The Kitchen Wanderer

posted October 8, 2006
  by Amy Powell, Real Meals In Minutes

The great thing about having a hobby (or in my case a passion) such as cooking is that your friends know what to give you for all those important gift-giving occasions, from birthdays, to Christmas, to the small vacation souvenir. If you're lucky, well traveled friends and family will make sure that your cupboard is stocked with enough tools and materials to keep creative juices cooking at least until the next round of gifting occasions appears on the calendar.

For me, this season’s souvenirs from friends produced a bounty of fanciful food items to stoke my culinary inventiveness. There was Turkish coffee, Syrian saffron, white truffle oil, and what seems a token bottle of booze from every country that produces spirits. Which is all of them, I think.

These delights of the kitchen look glorious in their foreign, decorative packaging with indecipherable inscriptions. They truly are begging to be used. While my own travels often inspire my home cooking adventures, it is through the gifts of my friends that I am free to travel vicariously through the lands I have yet to reach on my own by means of a small sampling of their cuisines.

If any food is redolent of the French countryside, it is most certainly the truffle. Sadly, truffles are beyond the reach of the kitchen commoner. But thanks to modern blending, white truffle oil is available in most American gourmet stores. A drizzle of this earthen liquid transforms an everyday beef carpaccio into an upscale appetizer that that one might expect to order after a day of strolling up and down the Champs Elysées. And there is nothing more sinful than topping a cream soup or an already rich and silky risotto with a splattering of the same.

Then there was the saffron. The very mention of it carries me off to the land of Arabian nights. As the world’s most expensive spice, harvested from the stigma of a flower, one is practically royalty just by breathing in the aroma. It takes over 13,000 threads to equal one ounce. So a gift of this stuff should be appreciated, treasured, and used for only your most important guests--like yourself! Not to mention, it produces the most lovely sunset colored reddish-orange hue for any sauce it is added to.

As for the booze, such a gift can be the impetus for throwing a party in the first place. The cane sugar liquor from Brazil known as cachaca is the base for an increasingly popular drink known as a caipirinha. Caipirinhas are essentially lime, sugar, cachaca and ice. A nearly flavorless and potent liquor, this beverage should come with the following warning: more than two of these per person could result in serious temporary memory lapses!

So with summer vacations done and documented in photo books and credit card statements, we look forward to the time when travel season comes back around. Until then, there is always the opportunity for a virtual vacation from the exotic reaches of your kitchen with gifts from around the world. Let your imagination run free and bon voyage!

Rack Of Lamb With Carrot-Saffron Coulis Recipe
http://www.cdkitchen.com/


Serves/Makes: 4
Ready in: < 30 minutes

* 2 racks of lamb
* Salt and Pepper
* Olive oil
* 1 pound carrots
* water
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 2 pinches saffron
* salt and pepper
* 1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Season lamb on all sides. In a large saute pan, preheat 4 T. oil over medium high heat. Brown meat on all sides. Transfer meat in pan to oven, flesh side down.

Meanwhile, peel carrots and cut into one inch pieces. Add in single layer to saucepan. Cover with water just to top of carrots. Add salt, pepper, saffron, and butter. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until carrots are completely tender. Add to blender. Puree until smooth, adjust seasoning if necessary and return to heat to reduce down to desired thickness.

Cook meat for 10-15 minutes until thermometer measures 135F. Remove from oven and cover with foil tent and let sit for 10 minutes. Carve meat and serve with saffron carrot sauce.

©2008 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction of this article may be made without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.

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