St. Patrick’s Day Dinner, Lamb Chops and Cabbage with Bacon セイント パトリクス デイ

While taking inventory of the deep depths of the freezer, my wife came upon 2 thick cut lamb chops; perfect for St. Patrick’s day dinner.  So we cooked the lamb chops and served them with a side of cabbage and bacon as well as rice pilaf (#1). For a change, I managed to cook the lamb to near perfect medium rare. After seasoning with salt and pepper, I seared the chops without any oil on both sides and finished them in a 350F oven. After 5 minutes I started measuring the temperature at the center of the chops. Around 10 minutes, it reached 135F.

We also made cabbage, onion with bacon.

We just cooked this without any particular recipe.

Ingredients:
4 cabbage leaves, center thick veins removed and cut into 1/2 inch squares
1 medium onion, sliced
3 strips of bacon
3 tbs chicken broth or water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Fry the bacon strips until crispy and set aside on a paper towel lined plate leaving the bacon dripping in the pan
Sauté the onion until well cooked and brown
Add the cabbage and mix
Add water or chicken broth, place the lid and steam until liquid almost all gone
Add the crumbled bacon and season with salt and pepper to taste

This was a great somewhat traditional way to celebrate St. Paddy’s day. Even though it was completely spontaneous and not planned, things don’t get better than this. Next stop the spring equinox.

Shad Roe from South Carolina 南キャロライナからのシャド魚卵

Although fish roe are very popular in Japan, it is not common in U.S.. Few exceptions are, of course caviar, bottargo, and shad roe. We posted a shad roe dish in 2012 but since then we have not had it until now. Turns out my wife’s sister loves shad roe. (According to my wife when she was a kid shad was considered a “trash” fish but the roe were considered a delicacy. Her grandfather particularly liked shad roe and shad roe season was an eagerly anticipated event. He particularly like the roe sautéed with bacon and served with eggs for breakfast. Due to her grandfather’s enthusiasm my wife ate a fair amount of shad roe in her childhood.) My wife’s sister apparently inherited Grandad’s appreciation for shad roe and had an arrangement with a company called “Charleston Sea Food” in South Carolina. They call her every year to let her know when the season opened and she would immediately sign up for a delivery.  Although she would relay the information to my wife, my wife had not inherited Grandad’s level of appreciation and previously never pursued purchasing some. But this year we decided to try it. We got 4 sets meaning 4 pairs of egg sacs (minimum you could buy). It comes fresh vacuum packed and can be easily frozen for later use. It arrived in ice packs (picture #3). As before, we cooked in the very traditional way; pan fried in bacon drippings (#1). I fried blanched broccoli in the same frying pan as well as sage brown butter maitake 舞茸 “hen of woods” mushroom (subject to a separate post) as sides.

You can see the grain of the roe on the cut surface (picture #2). This is much coarser than “tarako” たらこ cod roe or “kazunoko” 数の子 herring roe. The texture and flavor are difficult to describe but we like it. To me this reminded me of the roe of a Japanese fish called “Hatahata” ハタハタ but the Japanese fish has a different texture (a bit slippery texture).

We cooked exactly the same as before (in the previous post) but I did not finish it in the oven. I repeat this again for my convenience.

Ingredients: (small servings for two of us, this will be one serving for most)
One sac (half of one set, picture #3 g one set, came fresh and vacuum packed ) of shad roe, removing attached vessels etc but keep membrane intact
2 strips of bacon
6 florets of blanched broccoli (optional)
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Fry the bacon until crispy and fat rendered, remove the bacon and set aside on paper towel lined plate leaving the bacon drippings in the pan.
Add the shad roe and adjust the flame to medium.
After one side is browned (5 minutes) turn it over cook for another 5 minutes (picture #4). Place the lid and cook 5-10 minutes until fully cooked (no pink inside)
Add the broccoli 5 minutes before the roe is finished and season with salt and pepper
Season it with salt and pepper
I cut into short segments and served.

This was not bad at all. I served it with sides of the broccoli and hen of woods mushrooms which went well. I will try cooking it Japanese style to see how that works. I have to say shad roe fits seamlessly into my Japanese fish roe palette…also, I have to appreciate that my wife’s Grandad was a man of fine taste.