Slow Cooked Rabbit in White Wine and Garlic

When I asked the vendor at the farmer's market how to prepare the rabbit, he recommended to cook it with white wine in a slow cooker. I was searching around the Internet for inspirations and came across this recipe, which is super simple and came out great. One thing I did find out is that rabbit is mostly very lean meat, and even in a slow cooker it can be a bit dry. This was easily solved by making a reduction sauce from the leftover broth and drowning the meat in it. So good...

This recipe would also work great with a whole chicken.

Source: christinecooks
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 hours
Yields: depends on the size of the rabbit, 2-4 portions

Ingredients:

• 1 whole rabbit, skinned
• 12 cloves of garlic, whole
• 6 cippolini onions, peeled and whole
• 10-12 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 bays leaves, fresh if you have them
• 1 cup cooked bacon pieces
• 5-6 whole peppercorns
• sea salt pepper to taste
• 1 plus ½ cups dry white wine, divided
• 1 cup broth
• 3 tbsp. butter

Directions:

1. Place the onions, garlic and peppercorns in the bottom of a slow cooker.
2. Sprinkle with half the bacon and thyme sprigs.
3. In a skillet, sear the rabbit with the bacon fat on all sides.
4. Place the rabbit in the slow cooker on top of the onions.
5. Pour half the wine into the hot skillet and scrape the bottom, allowing it to reduce by half.
6. Pour this over the rabbit and sprinkle the remaining bacon and thyme.
7. Add the broth and rest of the wine into the slow cooker.
8. Cook on high for 4 hours, then on low for 4-6 hours.
9. It's okay to carefully turn the rabbit over once or twice.
10. When tender, remove thyme stems, and transfer rabbit to a large plate.
11. Strain the broth, and add the bacon, some garlic and onions to the plate.
12. In a sauce pan, reduce about 2 cups of the broth down to half a cup. It's ok to add some garlic - mash it up.
13. Add the butter, stir, and pour over rabbit.

Nut Butter Paleo Bread

Because sometimes you just gotta have bread. The original recipe is excellent. I'm just swapping some cashew for almonds to get a bit more protein vs carbs.

Source: elanaspantry.com
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yields: 1 small loaf

Ingredients:

• ½ cup almond butter
• ½ cup cashew butter
• 5 eggs
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp maple syrup or honey
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp celtic sea salt

Directions:

1. Mix the wet ingredients in a blender.
2. Pulse in the dry ones.
3. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes, then let cool

Chopped Chicken Liver - Two Versions

Here are the two versions of chopped liver according to our family recipe. When I was young my dad used to ask me each time which version I wanted and I would pick. I have no idea why Americans hate chicken liver so much. It's delicious and very healthy!

Version 1: "Classic" Chopped Liver

Source: Family recipe
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yields: About 12 servings

Ingredients:

• 3 yellow onions, chopped
• 4 tbsp. ghee or butter
• 2 lb. chicken livers
• 3 hard boiled eggs 
• ½ cup chicken stock (from powder is ok)
• 1 tbsp. brandy
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

1. Clean the livers from all the tendons. Cut them into 1" pieces or less.
2. Fry the onions and set aside, keep the butter in the pan.
3. Bring to very hot and fry the livers in the butter. Small pieces cook fast and you should be done in about 2 minutes. Careful not to dry it too much and remove once both sides turned mostly brown.
4. Process the livers, onions and eggs in a meat grinder with the finest screen.
5. Add the brandy, salt etc. and half the stock.
6. Mix into a uniform paste. Add the rest of the stock if too dry.
7. Cool in the fridge for 6 hours.

Garnish:

• Finely ground hard boiled egg white
• Cut onion into long strands, dip in milk, shake in a plastic bag with flour, deep fry until golden and dry with paper towel.

Version 2: "Rough" Chopped liver

Ingredients:

• Same as the "classic", but without the brandy and stock
• 2 scallions finely chopped
• Optional: 3 small radishes, diced

Directions:

1. Instead of processing with a meat grinder, finely chop all the ingredients with a knife.
2. Mix lightly in a bowl.

Easy Lemon Curd

My neighbor/landlord has another property in the country side and she gave me a bunch of Meyer lemons for the holiday - how awesome is that! I was trying to figure out what to do with all of them and decided to slightly modify a recipe I found online and make it a bit more Paleo compatible and less sugary.

Source: savorylotus.com
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yields: about 4 cups

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• ⅔ cup raw honey or maple syrup (sub for 2 tsp gelatin and 2 pkts stevia dissolved in ⅔ cups of cold water)
• 1 cup fresh Meyers lemon juice
• zest from 2 lemons (strained)
• 6 TBS ghee
• pinch of unrefined sea salt

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, yolks, honey (or substitute), lemon juice, and zest.
2. Transfer to a small pan and heat on low.
3. Add ghee and stir until dissolved.
4. Bring heat to medium and continue to cook/stir for about 6 minutes until mixture thickens and tiny little bubbles begin to come up.
5. Turn off heat and mix in the salt. 
6. Immediately pour into 1 cup mason jars and let cool in the fridge.

No-Bake Low Carb Protein Bar

When I first saw this recipe I was skeptical, but now I am addicted. Another great thing is that it doesn't take much time to prepare!

Source: yummly.com
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3-4 hours to cool in the fridge
Yields: 6 bars

Ingredients:

    •    ½ cup flax seed meal or almond meal.
    •    2 tablespoons coconut flour
    •    2 tablespoons sesame or chia seeds
    •    10 tablespoons protein powder (I mix some vegan, egg white and hemp. Experiment!)
    •    3 tablespoons raw cacao or carob powder
    •    ⅛ teaspoon stevia powder
    •    ⅓ cup almond butter
    •    2 tablespoons coconut oil
    •    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    •    ½ cup water (more or less, as necessary)

Instructions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients well.
2. Mix together almond butter and coconut oil in a small cup (it a good idea to melt them first).
3. Add almond butter and oil to dry ingredients and mix well with your hands. The mixture will be rather dry and crumbly.
4. Mix in vanilla extract and water. Add the water gradually so you don't overdo it.
5. Line a small pan with shrink-wrap and press in the dough evenly.
6. Chill in the fridge for several hours to set, then cut into approximately 6 pieces. Wrap each one individually for a quick snack, or store them with wax paper in-between.

Good substitutions for flax seed meal is any ground nuts or even quinoa flakes. If you are alergic to nuts then sunflower seed butter works just as well!

Braised Goat Shoulder with Sweet Paprika

I am very fortunate to live across the street from the largest farmers market in northern California, located in San Rafael near the Marin County civic center. It is a foodie's dream: tons of local organic produce, artisan chocolates, specialty cheeses and sustainably grown meats. A good friend of mine owns a booth there and turned me on to goat shoulders - such an excellent cut! The perfect combination of meat and fat, mmmmm...
I've been looking for different ways of preparing it and came upon a recipe which is the basis for the one below. My version is slightly different and adopted to a slow cooker instead of a dutch oven.

Source: shepherdsongfarm.com
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 5 hours
Yields: 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• Goat shoulder (~ 2 lbs.)
• Salt, pepper, sweet paprika
• Cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 small carrots, diced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 cloves of garlic, chopped
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 2 tbsp. sherry vinegar, or white wine vinegar
• 3 cups bone broth
• 1 tbsp. ghee

Instructions:

1. 2 hours before cooking, sprinkle the goat liberally with salt, pepper, and a light (but thorough) dusting of sweet smoked paprika. Place in the fridge and bring out about 30 minutes before cooking.
2. Start the slow cooker on 'high'.
3. Heat oil in a large pan and brown the goat generously on all sides until very brown. Remove from the pan.
4. In the same oil fry the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots on medium-low for about 5 minutes.
5. Add white wine and sherry vinegar and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Add the broth and bring to boil.
7. Place the shoulder in the slow cooker and cover with the hot broth.
8. Don't be tempted to add salt! It's okay if the broth is a bit bland at this point.
9. Let cook far about 2 hours, then turn over the shoulder every hour or so. It should be very tender after a few turns, about 4-5 hours from the start.
10. Take out the shoulder and move it to a covered pan so it stays warm and moist.
11. Strain the broth and pour into a sauce pan. Bring to boil.
12. Turn the heat to 'low' and reduce the sauce until it is quite thick. It should take about 30 minutes and you should have about ½ cup left. Mix in the ghee. Add salt if necessary.
13. Cut shoulder into slices, place on a warm plate, cover with sauce and serve.

Raw Dairy Free Chocolate Drink

This drink is based on a product I found at the local farmer's market. I am trying to reverse-engineer it and I think got the recipe pretty close now. I won't say the name of the company because I don't want to affect their business., but they have really good raw chocolate products.

Source: Undisclosed
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Yields: 2.5 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups filtered water
• ⅓ cup raw cashew butter
• 4 tsp raw cacao powder
• 3 tsp raw coconut sugar or your sweetener of choice
• Vanilla extract or vanilla bean
• Pinch of salt

 Instructions:

1. Use a blender to mix everything.
2. Store in the fridge. Will stay good for about a week but if you are like me it will be gone the same day.

Beef Tongue - Our Family's Recipe

This is our family's traditional beef tongue recipe. I'm posting it this time of year in light of the upcoming passover holiday.

Medium size beef tongue

Source: family recipe
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 2-3 hours, plus time for cooling.
Yields: about 12-18 servings, depending on the size of the tongue

Ingredients:

• 1 medium to large beef tongue (from grass fed beef preferably)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2-3 carrots, sliced
• 1 celery root, sliced
• 3 bay leaves
• 4-6 garlic cloves, sliced
• Parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

      For hot tongue also:

• 1 medium onion, diced and fried
• 1 Basket of white or baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
• Chicken soup powder

Instructions:

1. Wash the tongue, place in a pressure cooker together with the first batch of ingredients and cover with water. Cook for 45 minutes or alternatively 2 hours in a regular pot.
2. Let cool for a bit. Take the warm tongue out of the liquids and put inside a plastic bag until it's not to hot to handle with hands.
3. It should now be easier to peal it. Use a knife for the parts that won't peal easily.
4. Put in the fridge to cool down completely, or even in the freezer afterwards for a few minutes.
5. Cut into thin slices. Should be easier if tongue is very cold.
6. If you prefer to serve cold - use as is along with mustard and pickles.
7. For hot tongue, spread the slices in a pan with a slight overlap.
8. Spread the fried onions and mushrooms on top, cover with liquid from cooking and sprinkle with chicken soup powder.
9. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.
10. Take out of pan with a spatula so not the break the slices. Serve hot.

Scott's Easy Collards

I came across this recipe in the book "The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook" but later found an online version of it. "This recipe from Scott Jones, former executive food editor of Southern Living, is an update to his grandmother's recipe (and a childhood favorite)". This is the picture from the book, which is excellent BTW with lots of good ideas for cast iron cooking. It's probably copyrighted but I don't think they'll mind since I am plugging it.

Source: JonesIsHungry.com
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 90 minutes
Yields: 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 strips center-cut bacon
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 large Vidalia onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 4 (1-lb.) packages fresh collard greens, washed, thick stems removed, and chopped
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook bacon in Dutch oven until crisp.
2. Remove bacon, reserving 2 Tbsp. drippings in pot.
3. Drain bacon on paper towel; crumble and reserve.
4. Cook carrot in hot drippings over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. 
5. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until carrot and onion begin to caramelize.
6. Add garlic and vinegar; cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds.
7. Add collards, reserved bacon, and remaining ingredients.
8. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 1 hours or until collards are tender.
   

(Edit: I've been making this recipe lately with about 4 times the amount of bacon, and a splash of thai Fish Sauce which gives it a lot more character)