Fuct TV Dinner (Matthew Shepherd's pie)

Fuct gets a recipe because quite frankly they need the publicity so if you click on the title you go to their webpage and can have the chance to see them.

They are a very talented group or to my mind a wonderful profusion of great ingredients that could use the help of a chef (director) to take them to the next level. Their show has a promising opening in that they completely get your attention and make you believe they will go anywhere for a laugh, and sometimes they do. It is however a promise that could be much more fully realized. There is a lot of intellegence and if they are willing to take a few more emotional, physical and intellectual risks they will be the caviar of comedy troupes ie fish abortions.

Less reliance on beer and more reliance on strong writing with great endings will move them into prime time.

For now they get a tv dinner. It's a nice meal, you can make it home, ahead of time and pop it in the oven to warm. Maybe not as fresh and exciting as you like, but still fully satisfying.

Makes 4
1 lb ground lamb
1 large onion
1 finely chopped carrot
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
5 finely chopped cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper
A dash of freshly grated nutmeg

The topping
5 Large potatoes boiled and mashed
Heavy Cream
1/4 lb butter
1/2 pound goat cheese
1 cup finely chopped green onion or scallion

Brown the lamb with the onion, when almost done add the garlic carrot and and celery. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, when it tastes right add the peas and chopped olives and set aside.

Mash your potatoes and make creamy with the butter and enough heavy cream. Stir in the goat cheese and scallion.

Divide the lamb into 4 small ovenproof dishes. Full cover with the mashed potato mixture.

Pop in the frig, go see Fuct at the Cherry Lane. Come home hungry and a little drunk, pop in oven for 30 minutes. Consume at a rapid pace. Take a Rolaids. Go to bed.

If you don't eat them in a couple of days, freeze. They freeze well.

Olive Tapenade

This one is so easy I am always surprised that they charge so much for it when they put it in jars.

2 cups olives pitted (REAL olives, nothing from a can or jar)
2 cloves raw garlic
Juice of one lemon

All goes in the food processor and puree. You can make it chunky or very smooth. Spread it, dip it, eat it.

This is especially good as a sandwich spread, try it with humble tuna fish or some smoked salmon and cream cheese.

I use it in the lamb meatballs but have also thrown a few tablespoons in a pasta sauce at the last minute or based a whole simple sauce around the tapenade for a shrimp pasta.

A staple in my refrigerator and keeps for a couple of weeks.

Lamb Meatballs

As I looked in my refrigerator and saw the leftover Ham of God I gravitated to the more original Lamb of God and pulled out the leftover scalloped potatoes, a pound of ground lamb and the rest of the asparagus.

Cooking only for myself I decided to make my lamb meatballs.

1 lb ground lamb
1 cup green or black olive tapenade
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon Turmeric
2 good grinds of black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 egg

Mix with hands. They will look a little orange because of the seasoning but don't let it scare you. Make little balls with your hands and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and remove for sauce.

I made the sauce not so much for tonight but for the left overs. You can make and freeze a bunch of the meatballs and then make the sauce fresh each time to heat them in. This is enough sauce for 8 meatballs.

2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons salted butter
Splash of olive oil

Chop the garlic and warm it in the oil until it is soft but not brown. Add the milk and the butter. When the butter has melted add the meatballs and let the meatballs simmer in the sauce for a few minutes.

Milk sauce with lamb may sound weird but trust me when you have this over rice and the creamy buttery sauce penetrates the rice you will be in heaven. With the potatoes I didn't so much need the sauce, but you should know how to make it.

Between the olive tapenade in the lamb and the salted butter in the sauce you really don't need more salt unless you like things really salty.

8 meatballs, half a pound of asparagus, a good bunch of leftover potatoes and two glasses of Terra Rosa Malbec, (A wine I really love, fruity and dense and complex enough to stand up to spicy lamb and gentle enough to sip by itself) and I am quite content to be sitting here at the computer for a few minutes before going back to my book.

Roberta Flack is playing in the background and it is just about as romantic it can be...considering I am alone tonight. What can I tell you...sometimes you have to be happy with lamb meatballs, wine and a warm bed, and even if not completely happy at least content.

I am so having some chocolate.

Tax Day Comfort Pasta

Paying for a war is expensive and I took a big hit with taxes today. After a long train ride back into Manhattan from the tax preparers office I was hungry. I had beautiful olive tapenade and hummus ready to go. I have gorgeous fresh artichokes and asparagus. Surrounded by this beautiful healthy food I put a pot of water on to boil and grabbed the sausage. I needed comfort food. I broke a long standing rule of NEVER having pasta for a main and weighed out 4 ounces. I chunked tomato and garlic and made a great sauce. A sauce that should have been paired with a penne or a fussili but I broke a culinary rule and had it with spaghetti. I needed to twirl.

A couple glasses of Ox Malbec Reserve later (leftover from last night's party) I am calm enough to commit this recipe to paper. It was damn good and I am much comforted.

1/4 pound of spicy sausage (An Italian is great, tonight I used Carolina loose meat sausage which has both more hot pepper and salt than an Italian)
2 large ripe Roma tomatoes chunked
10 cloves of garlic chunked
10 green olives chunked
1 cup Rose wine (Any decent wine will do)

4 ounces of pasta (Two appetizer portions or one comforting meal)

Brown the sausage and when it is almost done add the chunked garlic to brown and soften a bit. It doesn't take long. Throw in the tomatoes and wine, stir and lower heat to reduce. In about 5 minutes throw the pasta in the water. When the pasta looks almost done throw the olives in the sauce and put the sauce on high. Toss the pasta in the sauce til glazed and put the whole mass in a warmed bowl.

You need a strong red with this one and don't plan on kissing anyone who does not eat it with you.

My someone is in D.C. (Or is it Baltimore) tonight and the cat is visiting a friend so my breath will not offend. I wish the IRS offices were open, I would go over there and breathe on them.

p.s. If you want the garlic smell gone from you by morning take a few chlorophyll capsules before bed.