After Hours

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<p>Ostrich & Shrimp in Roasted Garlic Sauce</p>
<p>12 pieces of ostrich</p>
<p>- sliced medallion size and then pounded into scaloppini</p>
<p>8 jumbo shrimp</p>
<p>15-20 medium sized whole garlic cloves, peeled</p>
<p>? bottle dry white wine (preferably Chardonnay)</p>
<p>1? pints heavy whipping cream</p>
<p>1 medium sized red onion, finely chopped</p>
<p>? stick lightly salted butter</p>
<p>Salt and pepper to taste</p>
<p>1 tbsp. olive oil</p>
<p>? cup chicken stock</p>
<p>Prepare ostrich and set aside. Place garlic cloves in the oven at 400? F and bake until soft and brown (about 10-15 minutes). In sauce pot, melt butter and saut? onion until onion is fully cooked (about 5 minutes). Add wine and allow to cook until dry over medium heat. When mixture has evaporated back down, add roasted garlic and puree. Place back on heat and slowly add cream, salt and pepper. Bring to slight boil and set aside. In separate pan, heat olive oil, add ostrich, sear on both sides and set aside. Add shrimp and chicken stock to oil; saut? until cooked. Add ostrich and sauce. </p>
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<p>Serves 4 </p>
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<p>Courtesy of Chef Lea Zeqira of Cafe di Roma</p></font>

This article reminded me that the New Year is fast approaching and time for my annual Resolution to quit smoking.  Article:  <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4438372.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4438372.stm</a>  Maybe that's the trick, I'll have one of our servers send me supportive emails and text messages.  Of course, with my pass/fail record on this Resolution, I'll have to set it to send messages every 10 minutes :)

<h2><font face="Arial Unicode MS">Lamb Patties Moroccan Style With Harissa Sauce</font></h2><pre><span><font size="2">Serving Size: 4<span>   </span></font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>  </span>Amount<span>  </span>Measure<span>     </span><span>      </span><span>  </span>Ingredient </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">--------<span>  </span>------------<span>  </span><span>       </span>--------</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>1 1/2<span>  </span>pounds<span>       </span><span>        </span>Ground lean lamb</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>2 Tablespoons<span>  </span><span>             </span>Grated onions</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>  </span><span> </span>1 teaspoon<span>      </span><span>            </span>Paprika</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>4 Tablespoons<span>   </span><span>            C</span>hopped parsley</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>1/4<span>  </span>teaspoon<span>      </span><span>         </span>Crushed dried hot peppers </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"> (or more to taste)</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>Salt to taste</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>1/4<span>  </span>teaspoon<span>      </span><span>         </span>Ground black pepper</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>1 Tablespoon<span>    </span><span>            </span>Olive oil </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"> (or more as needed)</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>1 teaspoon<span>      </span><span>            </span>Ground cumin</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"><span>   </span>2 Teaspoon<span>      </span><span>            </span>Chopped garlic</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">Harissa sauce (follows)</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"> </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2"> Put the lamb in a mixing bowl and add all </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">of the ingredients except the </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">vegetable oil and harissa sauce. Blend the mixture </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">thoroughly by hand.</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">Shape the mixture into 8 equal size patties similar </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">to hamburgers.</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">Heat the oil in a non stick skillet large enough to </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">hold all of the </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">patties. Two pans may be necessary.</font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">Add the patties to the skillet. Cook them over medium </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">high heat about 3 to </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">4 minutes on each side, depending on the degree of </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">doneness desired. Drain </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">on paper towels and serve with the harissa sauce </font></span></pre><pre><span><font size="2">on the side.</font></span></pre>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span><br /></span><b><u><span>Harissa Sauce</span></u></b><u><span><br /></span></u><span><br /><b>Yield:</b> About 2 1/2 cups<br /><br /><b>1/4 pound dried chiles, stemmed and seeded (see note)</b><br /><br /><b>3 or 4 cloves garlic</b><br /><br /><b>1/4 cup tomato paste</b><br /><br /><b>1/4 cup red-wine vinegar</b><br /><br /><b>1 1/4 cups olive oil</b><br /><br /><b>Salt</b><br /><br /><b>Freshly ground black pepper</b><br /><br /><b>Ground coriander</b><br /><br /><b>Ground cumin</b><br /><br /><b>Curry powder</b><br /><br /><b>Ground cinnamon</b><br /><br /><b>Ground cardamom</b><br /><br />Place chilies and garlic in a small saucepan; cover with water and bring to a <br />boil. Let boil for 1 to 2 minutes; drain. Transfer to a blender. Process until <br />almost smooth, then add tomato paste and vinegar; pulse to combine. With the <br />motor running, add olive oil in a thin stream, processing until smooth.<br /><br />Add 1/4 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, coriander, cumin, curry powder, cinnamon <br />and cardamom; pulse to blend. Taste, and then adjust each spice according to taste.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoBodyText"><em><font size="2">Note: You can adjust the spiciness of this sauce with your choice of dried <br />chiles. Anaheims and poblanos are relatively mild, for example, while habaneros <br />are extremely hot.</font></em></p>
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<p>Hope everyone had a great holiday season.  Bit of a rough one for me.  Transmission blew up on the van in Kentucky on the way to Indiana.  Got a wicked cold that has stayed with me for almost three weeks.  In other words, not a whole lot of fun.  The new dual-core computer does help to make up for it though.</p>
<p>Here's wishing all of you a great and prosperous New Year!</p>
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<p>"The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story."<br /><i>~Douglas Adams</i> </p>

<p><strong><a href="http://tinyurl.com/ascba">http://tinyurl.com/ascba</a></strong></p>
<p><span class="newheadline"><strong>BMW site is cut from Google results for cheating</strong></span> <span class="newkicker"><br /></span></p>
<p><strong>Apparently Google has set themselves up as the internet gatekeeper god.  Play by our rules or no indexing.</strong></p>
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