Favorite Lab Recipes

Anita Payne’s lamb marinade

leg of lamb cut into grillable pieces ~2 inch chunks

Marinade

quartish bottle apricot nectar

¾ c Sauterne wine

½ c Worchestershire sauce

¾ c soy sauce

4 cloves garlic minced

Combine, marinade grillable chunks (~2-3”) of leg of lamb overnight.

Notes

1-Looza apricot nectar works well

2-Sauterne is expensive. Need some sort of wine for acid-semillon/sauvignon blanc blends work well-stay away from oaky stuff.

3-I use low sodium Tamari instead of soy and it is plenty salty

Spicy Sichuan Noodles (Dan Dan Mian)

Recipes by Dawn Yanagihara, From Cook’s Illustrated May 2001

If you cannot find Asian noodles, linguine may be substituted. If you are using natural peanut butter or Asian sesame paste that has a pourable rather than spreadable consistency, use only 1 cup of chicken stock. Also note that the amount of sauce will coat 1 pound of fresh noodles but only 12 ounces of dried noodles, which bulk up during boiling.

8 ounces ground pork

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons dry sherry

Ground white pepper

2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce

4 tablespoons peanut butter or Asian sesame paste

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1–1 1/4 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)

3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

12 ounces dried Asian noodles or 1 pound fresh Asian noodles (width between linguine and fettuccine or 12 ounces linguine

3 medium scallions, sliced thin (about 1/3 cup)

2 cups (about 6 ounces) bean sprouts (optional)

1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, toasted in small dry skillet until fragrant, and ground (optional)

1. Combine pork, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, sherry, and pinch white pepper in small bowl; stir well with fork and set aside while preparing other ingredients. Whisk together oyster-flavored sauce, remaining soy sauce, peanut butter or sesame paste, vinegar, and pinch white pepper in medium bowl. Whisk in chicken stock and set aside.

2. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large stockpot over high heat.

3. Meanwhile, heat 12-inch skillet over high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add peanut oil and swirl to coat pan bottom. Add pork and cook, scraping along pan bottom and breaking up pork into small pieces with wide metal or wooden spatula, until pork is in small well-browned bits, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add peanut butter/chicken stock mixture; bring to boil, whisking to combine, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer to blend flavors, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Stir in sesame oil.

4. While sauce simmers, add noodles to boiling water and cook until tender (refer to package directions, but use them only as a guideline and be sure to taste for doneness). Drain noodles; divide noodles among individual bowls, ladle a portion of sauce over noodles, sprinkle with scallions, bean sprouts, and ground Sichuan peppercorns, if using; serve immediately.

Laura’s Comments:

1. One of my favorite recipes of all time.

2. Don’t use cheap oyster sauce, it’s the heart of the sauce’s flavor. The best oyster sauce is Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce. There’s a picture of a lady and a little boy in a boat on the label.

3. The sauce with ground pork can be rather rich. Ground turkey or chicken is an excellent substitute. It won’t be nearly so fatty and the flavor won’t be affected significantly.

4. I’ve always used peanut butter for this recipe. Any kind will work but the best flavor is from the freshly ground stuff you can get at “Whole Food’s” type stores. Cashew butter if you can find it is fantastic.

5. I find that Chinese noodles are too tender for this weighty sauce, linguine or fettuccine works better.

6. The recipe can be stretched and lightened a little by including sliced onions (yellow) and/or white mushrooms. Add them after the meat has been stir fried.

7. For heat I substitute sambal oelek (~1/2 to 1T) for the red pepper flakes.

Ruk's Spaghetti Sauce

One medium onion

Olive oil

One 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes

One 12 ounce can of tomato paste

Garlic powder

1-1/2 teaspoons of oregano

1-1/2 teaspoons of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1 tablespoon of sugar

Pour a coating of olive oil into the bottom of a large stew kettle. Dice the onion and stir-fry it on high for about three minutes (until the union pieces start getting a bit soft). While you are frying the onions sprinkle in a little garlic powder.

After about three minutes, turn the heat to simmer, dump in the entire can of can of diced tomatoes (juice and all), dump in the entire can of tomato paste, and stir all this around. Then add the salt, pepper, oregano, and sugar. Stir this until it's consistent. Then cover the kettle, and keep the heat on low (this stuff burns easily). You will need to simmer this for about 1/2 hour. Stir occasionally.