Bleeting of the lambs

Darien ordered two lamb loin chops through our winter CSA, Fall Line Farms. Although they were small cuts of meat, I decided to build my meal around them. I selected dishes and ingredients that reminded of Mediterranean cultures. The lamb chops themselves were browned and then cooked in a mixture of chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, chopped kalamata olives, onions, red wine, rosemary, and parsley. The other main dish was a rice pilaf, but instead of making it the way Darien usually does with vermicelli, I added currants and toasted pine nuts, spiced up with cinnamon and turmeric. Darien suggested that for the liquid I use her homemade vegetable broth, which she has begun making by tossing all of her leftover odds and ends into a pot for boiling, and then freezing the mixture. It gave the pilaf a more flavorful, richer taste.

For my vegetable, I roasted asparagus. What made this special was a balsamic vinegar reduction, which was very easy to make. I dribbled on the reduction after roasting the spears, then followed with some virgin olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese.

Finally, I made a spinach salad with fresh white mushrooms. The recipe called for stale bread, which  I didn't have, but found I could pop some bread in a low heat oven and get a similar effect. I fried the bread in hot olive oil to make my croutons, then used the remnants of the oil to saute some minced garlic and whisked in the juice from two fresh lemons for the dressing.

I had most of the ingredients on hand, so I had little shopping to do for this meal. I thought the different dishes worked well together. No part was in itself difficult, but keeping everything going and on schedule was a two hour trial. For such a meal as this, a larger stove would have been helpful. I feel sorry for the one who had to wash dishes after dinner.

Beans: color me white

I wanted to make something with white beans. I found a winter vegetable soup that uses cannellini beans. I used to think beans were beans, especially if they are white. I know better now. Cannellini beans are longer and larger than the typical navy white bean -- and navy beans themselves have several varieties, the most well-known being the great northern. All of these beans are typically referred to as kidney beans.

After I understood what I was after with the cannellini beans, I turned my attention to the pancetta. Sometimes called Italian bacon, pancetta is closer to a fatty prosciutto than to bacon, which is smoked. The fattiness of pancetta make it a good saute choice for flavoring a soup, which is what my recipe called for. First, however, I had to find the pancetta. I called the meat departments of several markets and no one had any. I learned that one could substitute the fatty end of prosciutto, or blanch a bacon that is not too smoked in a pinch. I was disappointed, but was happy to discover that when I went to the market I should have been talking to the deli people and not the butchers.

After those little adventures, everything came together more or less. The best thing about this recipe was being able to put the onion and the garlic in the broth without having to peel them. After simmering for over an hour, they were both removed. The next best thing was the colors. The soup itself was pretty damn tasty, which is the third best thing. I've had it three days running now.

Something is fishy

I realized that I needed to get cracking on my resolution because I would be in Boston the next weekend. I saw a recipe for spaghetti anchovy and garlic pesto. Normally, I would stay away from anchovies, but Gabriel made a Caesar salad recently that was absolutely delicious. I never realized that one could prepare anchovies by essentially dissolving them, leaving all the taste and none of the slime. Gabriel did it by whisking the anchovies into the dressing. My recipe called for sauteing the anchovies in olive oil with garlic. Together with the pesto, it made a nice complement to the pasta.

In addition to the spaghetti, I also roasted green beans by rubbing them with oil and sprinkling with salt. I didn't time things too well and the beans remained in the oven longer than I intended. They dried out and became more like potato chips. Peter and Darien claimed they were delicious, but I would have preferred a more succulent side dish.

Overall, the dinner was good, but too salty. I found out later one can leech the salt out of anchovies by soaking them in cold water. I'll file this one away for future reference.