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The Meal Continues Although the lamb riblet meal blog entry was almost two weeks ago, I’ve done a lot of cooking since then. I’m going to use this “hunker down” period in New York to catch up with some of the more noteworthy meals. It’s eerily quiet outside. Subways and businesses are shut down – pretty much everything is closed in preparation for the hurricane. In the city, though, it has not even started to rain. After my last post, I had about 7 leftover riblets. I would not have cooked so many at once, but I had bought a 3 1/2 pound pack from 3 Corner Field Farm (www.dairysheepfarm.com) at the Greenmarket one Saturday. Since I had to defrost all of the riblets at once, I knew we would have enough for two meals. I wanted the meals to be different from each other.  Lamb Riblets, White Bean and Chard Puree, Patty Pan, Flat Beans, and Beets The day after making the riblets I taught a pasta-making class to the professional students at the Natural Gourmet. The class was small that day, and there was a lot of food left over. I made use of the cooked beets and white bean sauce. I tossed the beets with balsamic vinegar and cocoa nibs, and blended the white bean sauce with some Swiss Chard, which I wilted quickly first. The reheated riblets were delicious over the creamy sauce. I picked up some patty pan squash at the greenmarket on the way home, which I sliced, sprinkled with salt, and then left to “sweat” for 20 minutes. I sautéed them until golden on each side, a couple of minutes per side. The flat beans I cooked in a small amount of water (sort of steaming it in the pan) with a sprinkle of salt. When they were cooked, after about 5 minutes, I tossed them with the basil puree I had made the day before. It was a delicious, quick, vegetable-packed meal. Here’s the recipe for the White Bean Sauce, from my first book The Voluptuous Vegan. You can freeze it and have the sauce ready to whip out at a moment’s notice. Serves 6 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 cups onions 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 3 ½ cups cooked cannellini beans (or navy or great northern) or 2 15-ounce cans Salt 5 sprigs fresh sage Handful fresh thyme sprigs 1 bay leaf 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice Freshly Milled Black Pepper Warm the olive oil in a medium pot. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat until the onions are softened and starting to brown, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a few more minutes. Add the beans and 2 ½ cups water (or better yet, bean cooking liquid if you have it) along with 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Tie the herbs together with a cotton string and add them to the pot along with the bay leaf. Cover, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. Add the lemon juice and a sprinkling black pepper. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Remove the bay leaf and tied herbs.
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