A gorgeous day ... for cooking!

Well, it's been a fabulous weekend here at Chez Dupree.

It's been sunny with tons of blue skies - and slightly warmer temperatures.  In the mid-50s yesterday, upper 60s today.

My less-than-a-year-old washing machine was finally fixed on Friday after being out of commission for two weeks.  You have no idea how much you take your appliances for granted until they stop working.  So, today was all about catching up (yesterday was all about drinking a lot of vodka and not doing much but play computer games, hit the local grocery for a few necessaries, and watch Ab Fab re-runs) and it looks like every garment we own is now pegged out on the lines.

While Brian was out in the yard today - and also washing down the front porch before the winter snows (our house is white + we live near schools with diesel schoolbuses = filthy exterior) - I was in my culinary happy place.

Between laundry loads, I managed to whip up a chicken apple and leek soup - it sounded just strange enough to be delicious and it is.  Here's a recipe similar to the version I made - but my recipe called for adding 3 Tbls. of Calvados, which - of course - I didn't have in the house, so I threw in some Drambuie in the final few minutes of cooking, along with the heavy cream.  The end result - simply incredible.

I find that I increasingly drawn to more rustic styles of cooking, as opposed to the more complicated, finished and streamlined dishes I used to favor.  It seems simply a more honest and,  frankly, more relaxing way to cook.  Especially in the Autumn and Winter months, when you can cook things slowly and allow flavors to meld.  There's also a certain satisfaction in hacking something seemingly impenetrable into bits, knowing that in a few hours, it's going to be transformed into something velvety and lovely in your bowl.

So, it's no surprise that - after the success of my soup for lunch and a few more chores and loads of laundry under my belt, I was back in the kitchen dissecting a lamb shoulder for Irish stew. 

When I was at the grocery yesterday, I found a lovely 2.6 lb lamb shoulder that had been reduced by 30% because the meat had begun to darken.  DUH!  That's the absolute best kind of meat to cook with - so I snapped it up.  I used to have a great aunt who refused to buy meat that didn't look like it had any age on it - pinky red and fleshy?  Not for her.  She wanted the edge of a stank on it.  And her food was always insanely good.

Anyway, I chopped up my last leek and a huge onion, chopped up four gnarled carrots, plucked some fresh rosemary and thyme from the garden (a pub proprietress in Ireland once told me, "when it comes to Irish stew, the secret is the thyme.  You can never use enough thyme in a good Irish stew.") and the stew is currently bubbling away in my oven, awaiting the addition of the potatoes.

And she's right - it makes all the difference.

Now if I could only find something similar to those floury potatoes they grow over there - there's nothing like that here - at least that I've found.

Ah well  - I have a lovely Italian red wine all ready to accompany that luscious lamb, and that will help me get over that for now.

Anyway - I hope you've had an equally wonderful weekend. 

Cheers - and happy eating!