $15 left after a morning of shopping. And lo and behold, the rack of lamb only weighed a smidgen over a pound. Sold. I took it home, trimmed off any silver skin, carefully cut the rack into 8 small chops. That's not quite $1.90/chop.
I put 5 of the chops in a zippered freezer bag, each separated by parchment paper. With the other 3 chops, over 2 days, I created a new dish entirely from scratch: Ladyfinger Lamb w/ Curried Sesame Potatoes and Tomato Corn Salsa. I use the first day to invent a dish, the second day to fine tune it. Then on some future third day, I try to perfect a dish while serving it to guests. The third day came, only a few weeks later when some friends invited me to cook for them. I added fresh-made Pork Wonton Soup as an appetizer. The final meal mixed elements of Mexican, Italian, East Indian, Chinese and French cuisines. [Note: the recipes for this meal will be posted over the next few days at my Curry Elvis Cooks blog. When they are, I will update the links here.]
So what's the difference between the Farmer's Market and supermarket meats? Well, some but not all Market vendors raise free-range livestock. While some supermarkets also carry free-range, they're not as common. If you have never tasted free-range eggs, poultry, lamb, etc., you're in for a nice surprise. The livestock are not penned up; they get to roam free, which usually makes for a healthier animal. These food products aren't filled with all kinds of additives (usually delivered through the livestock's feed). I am NOT a radical of any sort; not even when I was a strict vegetarian purely for health reasons. I have found, however, that my many allergies seemed to decrease significantly when I switched to free-range products. Free-range products also seem to taste better, in my opinion.
(c) Copyright 2005-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://cookingforone-or-two.blogspot.com/
Case in point, two summers ago, at one of the bigger of 4 area Farmers' Markets, I found one vendor with a tantalizing full rack of lamb. Fifteen bucks per pound. No matter how much I asked, though, he wouldn't let me buy half. I had just barely over $15 left after a morning of shopping. And lo and behold, the rack of lamb only weighed a smidgen over a pound. Sold. I took it home, trimmed off any silver skin, carefully cut the rack into 8 small chops. That's not quite $1.90/chop.
I put 5 of the chops in a zippered freezer bag, each separated by parchment paper. With the other 3 chops, over 2 days, I created a new dish entirely from scratch: Ladyfinger Lamb w/ Curried Sesame Potatoes and Tomato Corn Salsa. I use the first day to invent a dish, the second day to fine tune it. Then on some future third day, I try to perfect a dish while serving it to guests. The third day came, only a few weeks later when some friends invited me to cook for them. I added fresh-made Pork Wonton Soup as an appetizer. The final meal mixed elements of Mexican, Italian, East Indian, Chinese and French cuisines. [Note: the recipes for this meal will be posted over the next few days at my Curry Elvis Cooks blog. When they are, I will update the links here.]
So what's the difference between the Farmer's Market and supermarket meats? Well, some but not all Market vendors raise free-range livestock. While some supermarkets also carry free-range, they're not as common. If you have never tasted free-range eggs, poultry, lamb, etc., you're in for a nice surprise. The livestock are not penned up; they get to roam free, which usually makes for a healthier animal. These food products aren't filled with all kinds of additives (usually delivered through the livestock's feed). I am NOT a radical of any sort; not even when I was a strict vegetarian purely for health reasons. I have found, however, that my many allergies seemed to decrease significantly when I switched to free-range products. Free-range products also seem to taste better, in my opinion.
(c) Copyright 2005-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://cookingforone-or-two.blogspot.com/
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