Vic Zaud (from the House of Zaud)

Vic & how we know each other

So Vic is the Vic I spoke of in the post about Marc.  Also an amazing designer, entrepreneur, and marketing genius.  We also share a soft spot for 911s, which you just can't coach (as a side note  I just decided to sell my Prius and keep my 911...I am sure I will spend time in purgatory for this).  One of the more meaningful insights (at least to me) that I stumbled across a few years ago is that the people you meet in new ventures are as (and often more) life changing and transformative then the ventures themselves.  While I have been fortunate to know some amazing people in my brief journey, Vic and Marc where the first two I really met outside of my circle.  The impact is immeasurable in as much as who they are as individuals and their influence on me as the opening of the eyes that it is a pretty big world outside said circle :-)  While Vic's impact has been significant and multifaceted in my life, perhaps most enduring in it all has been his teachings in the language of Brand.  While I am a long way from mastering the language, he guided me out of the dark cave where I was scribbling on the wall with charcoal!  Thx Vic :-)

What we chatted about

How Vic works too much and too damn hard!  For those who know me this might sound a bit funny coming from my pen, but seriously this guy works harder then most anyone I know and with a dedication, passion, and persistence that is to be in awe of.  In fairness I should note that Vic is doing some work on a few of my pojects, so I am probalby half to blame for it all :-)  Speaking of other projects, I shared with Vic that as I spin up my new venture I am finding myself a bit "desireous" of a few more people to work closely with.  I think I am a bit like House in that I need others to bounce ideas off of and work through issues.  It is hard to do ones best work alone, as conflicting a statement as that may appear.  Speaking of projects, chatted a bit about SmallBusinessMatters and getting it out of the gate.  Some good insight that will move it along to the finish line I think.

What we cooked up

I was having a hankering for lamb, and so was Vic. He hinted at doing some flavor of balsamic reduction which was quite tempting, but I stumbled across this recipe in along the way and had to give it a go (one might try to infuse a little balsamic in the aforementioned next time around...might even kick it up a notch or two). On the salad front, it was all about Vic, and it was a most excellent contribution, though it turned out not to be a salad really, but a warm veggie thing, but whatever one calls it, it was quite good. I should also confess this was the first time I have ever cooked lamb in my life (will be true for this project for most everything really aside from quesadilla :-)

Provencal Rack of Lamb (sourced from epicurious)

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves (i upped it to 3)
• 2 teaspoons chipped thyme (fresh stuff, no stems)
  
• 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary (fresh stuff, no stems)
• olive oil
• 2 medium tomatoes, halved
• 1-pound frenched rack of lamb (4 to 8 chops, size dependent)
• 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced (1/3 cup or so)
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.
2. Mince and mash garlic to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir together with herbs and 1 tablespoon oil.
3. Put tomatoes cut sides up in an oiled small baking dish and drizzle with a third of garlic mixture. Roast until tender, 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, pat lamb dry and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch oven proof skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Brown lamb on all sides, 4 to 6 minutes total. Transfer lamb to a cutting board and discard oil from skillet.
6. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in skillet over medium heat and cook shallots and potatoes, stirring occasionally, until edges are browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in water and half of remaining garlic mixture and remove from heat.
7. Rub remaining garlic mixture on fat side of lamb racks. Arrange lamb over potatoes and roast in oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meat (do not touch bone) registers 130°F for medium-rare, 20 to 25 minutes.
8. Let stand, loosely covered, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with tomatoes.

Editorial: The magic here is the garlic paste situation and the roasting of the lamb over the bed of potatoes and onions (btw, I just put the lamb on the pan and threw the whole think in the oven). The onions end up a little bit carmalized when you cook them in the skillet which seams to work out pretty well. One of the main things I would change next time around would be to double the amount of potatoes used and perhaps a bit more onions. The combo of them with the lamp is most excellent and one years for more of it. When in season, I suspect this dish would go well with heirloom tomatoes. I am not really sure what an heirloom is, but when it is attached to a tomato it seams the make the tomato look and taste quite a bit better :-)

Chard ala Vic

Ingredients

• 1 busschle of chard and note that this cooks way way down, to about 20% the volume of what you think you bought
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon sea salt...not sure if it needs to be sea salt, but i like sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• olive oil

Method

1. Mince up the garlic and put in larger 12" deep pan with oil, pepper and salt
2. Wash the chard, but leave some water on it after you do so (kinda helps steam it)
3. Put the chard in the pan with all the seasoning and heat on medium high
4. Stir everything up. The idea here is to do this all real time, ie, don't cook the garlic first, just let it cook along side the chard.  Be sure to cover the pan with a lid to help "steam" it along.
   
5. Stir every 2-3 minutes until a total time of 10 minutes cooking or until it cooks down in size and the chard works to your taste

What I learned

• Chard is a quality substitute for spinish.  I don't much care for spinish, but have often thought it is good for me and I should eat more of it.  Chard looks like a most excellnt plan B.
• Be careful with lamb as it is easy to overcook.  Got this just in time, but if i would have followed the timing of the reciepe we would have been eating carbon the old fashion way.
• Vegies can actually taste good and are pretty easy to make.

Comments

[zemoonelf]

whats up everyone

great forum lots of lovely people just what i need

hopefully this is just what im looking for looks like i have a lot to read.