Rack of Lamb

On April 22, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes12 Comments

Lamb is one those ingredients that is quite common around the world and can be used in a variety of dishes. Rack of lamb makes for an elegant presentation and is very tasty if cooked properly. One of the keys to cooking a successful lamb is to make sure that you don’t undercook or overcook the meat. Having an instant-read thermometer handy is a key to making sure that you cook the lamb to a medium temperature with a pink interior. Lamb can also be a little gamey, so using a flavorful rub is a way to make the flavor a little more mild. We really enjoyed this as a wonderful weekend dinner.

INGREDIENTS

Rack of Lamb – frenched
3/4 tbsp Kosher Salt
1 tbsp Dried Rosemary
2 cloves Roasted Garlic (or 1 clove Garlic)
1/8 cup Dijon Mustard
1/8 cup Stone Ground Mustard
1/2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbsp Olive Oil

INSTRUCTIONS

In a small food processor, combine the salt, rosemary, garlic, Dijon mustard, ground mustard, balsamic vinegar and pulse to form a thick paste. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees. Rub the fat-side of the lamb with the mustard and herb paste, spreading it evenly across the lamb. Let the lamb sit at room temperature with the rub for about 30 minutes. Place the lamb in a cast-iron skillet or roasting pat with the olive oil, bone-side down, and cook until the internal temperature reaches about 135 to 140 degrees. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into either double chops (2 bones per chop) or single chops and serve.

Learning How to Photograph Food

On April 15, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Food, Recipes3 Comments

Like many people, we are always taking pictures of our food in restaurants and they usually turn out quite well, even though we just use our phones. Then we come home, recreate a recipe from someplace that we’ve traveled and take photos of the dish that we’ve created. We almost always dislike the pictures of our own dishes. We have read about different techniques from using a south facing window, how to plate the dish, color contrasts, etc., but still they just don’t seem to photograph well. Obviously, we don’t expect our food to necessarily look like it was prepared by a chef, we are only home-cooks and not classically trained.

We have heard that people don’t expect photographs of food to look perfect, like those from a magazine, and that a little messy can be just fine. No one has ever complained about our food pictures, other than ourselves, but we find that we are forever trying to improve at it. Maybe we are trying too hard, perhaps we should just sit down with our dinner and take a picture with our cell phone instead of taking them with our camera.

If anyone out there has some great advice, we would love to hear it. Just like we aren’t professional cooks, we also aren’t professional photographers, so if there are some simple tips, we would love to hear it. Maybe we are just being too hard on ourselves, but want to continuously improve what we do. Do any of you struggle with taking photographs of food or anything else?

Brasserie Restaurant in Frankfurt, Germany

On April 8, 2020April 9, 2020 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes3 Comments

During the time that we spent in Frankfurt, we enjoyed a wide variety of restaurants, especially French, Italian, and Thai restaurants. Because we went out for lunch and dinner almost every day, we looked for places to eat that were located around our apartment where the staff was friendly, the food was good, and the atmosphere was inviting. There was a restaurant near the underground train station that we used almost on a daily basis that became our go-to place to eat and have a glass of wine. The restaurant was called the Brasserie, but unfortunately it closed down shortly after we left Frankfurt.

Located next to Alte Oper (the old opera house), the Brasserie was basically a French Bistro with fresh food of the finest quality. We enjoyed many wonderful meals at the Brasserie, but probably our favorite meals would have been the plate du jour, which obviously changed daily. Like many European restaurants have a somewhat limited menu, but everything we ate there was truly delicious. The meals were not particularly expensive, despite being in the heart of the tourist area and only about a ten-minute walk from our apartment.