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…okay, not quite, but sorta! The “secret ingredient” is…MUSTARD!

I was asked to try a couple of varieties of Grey Poupon mustard, and then give you my honest opinion of them. Well, since I’ve been a fan of their original Dijon mustard for years now, I was all over this one…very interested in trying some of the new mustards that they’ve recently come out with.
So, this past Friday, Mister Mailman came a-knockin’, and this was what was in the box…two full-sized jars of Grey Poupon mustards…”Harvest Coarse Ground” and “Hearty Spicy Brown”. That’s them, right over there… <—–

Now, when someone asks me to undertake such a project, I take it very seriously. All I really had to do was maybe slap the stuff on a sammich, a hot dog, and write about how I liked it.

But since I often use mustard in cooking, I decided to have a lot of fun with this, and see how many things I could make, in one weekend, using these mustards.

I began with deviled eggs. Mike and I both love ‘em, and it’s a nice little snack / appetizer thing to have around. I don’t have an exact recipe for this…I just made up a bunch of hard-boiled eggs, and when they chilled down, I peeled the. Hard-boiled eggs are WAY easier to peel when completely chilled. Then I cut them in half lengthwise, and scooped the yolks out into a bowl, and mashed them up with a fork.

I then added some mayonnaise…not too much, just barely enough to hold the mixture together. Add a little at a time until you reach this point. Then I put in a couple of spoonfuls of the Grey Poupon Harvest Coarse Ground mustard. After that, I just spooned the mixture back into the egg whites, and it was time to chow down.

Most deviled egg recipes call for mostly mayo and that mustard powder stuff…the Grey Poupon gave it much more of a bite, and a little crunch, as well. Definitely a hit around here!
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Next up was trying the Hearty Spicy Brown Mustard. My original plan was to bake up a regular loaf or rye bread in my bread machine, and try this with ham sammiches for lunch today.

But then, I thought…why don’t I try to find a recipe where the mustard is actually baked into the rye bread? I looked through my vast collection of cookbooks, and I finally found one, in “Bread Machine Baking: Perfect Every Time” by Lora Brody & Millie Apter. The original recipe called for Dijon mustard, but I used the Hearty Spicy Brown instead.

I almost went nuts towards the end of the baking time for this bread…the aroma of the mustard and caraway seeds was just too wonderful! The resulting bread lived up to its scent…very yummie, and, when used for ham sammiches with more of the same mustard…wicked awesome! I’m a rye bread junkie, and this was by far the best I have EVER had!
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But I wasn’t done yet! We had a MUSTARD dinner tonight!

I slightly adapted a recipe from “Julia & Jacques: Cooking At Home”…Julia Child’s leg of lamb with a mustard-rosemary rub. Once again, she called for regular Dijon mustard, but I thought it would be good with the Harvest Coarse Grain mustard.

I decided to roast the lamb in a cast-iron skillet…my favorite type of cookware. Also, I had an ulterior motive…I wanted to use the pan juices from the lamb in which to cook the side dish of Rosemary Potato Wedges (from “Cooking in Cast Iron” by Mara Reid Rogers). That recipe called for the potatoes to be cooked in bacon fat. I had no bacon on hand, and since lamb is kind of fatty, why not make use of the lamb fat? Waste not, want not!

Some of the mustard rub ended up in the lamb cooking juices, so the potatoes came out kind of mustardy, as well.

But I couldn’t leave the mustard thing alone. When Mike and I were at the store yesterday, I let him pick a fresh veggie to have with the lamb. He picked broccoli. And I, of course, found a creamy mustard sauce to cook it in, from “The New Basics Cookbook” by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins. The original recipe was for green beans, but hey, broccoli is green, too…at least it was last I checked!

Anyhoo, pictured here now is the final result…lamb, potatoes, and broccoli.

The mustard flavoring was not overpowering, but it gave everything a nice bite; it complemented the strong flavors of the lamb and broccoli. The lamb came out nice and tender, the mustard rub kept it nice and juicy inside.

And that was my “Iron Chef” weekend, with the secret ingredient of mustard. I didn’t do it all in an hour, and no, there’s no mustard dessert here! But I had a good time giving these new Grey Poupon mustards quite the workout, and they passed with flying colors! Mike and I were both more than happy with everything I made with them, and we’d most definitely buy these mustards at the store and use them for these, and other great recipes!

Some of the recipes used here are in the *read more* part of this post. Enjoy!

Mustard Wheat-Rye Sammich Bread
for the bread machine – makes a one-pound loaf
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2/3 cup water
1/3 cup Grey Poupon Hearty Spicy Brown mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup unbleached white bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons yeast
Optional, but required for me…caraway seeds to taste. I refuse to eat rye bread sans caraway seeds!
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Put ingredients in bread pan of machine in order listed. If you have a machine that says to put the yeast in first, then just reverse the order. But most machines are like mine, liquids, then dry ingredients. Set machine to the whole wheat cycle, one pound loaf size, medium crust, press START.

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Roast Leg of Lamb with Mustard-Rosemary Rub
serves at least 8. You will need to plan ahead, as the lamb needs to marinate in the rub for at least a few hours, or for as long as overnight. An instant-read thermometer is highly recommended for this dish, they cost less than $10 at most kitchen stores.
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1/3 cup Grey Poupon Harvest Coarse Grain mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2-3 large cloves garlic, chopped fine or put through a garlic press
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped fine
2-3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 – semi-boneless leg of lamb roast, about 5 pounds or so, excess fat trimmed away
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For the rub, combine the mustard, soy sauce, garlic and rosemary in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking well to combine. Use a rubber spatula to spread this over the lamb roast, cover and refrigerate.

When ready to start cooking, preheat oven to 325 degrees F., and have a rack set in the lower third of the oven. Place lamb roast in a 12″ cast-iron skillet, place in oven, and roast for 1 1/2 hours. Check temperature, medium rare is 140 degrees F. It might take as much as two hours to get there, though. Medium rare is when it’s still kind of pink inside, in case you don’t have a thermometer and need to cut into the roast to check.

When done, remove roast to cutting board, keep warm, let sit for 15-20 minutes to *rest*. It gets tired from all of this abuse! Leave the cooking juices in the pan if you’re going to make the potatoes…

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Rosemary Potato Wedges
You can cook the potatoes ahead of time for this. I don’t peel them, just scrub them well. Just plop the wedges in cold water, bring to the boil, and then lower the heat and cook for about 15 minutes. Drain and either refrigerate or proceed with recipe.
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1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 pounds potatoes, cut into 4-8 wedges and cooked, as above
2 tablespoons fresh minced rosemary
salt & pepper to taste
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That skillet with the lamb cooking juices in it…put it on the stove over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes. Add the cooked potato wedges, rosemary, and salt & pepper to taste, and cook, stirring every so often, for 6-9 minutes, or until heated through and browned nicely.

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Creamy Mustard Sauce For Veggies
Here, I used it for broccoli, although the original recipe called for green beans. Amounts here are for 12-16 ounces of veggie, but this can be easily doubled for more. Cook veggie of choice…usually just blanch them in boiling water, run under cold water, and then toss in the sauce when ready to serve.
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2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chicken broth, canned or homemade
3 tablespoons heavy or whipping cream
2 tablespoons Grey Poupon Harvest Coarse Ground mustard
12-16 ounces cooked veggie of choice (green beans, broccoli, etc.)
Salt & pepper to taste
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In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in chicken broth, cream, and mustard. Cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add cooked veggies, toss until coated and warmed through. Season with salt & pepper and serve.

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I hope you’ll try these recipes using these great mustards, and enjoy them as much as we have!