Some times you need a Boule Babka in your life

Some times you need a Boule Babka in your life

This worked. This was my hairbrained idea for a Boule Babka! I thought that instead of taking the Boule that I have been making for Abby Dodges #baketogether I would make the same dough into a savory "Babka". Not sure this still would be a Babka if it is savory but I liked the name "Boule Babka".

So what I did was this...

I made the Boule dough. I roasted a head of garlic. I removed cloves of garlic from their skin and I mushed it up with a stick of softened butter. I spread on the dough that I had divided into two balls (which I let rest for 10 minutes) and rolled out. I then sprinkled (liberally) Gruyere cheese and italian herbs. I rolled each of the two rolled out doughs into a log.

I cut each log in half and fit into a 9" cake pan. I then let rise again until the dough was above the top of the pan.

Voila. Then I baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. This was a huge success. Just look what you bite into when you take your first bite.

Ok, the picture is a little blurry but you get the idea. This bread was awesome.

We made lamb chops to go with the bread. Sad part is that we have used all our lamb. Good news is that Leyden Glen Farm has another one for us (waving to Kristen). The recipe we used was from Pure Simple Cooking by Diana Henry. This is one of my favorite cookbooks and I have made almost everything in there. This recipe was Harissa Marinated Lamb Chops with Bean Chickpea Puree.

Dinner was awesome.

So Sunday was to be the hand rolled couscous that we didn't make last weekend because Dr. Food had the stomach flu. I had every intention of doing it this last Sunday but by the time we went grocery shopping and ran errands my body hurt. I know that I have been whining a lot about "hurting" but this compressed disc thing sucks. Luckily I am going for a cortisone shot on friday (ouch) and I am hoping to be like new again. Well maybe that is overstating it a bit. Why am I blabbing on about my ailments? It is because I backed out of the hand rolled couscous because of pain. I still went ahead to make the goat tagine that we wanted to make.

So it started off well enough...

and turned to this. Ew. I then asked my idol ... um, BFF uh, amazing source of all things tagine...Paula Wolfert, what I did wrong. She then told me about Fava beans and how you cook them. These were dried beans and I did a quick soak on them. Paula told me that you really can't do that with old world beans. Live and learn.

I will leave you with a picture of a happy customer in my kitchen. My P-man loves Gamma's cooking. Shut up, I didn't feed him the dried out goat. That is brisket and "braplie" on his plate.

Harissa Marinated Lamb Chops with Chickpea Puree

adapted from Pure Simple Cooking - Diana Henry

1. Mix harissa with garlic, oil, lemon juice, and mint and put the chops into it, turning them over to get well coated.

Cover and put them in the refrigerator. Leave them to marinate for 1 1/2 hours to overnight, turning them every so often.

2. To make the chickpea puree, simply chuck everything (except the onion and cilantro) into the food processor, with salt and pepper to taste, and blend. The mixture doesn't have to be absolutely smooth. Fry chopped onion in a little oil until golden brown and slightly singed in some parts. Sprinkle onion and cilantro over the puree.

3. Heat a grill pan for the chops. Salt the chops at the last minute and then cook them over high heat for about 3 minutes on each side, until browned but still pink in the middle.

4. Serve with chickpea puree.