Shepherd's Pie

Ahoy, my dear readers! Thanks to you, No Free Lunch has reached 4000 pageviews. Thank you for the continued support through my longer-than-expected creative nadir.

At West Lafayette's Pay-Less Supermarket, nestled between the ground beef and the ground bison,  observant shoppers can sometimes find ground lamb. Having wanted to make this quintessential British dish, I snapped it up yesterday. Making shepherd's pie, I discovered two things. First, it's quite easy to make. Second, it's relatively difficult to capture in a photograph. Despite this, it's damn tasty. You can substitute ground beef here, but then we would be cowherds, wouldn't we?

Ingredients

Mashed Potatoes

• 5 potatoes
• 4 tbs half and half
• 3 tbs butter
• Salt and pepper

Filling

• 1/2 large sweet onion
• 4-5 small carrots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 pound ground lamb
• Splash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chicken or beef stock
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil water in a large pot. Peel and halve potatoes. Cook potatoes until soft, so they can be poked easily with a fork. When done, drain and add half and half, butter, salt, and pepper. Mash well.

While potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Finely dice the onion and carrots. Mince garlic. With a little olive oil, saute vegetables on medium high heat for a few minutes. Add lamb. Break up the meat and add salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook until browned. Add peas, tomatoes, and stock. Mix thoroughly and let cook for a few minutes.

Pour the filling out into a casserole dish. Cover evenly with mashed potatoes. Use a fork to disrupt the top of the potatoes, so small peaks form. These peaks will brown in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

When serving, scoop all the way down to get everything. I enjoyed my Shepherd's Pie with a big glass of Murphy's stout.

Sangria

With summer here, it's time for some sangria. The recipe here is adapted from dad's. This sangria is a little lighter on the alcohol but very tasty, fruity, and refreshing. Typical sangria includes brandy, which is omitted here. Sangria is a versatile drink, and can include any fruit you want. Orange and lemon are the most common, but apples and berries are options, also. The wine I used here was a Borsao Garnacha (a steal at $6.99). Any young and fruity red wine will work. It doesn't have to be Spanish, but if that would be the most traditional.

Ingredients

• 1 bottle young red wine, chilled
• 2 cups orange juice, chilled
• 3 lemons
• 1/4 cup sugar (more to taste)
• 1 orange
• 12 oz. chilled sparkling water
• Ice

Instructions

In a large pitcher, combine wine and orange juice. Quarter two of the lemons and squeeze all the juice into the pitcher. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Add sparkling water. Taste the sangria and add sugar to taste. Slice remaining lemon and orange and add to pitcher.

Serve with ice and fruit slices.

Ariel's Amazing Strawberry Jam!

Hi all! I am commandeering Sebastian's blog for today. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ariel, and I am Sebastian's girlfriend. I came down to visit as he gets into major studying mode for his upcoming exams. So I've had a lot of time on my hands to be domestic. Last Sunday, we went strawberry picking. It was a gorgeous day and a really beautiful farm. We got a ton of berries.... and I simply didn't know how we would eat them all before they went bad. So in addition to making a yummy strawberry banana smoothie and delectable chocolate covered strawberries, I decided to try my hand at jam making. After all, how could I get much more domestic than that? It turned out quite well, so I thought I'd share with you, dear readers.

P.S It is MUCH easier to make jam than I thought it would be!!

Ingredients

• 6 cups crushed strawberries (instructions for crushing below)
• 4 cups sugar (divided 1/4 and 3-3/4 c)
• 1 box less sugar pectin (I used Sure-Jell Premium Fruit Pectin)
• Wide mouth funnel
• 8 half pint jars with lids and screw tops

Instructions

First you have to sanitize your jars. I used 8 half pint Ball jars. Throw them and the screw tops in a dishwasher without soap. Keep them in the warm steamy environment until you're ready to use them. The flat tops will go into hot water to be sanitized later. 

Next crush the fruit. To do this, use a potato masher and crush till you get a pulpy mess. Put it into a large (4-8 quart) pot. 

Mix 1/4 cup of sugar with the whole box of pectin.  Stir into the fruit. 

On high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, stirring CONSTANTLY.  This means the bubbles won't go away when you stir them. 

Heat up some water (not quite boiling) and add the jar tops to sanitize and soften up the rubbery surface. This will make a better suction. 

Add the rest of the sugar (3-3/4 cups) to the pot. Return to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Remember to keep on stirring. It might take a little bit to get back to the rolling boil. This is fine. Remember, you just added a bunch of sugar to the mix.  

Remove from the heat.  There will be a lot of foam on the top. Scoop as much off as possible. Tip: Store the foam in a plastic container and refrigerate. You can reconstitute it in the microwave and enjoy as regular jam then.

Test to see if your jam is jelled enough. Take a spoon that was sitting in a glass of ice-water. Put a bit of jam on it and let it cool to room temperature. If it becomes the thickness you like, start filling your jars! If not boil for another minute. 

Ladle the jam into your sanitized containers (straight from the dishwasher!) Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the tops. Mine filled up 7 full jars and about 3/4 of the eighth one.  Tip: It will make your life a lot easier, and your kitchen a lot neater if you use a wide mouthed funnel to help you with this. 

Put the lids on and screw tops down until they are hand tight. Place jars into a large pot of hot water, covering the jars with 1-2 inches of water.  Bring to a gentle boil and boil for 10 minutes. Take them out and place on a towel to cool. When the jars are cool, check to see if they are sealed properly. (Does the center of the lid spring back when you push on it? If so, place in fridge for immediate consumption. If not, you're golden and your jam will stay fresh for about a year.) Tip: Use tongs for this step! They will be VERY HOT.

Leave them set out at room temperature for 24 hours.

You are ready to enjoy! Once you open your jar, it will keep for about 3 weeks. If it stays sealed, it will stay about a year.

Sebastian and I have not cracked open a jar yet, but we ate up my container of foamy jam on some homemade crepes and it was delicious! I can't wait to pass out my homemade jam to family and friends.