Leg of Lamb with Espresso Coffee Marinade!

As a lover of both espresso coffee and lamb (can it be helped having grown up in New Zealand!), this recipe which includes a marinade of espresso coffee, cream, and honey caught my eye. It's from a Canadian newspaper which is celebrating the Vancouver Winter Olympics with a recipe-a-day from 14 of the nations competing in the games.

This one is from Finland, which was noted as a challenge by the chefs at the Vancouver restaurant tasked with coming up with the recipes for the project. No, salted fish wasn't considered appropriate for the recipe, especially since each day's recipe is featured on the restaurants menu for the day. Anyhow, I for one, am going to give this one "a shot" (pun intended).

Leg of lamb with espresso coffee, cream, and honey marinade

Espresso and Yoghurt

Hmm...this article caught my eye - a recommendation to add espresso to your yogurt. I'd do it. Why not? The article comes from dreaded spoke in the axis of evil, also known as Iran. The Tehran Times no less, in the section of the article sub-titled "Customize your yogurt" recommends

Add 1 tablespoon of cool espresso or extra-strong coffee and 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup to 6 ounces of plain yogurt to make Mochaccino Yogurt.

I know that yogurt features highly in Middle Eastern cooking, and of course where else do you think Arabica beans come from, but this sort of caught me by surprise.

By the way, despite Arabica coffee beans coming from the Arabian Peninsula, tea in fact reins supreme in Iran according to my Iranian cubemate at the office.

Cowboy Steak with Espresso Coffee Rub

Here's an espresso coffee recipe that you weren't expecting. No, you don't drink this one; it a recipe for a steak rub and was featured on the Food Channel. Hey, anything with espresso coffee as one of the ingredients has to be good!

Cowboy Steak

1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chili powder (i.e. dried poblano chili), or chili powder of your choice
1 1/2 teaspoons espresso coffee; fine ground (just like it always should be, guys!)
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander (some countries call this cilantro)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 pound top sirloin steak; 1 1/4 inch thick


Spray a large nonstick pan with cooking spray and preheat it over medium-high heat.

In a small bowl combine all the ingredients for the rub and coat the steak well on both sides.

Cook steak for 14 minutes, turning once, for medium to medium-rare.

Allow steak to sit for 5 minutes before drinking, I mean, serving.

Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Recipe

Apparently, the Cinnamon Dolce is currently one of the hottest drinks at Starbucks. Of course, by “hot”, I mean popular. One possible reason is that the cinnamon dolce syrup comes in a sugar-free option which I understand is very popular because we all want to lose the extra pounds we put on throwing back those mild-based coffee drinks. (Lactose, in case you haven’t yet realized, is a form of sugar. Lactose, fructose, sucrose. Get the hint?)

How about the recipe for the Cinnamon Dolce? Well, of course it’s espresso-coffee based, but it’s the syrup that makes the dink. For a small, a.k.a. 12oz Starbucks “tall” drink, it’s a double-shot of espresso, 3 pumps of said cinnamon dolce syrup, and steamed milk, topped off with foam. Sprinkled on top is a mix of sugar crystals and ground cinnamon. I presume if you ask for the “sugar-free’ syrup, you’ll ask to have them hold the sugar topping, but who knows?! It is Starbucks after all, and as I said already, lactose is a sugar, so “hang the expense, and lay it on!”

The idea of sprinkling cinnamon on top of coffee drinks isn’t anything new, by the way. In New Zealand where I hail from, a cappuccino is traditionally served with either cinnamon or chocolate sprinkled on top. Not quite sure where that came from, but I’m suspicious that it might have been introduced by the Dutch who, in a wave of immigration into New Zealand after the Second World War, opened the first “coffee bars” to make a living in their new homeland and laid the groundwork for today’s deeply entrenched coffee culture.

Anyone know if the Dutch sprinkle chocolate or cinnamon on any of their coffee drinks? I’d be interested to know.

Cappuccino Recipe per the Italian Authorities

The recipe for cappuccino according to the National Institute for Italian Espresso (as reported by The Guardian)

Ingredients:
125ml milk, no warmer than 3-5C, containing a minimum of 3.2 percent protein and 3.5 percent fat
25ml shot of hot espresso coffee

Directions:
Add coffee to a 150-160ml capacity ceramic cup
Froth milk with steam to a temperature of 55C, and add to cup
Add sugar and stir gently

Some interesting things to observe in this "official" recipe from the land from which the cappuccino originated. First, it's not clear whether "add coffee to...ceramic cup" means extract the espresso directly into the ceramic cup. My "golden rule of espesso making" is to extract directly into the cup - do not extract into a pitcher and then pour the espresso into a cup as you will leave a good amount of the crema behind. For more details, read my "golden rule for making espresso".

Second, note they say "ceramic cup". American coffee shops take note; ditch your paper cups! And we, the customer, should be demanding it. Coffee in a "real" ceramic cup tastes better. Serving it in a paper cup conveys the sense that coffee is just another fast food to be consumed on the run. Stop, take a breath, and enjoy your coffee in a ceramic cup. Oh, and join with some friends in doing so.

Third, the milk is added to the espresso. That's certainly how it should be - extract the coffee into your cup, and pour the milk into the espresso. Not the other way around. Again, pay attention America!

Finally, add sugar and stir. Hmm, I don't have sugar with my coffee, whatever kind of drink it is. Interesting that the Italians consider it essential to a cappuccino. This I would definitely say can be left to personal preference. In some countries, such as New Zealand and Australia, a cappuccino is typically served with either ground cinnamon or chocolate sprinkled on top, something I've never seen as an option in the U.S. Also, I note in New Zealand, that a cappuccino is often accompanied by a chocolate candy, typically a chocolate fish.