Homemade Grits

You know that Whitesnake song "here I go again"....sometimes I feel like that is me and Alex. Maybe you disagree....maybe you agree but whatever the case here we go again. We made homemade grits. I realize this is another one of those things that may be cheaper or easier to buy from the grocery store but we do things because we can. Or rather as Alex pointed out tonight "you do it for keeping old traditions alive and I do it to make you happy." But whatever the reason we did it.

 So how did this come about? A new local produce market is the start of our story. We have been meaning to go into the City Produce store since seeing it but have just never made it there. So we decided that we were going before Alex deployed. So we went and it was a lovely store! They had all kinds of great local in season produce. If it was not cheaper than a grocery store it was at least equally priced. So I know several grocery stores that are losing my business to this new store. Unfortunately it does not have a website so I cannot give this store due credit. But if you are in the Fort Walton Beach area and do not know where the place is located feel free to contact me. But I digress. While in the store we found some indian corn half priced. Alex suggested that for $1.35 for a bag of 8 mini ears of corn we could feed the birds. So we bought it. When we got home Alex or as I call him the Dreammaker, thought there must be something else we could do with it besides feed the birds. And what did he find? A couple of websites talking about grinding indian corn into grits and cornmeal. And so the dream was born!!

Now we just had to figure out the equipment necessary and if we had the inclination. HA! Who am I kidding? Of course we had the inclination. This is us we are talking about here. So now the fun....labor intensive....part of the process. We rounded up bowls and trashbags and mortle and pestle and food processor and spice grinders and set to work. First up was getting the kernels off the cob. This was suprisingly easy...at least for me, you see I just sat there and watched Alex pluck them all off!

Then we tried the mortle and pestle to crack the corn before grinding. However this was not the best idea. It not only did NOT crack the corn but it dirtied something that did not need to be dirtied.

Next we tried the food processor. I did not place a whole lot of kernels in the processor but this was also a bust. Perhaps is would have worked if I had filled it to the top. But I was nervous that the mini food processor was going to break. So next up was my spice grinder or coffee grinder. And it worked beautifully...for a little while. Unfortunately after doing one bag of mini corn the edge on one of my blades broke off! AHHH!! I was so upset. But the more we thought about it we realized that my coffee grinder was not made to withstand the force of grinding corn and especially on such a large scale. We were disheartened and with Cub Scouts that night we put a hold on everything.

So now it is a new day and a new perspective. Alex realized we were idiots for not pulling out the meat grinder! Oh man what were we thinking yesterday?? So now we were cooking with peanut oil! So lets pull out the corn and get started!

 Alex pulled out the meat grinder and set to work grinding! At first the corn was flying everywhere. Part of it was hitting the plate under the grinder but other parts were hitting the walls behind Alex and in front of him. So he got creative and rubber banded a gallon sized bag around the grinder and collected all the cracked corn. Score one for us!! Now our process is by far not the best or easiest or quickest method to get grits and cornmeal. But it worked and that is why I am sharing with you. If you have a large coffee grinder and I mean a handcranked one that might be easier. But we did not so we used what we had. First we cracked the corn with the meat grinder.

After the first grind I sifted with a mesh strainer to get the cornmeal pieces out. My mesh strainer is plastic and it got the job done. Once the cornmeal was out I dumped the pieces leftover in a collander.

I realized the night before that whatever passed through one of my smaller holed collanders was the perfect grit size. So everything that passed through was considered grits and everything else got another pass through the meat grinder.

And there was quite a bit of large pieces in the collander when I was done. Some pieces were barely cracked while others ran right through the grinder without getting any smaller. But it was a step we felt was necessary to save my coffee grinder. So we did another pass doing the exact same thing. Meat grinder, mesh strainer, collander.

Now it is time for the coffee grinder. We decided to continue using my broken coffee grinder if if would still grind corn. And it did. So we saved our new spice grinder and continued to use the broken bladed one. And you know what? I went through all the corn in the bowls you saw above. So its not that bad huh? This time it gets a little tricky. I placed the setting of the coffee grinder on various speeds and coarseness. Once I got it right I let it run and then do the same straining process. Run it through the mesh strainer to get out the cornmeal.

Then run it through the colander to get out the grit sized pieces.

 

Next dump it into a bowl or run it back through the spice grinder if you have enough to run back through. We did. I ran it through the spice grinder twice. And what was ever leftover became food for the birds. But to be honest between all the  corn we had we only had 1/4c of birdfood. Not too shabby. And what do we have to show for it??

What you are looking at in the back in the measuring cup is our leftovers. On the left we have yellow indian corn grits and cornmeal and on the right we have multi-colored indian corn grits and cornmeal. Although if we are being honest here I have left some out. We ate some purple grits last night for dinner and I placed some in a cannister. So we had a little more purple grits than is shown in the picture. We started with 8 bags of corn. We had 4 bags of large corn with 3 ears each and then 4 bags of mini corn with 6-8 ears each.

So whats the verdict? The grits were good. They tasted like....well...grits. And I suppose its a good thing too since they were in fact grits. But it was a lot of work. But if this lasts us for awhile then perhaps it is for the best. If I were to receive free indian corn I would do it all over again. If the economy collapses I will not be short of grits since I have the ability to make my own. But if I run out, I will more than likely go back to buying my cornmeal and grits from the store. But you know what? They will make a nice showy item of food for someone one day. And to be honest thats really why I do these things. Its showy and flashy and fun. Because who has purple grits in their freezer? This girl, thats who!!

Gardening

This week we have officially started our journey into gardening vegetables. We had our herb/onion/garlic box in our front yard but we wanted to experiment with vegetables and fruit. So we got permission from the housing authority on base to raise the ground about a foot and enclose it with wood and fill it in with dirt. They said as long as we leveled off the ground when we left the house, whenever that it, they were okay with it. So we got to work!

We went to Lowe's and bought the wood and the metal braces and got some soil. We ended up making the box 6' long by 4' wide and about 12" high. But after putting the wood into the ground it is probably more like 10-11" but who is really counting?

So after getting the box together we dumped 6 bags of soil in. Turns out that was only about half of what we needed! We also added a half a bag of cow manure to this. Then the next day we went back out and got another 3 larger bags of soil and some mushroom compost. That filled it in just about right.

So now do we wait for spring and plant those vegetables or do we do some late winter vegetables? If you know me at all then you can guess it was the second. I am very impatient and could not wait for Spring to officially get here and plant those crops. So we got some sugar peas, cauliflower, and broccoli. I also had some eyes sprouting on some red potatoes. So we planted three of those and one russet potato.....mostly for Alex.

Now we sit back and wait for the fruits of our labor to produce! I know that this small amount of planting will not keep me from buying vegetables from the grocery store. I know I will only get a couple of servings out of all of this, but it is fun to do it! And that is the most important thing. So get out your gardening tools people.....its time to garden!!

Braised Pork with Cheddar Grits

So what does a foodie do for food on her birthday or birthday party? One might think she would let someone else cook for a change....but not the case in my situation. It gives me the excuse to cook for someone other than my husband. Now I do love cooking for him....even though he can barely taste...but it is much more fun to  cook for people who do not eat my food every day. New people means better expressions and comments. And they may be good or bad. But at least they are new. So this birthday party meal was no different. I cooked for different people. This time I cooked for my dad and step-mom. I had a really hard time deciding on a menu. All I knew for sure was that I was making a lemon pie. So whatever I cooked needed to go with lemon. For days I was stumped until I had an epiphany while watching Top Chef All Stars. One of the guys on the show made a braised pork shoulder on a bed of cheddar cheese/green chili grits with a jicama slaw on top with a Corona Lime sauce drizzled around the plate. (insert angelic sound) I knew instantly this was the dish I was making. I mean it was pork!! I knew that they would love this as much as I would because it is really hard to mess up pork shoulder and grits. And it is universally loved by all people so it would not be a "weird" dish of mine...aka artichoke lasagna.

Well this dish is not for the weak of heart. You need time and patience and more time on your hands. Most of the time is spent cooking in the oven to be honest with you. But there are lots of steps and lots of ingredients. So be forwarned! Also note that I made half a pork shoulder and therefore cut the recipe in half but I will give you the full recipe in case you want a full shoulder.

Pork Recipe:
10lb pork shoulder
2 onions, sliced
2 poblano peppers, sliced
2 jalapenos, sliced
2-4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 bay leaves
3 16-oz cans of green chili sauce**
4 qts veal stock
1 bunch cilantro, washed and rough chopped
3T olive oil
1/4c cumin
1/4c chili powder
3T black pepper
2T cayenne
1/4c salt (way too much in my opinion)

** i found a 28oz can of green chili enchilada sauce that I used and added a can of chopped green chilies to it.**

The original recipe calls for using a pressure cooker and mine is not all the way put together so I did it the old fashioned way....dutch oven in the oven for several hours. I will give you the pressure cooker recipe and add in my amendments for doing it without as we go along.

In a large pot saute onions, peppers, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves until soft and tender. Deglaze the pan with the chili sauce. Then add in the veal stock and the cilantro and bring to a boil. Simmer gently for 10 minutes or until it reduces slightly.

Mix cumin, chili powder, black pepper, cayenne, and salt in a small bowl. Rub pork shoulder with olive oil and then rub the spice mixture all over the pork shoulder. Heat a grill and grill the pork shoulder over charcoal grill for 2-3 minutes per side. At this point i did not want to fool with the grill so I placed in a large and very hot skillet and seared on all sides. In my opinion the finished product did not need the grill flavor to be really good.

Place the shoulder in the pressure cooker. Take the braising liquid and blend in the blender or using an imersion blender until smooth. Pour liquid into the pressure cooker with the meat. Make sure the meat is covered at least 3/4 of the way. If it is not, add some water.

Cook for 45 minutes in the pressure cooker. Check for tenderness and if done remove. I used the dutch oven and cooked on 325 degrees for about 4 hours. If I had a full 10lb shoulder I would have let it cook at least 7-8 hours. Strain off the liquid. Press the meat for 1-2 hours. I was slightly unsure here what exactly they meant. So I left it in a strainer to get all the excess liquid off the meat. Place in braising liquid and keep warm until ready to serve.

Slaw:
1/2-1 red bell pepper, sliced julienne
1/2-1 yellow pepper, sliced julienne
1/2 jicama, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
3 jalapenos, sliced julienne
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/3c lime juice
1/2c canola oil
1T honey
salt to taste

Place sliced vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, oil, and honey until combined. Pour over slaw and toss together. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.


Grits:
4c stone ground grits
4qt chicken stock
1c milk
1/3c chipotle powder I forgot to use and was glad I did
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
3 roma tomates, diced
1c cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Combine stock and milk in a large pot and bring to a boil. Whisk in grits and season with chipotle. Make sure you consistently whisk the grits to avoid unsightly clumps.

Meanwhile saute peppers in a small skillet until tender. Once they are done add the the cooked grits. Add in the tomatoes, cheese, and scallions. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Here is where I part ways with the recipe. I bought the necessary ingredients for the sauce and tried twice before I gave up and did things my way. I will not post that recipe on my blog. However if you would like to see the sauce and try it for yourself then you can click here. My recipe is super duper easy.

Sauce:
veal stock
prepared braising liquid

Take your prepared and used braising liquid from your pork. Mine was reduced and slightly salty. So add some stock to your liquid and bring to a boil. Let it reduce slightly without getting it too salty. Spoon over your meal.

To assemble, place your grits on the bottom. Take your pork and place it on top of your grits. Spoon on some sauce and then top with your jicama slaw.

Now that wasn't too bad was it? I mean it was a lengthy ingredient list and you do need several hours to let the pork cook...but look at it! Doesn't it scream "LOVE ME!" "EAT ME!" All day long we were smelling the pork and could not wait. I was actually nervous that it would not be any good and we would have to order a pizza for dinner. But with something like this it is hard to screw it up. We all ate lots of it. We did pace ourselves since there was dessert in our future. I even sent the leftovers home with my Dad. He said they reheated very nicely. I did not place the cold, crisp slaw on the pork and grits in the tupperware. I mean do you want to reheat your meal and heat up that lovely crunchy slaw? I really hope that you take the time to try this out because you will be kissing my feet later!!

Homemade Vinegar

Ok.....now she's done it. She's gone completely crazy! Making your own vinegar? Why not just buy some from the store? Well my friends the answer is simple. I do it because I can mostly. It is always nice to test your limits and see if you can make something yourself even if it is readily available at every store you go in. And more times than you may realize the homemade version of anything tastes much better than store bought. So now that we have answered that question, we can move onto your next question. How do you make your own vinegar? Vinegar is basically fermented wine. If you left your wine long enough it would turn into vinegar. However that could take a long time. What you need to speed up the process is mother of vinegar. Question? Ahhh mother of vinegar....unfamiliar? Mother of vinegar is the cloudy, slimy substance added to aid fermentation of wine or cider. It can be purchased online in several places or at a brewery. They make red wine mother, white wine mother, and cider vinegar depending on the kind of vinegar you want.

The next process, once you have decided you want to make vinegar and got your mother, is to assemble your next items. The fermentation process will take a few months to mature so you needs the proper storage container. The most important thing is no metal container. You do not want the metal flavor injected into your vinegar. I also would not advise using a glass container. Once it starts to ferment there will be cloudy substances or even a thick curdlike substance inside your vinegar and you may not want to see it. Another factor to consider is a spout. I insisted on a spout for my container so that as the fermentation byproducts, which by the way is another mother that can be transferred into another batch of wine, rise I would be able to pour vinegar and taste or use without disturbing the byproducts. I would recommend ceramic. 

This is my ceramic crock with a spout. We found this one at an antique mall. But they are available online by searching ceramic crocks. 

The next step is wine. Well I am very fortunate in that my father had acquired some bottles of 1982 & 1983  cabernet sauvignon from my grandfather. These were not kept at an ideal temperature and therefore not suitable for drinking. Now why he saved these for so many years....I do not know. Maybe he doesn't even know. But one thing is for sure, after talking about wanting to make vinegar and getting the mother starters from him for Christmas, the old bottles of wine suddenly had a purpose! 

Do you need old wine to make vinegar...absolutely not! Any wine you have or like is just fine. That is what I was going to use before the old bottles came into my life. It can even be pieces of bottles leftover from a party. Now word of caution if you find yourself in possession of old wine, the corks are probably going to break apart on you and not pop out of the bottle. We pushed it into the bottle. It's just easier in my

 opinion. My dad and Alex both tried a little from the 1982 bottle and determined it not so great for drinking. Once we got the bottles home they need to be strained free of cork. But to our lovely suprise one of the bottles already had a large clump of vinegar sitting in the bottom of the bottle. I placed a coffee filter inside a hand strainer to make sure the small bits of cork did not make it into the vinegar. 

Once it was all strained it was time to start the fermentation process. First I brought forth the ceramic crock with spout and thoroughly clean it, of course. Then I placed the mother of vinegar in the bottom of the crock. Finally I slowly poured my strained wine into the crock. By placing the mother in the bottom the pouring of the wine helped to stir the mother into the whole mixture. 

Now the final step is to cover the open top with cheesecloth or other lightweight breathable fabric. We used  an old almost threadbare tshirt. There was a plastic ring that came with our crock so I placed the cloth between the plastic ring and the crock. Now you let it hang out in a warm place for 6 weeks minimum. You can taste it periodically to see how far into the fermentation process it is. This is where the spout comes in handy. 

Mine has been sitting for one week. I will let you know how it tastes as I proceed. Just remember this isn't about easy. This is about a higher quality of food in a society where McDonald's reigns supreme.......even in my house! So take a chance and have a littl efood experiment

Porchetta

Who likes pork? Of course you do....silly question. Well who likes Italian food? Silly question again huh? Of course you do. Well how about slow roasted food? Crispy pork skin? If you answered yes to these questions then you will LOVE this dish! Porchetta. So what is porchetta? It is a boneless fatty cut of pork with a crispy skin on top that is rubbed i garlic and herbs and roasted slowly. It can be done with shoulders or roasts or in my case pork belly. Mmmmmm pork belly. I was going to use a half a shoulder with a nice fat cap but at the grocery store they had pork belly.....and cheap! The only thing was they were in small pieces. But I decided everyone could have their own porchetta for Christmas Eve dinner.  But let me say this.....do not be afraid. My husband was a little nervous because pork belly looks like bacon. There is a big difference though. Bacon is cured and smoked while pork belly is fresh pork meat. And all the fat located in between the layers of meat will keep it moist while rendering down. Its absolutely delicious and something everyone should know how to do to impress friends and family!

Ingredients:
pork shoulder or pork belly

This was some of the pork belly I picked up. You can see a lot of fat mixed with some meat. What you may not see is the skin. It is sitting on the bottom. Dont worry it will be making an appearance soon. The rest of my ingredients are geared for these 3 pieces of pork belly so adjust accordingly. 

5 cloves of garlic, minced

3T fresh minced rosemary

3T fresh minced parsley

2 t fresh minced thyme

1-2t olive oil

black pepper

The night before cooking mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. It should be a thick paste. Do not add too much oil. Rub generously over the non skin side of the pork. Lightly salt the pork. 

Place foil or plastic wrap over your pork and refrigerate overnight.

Using kitchen twine roll up the pork and secure tightly with several pieces of twine. Lay a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Lightly spray the cooling rack with cooking spray. Place the rolled pork skin side up on the cooling rack. Let the meat sit out for an hour before baking to get the chill off of it.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Place porchetta in the oven. You are going to cook it for about 4-5 hours. So make sure to baste your skin every half hour to hour with the fat drippings on the bottom of the pan. If your pork cooks before your skin is crispy, turn your heat up to 500 degrees until skin is crispy. 

Your pork will sit perfectly at room temperature until ready to slice and eat. I decided to slice these into more manageable pieces. Do make sure you snip all the twine off before slicing and eating. The last thing you and your guests want is to bit into or have to pull off twine. 

Now how gorgeous is that?! Makes me hungry for some right now!! But one thing to keep in mind....there will be some excess fat between your crispy skin and the meat that unless you particularly crave straight fat will not want to eat. I told Alex and his mom to pull it away and not eat it. There was no big issue in doing that. But if you do not wish your guests to do that, you could always peel the skin off and scrape away the fat layer. Then either replace the skin or serve the skin on the side. 

We paired our porchetta with a spinach, dried cranberry, roasted butternut squash, and roasted shallot salad with a hazelnut vinaigrette. It helped bring a brightness to our meal. But one thing is for sure.....we ate very well that night!! Hope yours tastes as good as our did.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Oh the holidays.....it's the best time for some really good desserts. Now normally I sit on the sidelines and watch all the better pastry chefs dazzle us with these wonderful concoctions. But you know what?? Not this year!! I vowed to mark my place in holiday 2011 history. And you know what? I think I might have done it with a Red Velvet Cheesecake. Oh yeah.....you heard me. Red....Velvet.....Cheesecake. Is that your drool I see on the screen? Well I definitely drooled.......a lot when I saw it first. It was, believe it or not, in a 1800flowers catalog. They wanted $50 for it and I realized it wouldn't be that hard. So here we are. My success!!


Red Velvet Cheesecake:
1/2c cocoa powder
2 1/2c all purpose flour
1t baking soda
1/2t salt
2 sticks butter, softened
2c sugar
4 eggs
1c sour cream
1/2c milk
1 bottle red food coloring
2t vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 round cake pans. Set aside.


Mix cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.


In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color, and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until mixed. Do not overbeat. Pour into prepared pans. 


Bake 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. 


**I do believe I have typed these in the wrong order. You really should make the cheesecake first since it needs to chill overnight. Whoops! So just pretend I did and make it first.


Cheesecake:
I took this recipe from allrecipes.com. If you would like the recipe with all the reviews click here. 


4 pkg cream cheese, softened
11/2c sugar
3/4c milk
4 eggs
1c sour cream
1T vanilla
1/4c all purpose flour


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Making cheesecake alone you would want a crust. But since I was cutting it up, there was no need. Grease a large springform pan. Set aside.


In a large bowl mix together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in milk. Then add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Mix in sour cream, vanilla, and flour until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. 


Bake for one hour. Turn off oven and let cool inside the oven for several hours. This prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.


Frosting:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 T sour cream
2t vanilla
1 box (16oz) confectioners sugar


Beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add in sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside until ready to frost.


So now the fun begins!! You get to assemble your cake.  Trim the edges off one red velvet cake. If your cake is slightly taller in the center, as most are, slice the top until it is flat. Slice the trimmed red velvet cake in half to create two thin cakes. Place one thin cake on a cake plate or other serving platter. If you want to keep your presentation clean, place 3 small strips of wax paper or parchment paper under the edges of the cake to catch crumbs and dripping frosting. Place a thin layer of frosting on the top of the cake.


Depending on how large your cheesecake is depends on how much you need to trim it. One thing for sure is you will need to trim the edges and probably the top layer. If the bottom of your cheesecake is dark or burned, trim it off as best you can. Once you get it where you want it, gently place on top of the frosted red velvet half. If there needs to be any cheesecake trimming, now is the time to do it. 


Otherwise place the other red velvet half on top of the cheesecake. Take your frosting and coat the sides and the top.  Now take your remaining red velvet cake and in a large bowl crumble it into fine crumbs. Take the smallest crumbs and press into the frosting around the entire side of the cake. Place more crumbs around the outer edges on the top of the cake. And voila!

So now what do you think?? This girl can bake!!! Muahahaha!! But you know what? You could do it too. It isn't the easiest process, but definitely worth it. It tasted quite delicious as well. We all agreed that this could be done with just about any flavor cake you liked. Maybe next time.....chocolate.

Rosemary Rack of Lamb

Lamb......that is the yummy topic today. For those of you reading this and are hungry, it might create discomfort as you will start to drool and stomach will growl in protest for you arent making this right now to enjoy. For those of you hungry.....you will be! 


This meal was eaten at my Dads after Christmas. I was so excited. So we went to the store and Dad bought a beautiful looking 8 rib rack of lamb. And that night we marinated this wondrous animal.


Marinade:
2 lemons, juiced
1/4c chopped fresh rosemary
3T olive oil
1t pepper
1 rack of lamb (7-8 ribs)


Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 


Our lamb was cleaned pretty well so there wasnt much to do to it. Most racks I have seen in grocery stores 
are cleaned pretty well. If you are breaking down large cuts of lamb might I suggest Jacques Pepin's Technique book. Take your rack and trim off the large fat cap on the rack. Leave some fat, but a large portion can be cut off.


Place rack in a gallon zipper bag. Pour marinade over rack. Seal the bag and swish the marinade all over for even coating. Place in the fridge overnight.


Cooking:


1-2 hours before cooking pull the lamb out of the fridge and out of the marinade bag. Let the rack unchill so it will cook more evenly. 


When you are ready to cook preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Use a skillet that can be placed in the oven. 
Turn your stove to high heat. Once the pan is screaming hot add a drizzle of olive oil. Place the rack of ribs in the pan and sear for 2 minutes. Flip over the rack and sear for another 2 minutes. Place you skillet directly into the oven. Cook for 14 minutes and remove from oven. Take the rack out of the pan and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Your rack should look like this. If the smells and sight of this beautiful cut of meat dont make you salivate then I do not know what will. But if it does....then boy are you in for a treat. Once the meat has rested begin cutting the rack into portions of single chops. 

The thing to remember with lamb is that you absolutely positively do not want to overcook your meat!! You want a nice medium-rare to medium. This should be around 130-135 degrees on a meat thermometer. Once you slice all of your ribs there will be some nice juice at the bottom for extra flavor. Do not pour off!!

To go with our lamb I made some couscous with pine nuts and dried cranberries and steamed green beans.

Green Beans:

1-2 lbs fresh green beans

1 shallot, minced

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4c creme fraiche or mexican crema ( mexican crema is typically found in the cheese section at grocery stores with the mexican queso cheeses)

In a double boiler or steamer basket steam your green beans until tender crisp. This should take 5-10 minutes. Beans should still be bright green and slightly crisp. Once they are cooked instantly plunge them into a bowl of ice water. 

While the beans are cooking you can make the sauce. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and add your minced shallot and garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until golden. Add your crema. It should start to quickly heat up and melt. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Add the cookedand cooled beans to the sauce. Toss around until beans are well coated and hot. Remove from heat and top with some sliced almonds.

This is a nice accompaniment to any meat dish. It is easy to prepare as well. For me it was the perfect pair to tender lamb.

We all dove right into dinner with gusto!! It was juicy, tender, flavorful......everything you look for in a lamb chop. There was even a little juice sopping going on!! Chops are not cheap, but if you or someone who loves you a lot can get them......be sure to chew slowly and savor every bite.