As some of you may know, I opened and ran a restaurant with my sister Gail for nearly twenty years. In 1998 we sold Casa Sanchez to our younger sister and her husband. We went into this venture with absolutely no experience in the food service trade, but like everything else I figured I could learn as I went. Fortunately our mother had taught us her culinary secrets well, and we survived and prospered. Much to our surprise, Casa is now the longest running eatery in Bozeman.

Living in Bozeman doesn't alway offer all the exotic styles of eating that one comes to expect living in a big city. As a result I turned my attention to learning how to cook some of my favorite Indian dishes. Before long we found that many of our friends had done the same. We began to organize regular Indian "pot-luck" parties so we could sample the delights that others had discovered.

When Jim Dickson was in Billings to work on Angie's album I had the pleasure to enjoy one of Jim's famous Sri Lankan currys. Deniz told me I'd have to come around for one of his own curry creations. At GLEA, a meal is part of the deal for special guests. Just before they were to leave for Australia, Deniz and Angie came around to do the finish work on the Golden Breed album. As it would the last time we'd see them for six months we decide to host a small dinner party for the band and friends. The main course was this lamb dish that I'd discovered and had been perfecting. It must have been good as Deniz asked me for the recipe the next morning.

Before I go any further I had to point out that the lamb I cook with comes from our friend Becky Weed's Nine Mile Ranch. Becky was one of Karen's coworkers at a failed engineering firm. Rather than return to her work as a geologist, her and her husband decided to take up ranching full time. They grow organic "predator friendly" lamb on an old Gallatin Valley homestead. Their dedication has preserved this historic ranch and supplies the area with some fantastic meat.

Sag Gosht

• Assemble the following ingredients before you begin
  

Ghee	4 table spoons
Mustard Seeds	1-1/2 tea spoons
Garlic Cloves Crushed	4
Cardamom Seeds Crushed	2 tea spoons
Ground Corriander	1 table spoon
Ginger Root Peeled and Chopped	1-1/2 inch piece
Lamb Cubed	2 pounds
Onion Chopped	1
Green Chillis	3 or more, to taste
Sugar	1 tea spoon
Turmeric	1 tea spoon
Spinach Washed, Trimmed and Coarsely Chopped	2 pounds
Salt	1-1/2 tea spoons
Black Pepper	1/2 tea spoon
Yogurt	3 table spoons

• You are going to cook this on the stove top and in the oven, so you'll need a flameproof casserole with a lid

• Melt the ghee in the casserole. Add the mustard seeds and cover. Fry the seeds until they begin to pop.
  
  
• Add the garlic, cardamom, coriander, and ginger and fry for one minute, stirring constantly so the spices don't burn
  
  
• Add the lamb, and fry until the cubes are browned
  
  
• Add the onion, chillis, and sugar. Fry until the onion is golden brown
  
  
• Add the turmeric and spinach and cook for three minutes
  
  
• Add the yogurt, black pepper and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for one hour.
  
  
• After one hour, uncover, stir well and place uncovered casserole in a preheated oven set to 300F for twenty minutes
  
  
• Remove from oven and eat....

Go Home

Journalism    Human Resources    Label Artists    Audio Engineering
Commerce    Extra-Curricular    Networking
Mailing List