A few weeks ago, a friend sent me a box full of mason jars carefully wrapped in bubble wrap. As I carefully unwrapped each mini-package, my urge to dabble in new recipes or recreate traditional cooking became overwhelming. My friend, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, was using me as a tester for her friend's new food company. Well, I was certainly game! Easter was approaching and some of these goodies could be used to reinvent our annual tradition of having lamb for Easter dinner. Included in the box were the following from Acacia Foods:
Salsa
Strawberry-Margarita Jam
Caribbean Spice Rub
Tangylicious BBQ Sauce
We had in our freezer a stash of ribs that we'd been itching to cook for a while. Now, finally, we had a good reason to barbecue the two racks. And the leg of lamb. And all the vegetables we'd just picked up from our local CSA. Yes, that's right, our Easter dinner was turning in to a large breakfast-lunch-dinner feast for two and a half plus two dogs.
One rack of ribs was rubbed with the spice rub while the hickory wood chips heated up in the grill. The other rack was left alone to serve as the control group. (Yes, that's why this blog address is ScienceChef.blogspot.com ... I'm a scientist by day, chef by night and on weekends.) The leg of lamb was rubbed with home-grown rosemary while potatoes boiled in the stock pot. As everything was coming together, I raided the refrigerator for any BBQ-able vegetables, including onions, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, and bell peppers. The vegetables were lightly coated in grapeseed oil and sprinkled with a bit of coarse salt.
As soon as the grill was hot enough, the leg of lamb was set on the top shelf and the two racks on the bottom shelf. This proved to be a potential mistake, as the grill was likely too hot for the spice rubbed rack that ended up charring, whereas the chunky leg of lamb ended up being raw despite having reached the internal temperature of 140F.
Scrapping off some of the charring, the rubbed rack was still edible though the Caribbean spices didn't really come through. The 'control' rack was pretty juicy but unfortunately quite fatty. This rack gave us the chance to try out the Tangylicious BBQ sauce. This is quite delicious and I appreciated that it was not as volatiley sweet as conventional BBQ sauces commonly found at grocery stores. My husband has had his share of St. Louis BBQ having grown up just a couple of hours outside of the Midwest BBQ Capital. Even he was delighted by the fresh, homemade taste of this BBQ sauce. Lastly, the lamb was great, even if it was a bit bloody by the bone. The aroma of rosemary permeated through most of the meat and the impromptu wet rub I made once the leg was on the grill was a perfect match to the tenderness of the lamb. (The sauce consisted of dijon mustard, vinegar, tarragon, salt & pepper. Maybe some other stuff, but since it was impromptu, as with most of my cooking, I don't remember every little detail. I know, I should keep a lab notebook just for the cooking I do.)
In addition to the delectable vegetables that complimented the meat wonderfully, we had a bag of organic yellow corn chips that we broke open to try the salsa because, well, why not. The salsa is very fresh, unlike its mass-produced, store-bought counterparts. It was a lightly roasted tomato flavor as well as a more subtle spiced flavor that lingers just long enough after the last bite. While I'm sure there is some garlic in this recipe (yes, I lost the little pamphlet my friend included in the package), it is not in the slightest overwhelming or socially grotesque. There is nothing worse than being at a crowded party and having that yucky taste of garlic or its relative, the onion, in your mouth. Well, maybe there are worse things, but that's definitely in my Top 10. Any how, this salsa is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Well, Easter was coming to an end, we had our fill of meat and vegetables and the dogs were busy burying the bones somewhere in the backyard followed by lying down on the cool cement to commence with the post-prandial coma. The next day, I'd have to go to work and leave my fellow foodies at home. But what about the jam?!
To the rescue: Easter Monday! I still would have to go to work, but why not make breakfast a bit more festive? So we broke out the baguette from the freezer (yep, another bargain from the whole food nutrition store bought on sale and stored for later use), the homemade butter, goat milk, CSA strawberries and the Strawberry Margarita Jam. Yet another winner, lightly sweetened, tangy, tart and refreshing! I'm pretty strict when it comes to giving my young son sugar-laden, processed foods, but am a bit more lenient when 1) food is made fresh, 2) the sugar isn't an overwhelming component of the flavor, and 3) the main ingredient actually comes through, provided the main ingredient isn't sugar, HFCS or CS. Since his newest food craze is Australian Weet-Bix, I put a bit of the jam on one of the biscuits and he went bananas! All-around this jam made us all very happy, whether it was on a a baguette with a bit of butter or a lightly toasted piece of toast to munch on during the drive to work. Even as I write this, my sympathetic nervous system is activating my salivary glands. *Nom nom nom nom*
All in all, the products from Acacia Foods I had the opportunity to try were delicious and I highly recommend anyone who can get some of their goods make the investment. At this time, I have no idea how much any single treat costs ($6 range is the word), but the prices would certainly reflect the quality, passion and creativity put in to creating these items. To me, these are important aspects to high quality foods and I am willing to pay premiums for anyone who can bottle them successfully!
I look forward to trying more of the products. Hopefully the small start up company develops a user-friendly, easy to find website for online ordering. When it does, I'll let all ya'll know.
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