I adapted this recipe from one a person posted in a Craigslist forum. It’s amazingly simple and delicious. Even Mika thought the meat (sans the vinegar) was yummy. Mike really dug the vinegar, I thought it was good either way.
-6 lamb chops, trimmed
-salt & pepper
-1Tbsp olive oil
-herbes de provence
-1 large shallot, finely chopped
-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Sprinkle lamb chops with salt and pepper. Rub herbes de provence on both sides. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a sautee pan and sautee lamb chops for about 3-4 minutes per side. You may have to do this in batches. Remove and keep warm.
Add the chopped shallot to the pan and sautee until tender. Add the vinegar, mix well and boil until the vinegar reduces by at least half. Return lamb chops to the pan, flip to make sure both sides are covered with the vinegar, and serve.
Author: marga (Page 63 of 112)
My friend Lola loves Prosecco, Italy’s version of sparkling wine, and she brought a bottle last time she came over for dinner an eternity ago. I liked it too, it was light and airy and fresh, so some time later I picked up a few bottles of disgustingly cheap Prosecco at Trader Joe’s. I’ve had this one in my refrigerator for several months – and it came in handy today when I realized I had no white wine for the chicken recipe I was making for dinner.
The recipe only asked for 1 1/2 cups, so we had the rest with dinner. I was very pleased. It was simple and easy to drink, subtly peachy, perhaps a bit sweeter than other bruts. Very tasty, and it would have been even more so if it was a little bit cooler – I’d left the bottle on the counter after I opened it for cooking. I’ll definitely get some more bottles, next time just for drinking.
After making basque chicken a few nights ago, I had a lot of leftover white wine and I wanted to make something that used it. I looked in epicurious.com for recipes, and I came about this one for Chicken with prosciutto, rosemary, and white wine. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t find it either in my best recipes list or in this blog. It got pretty good reviews so I decided to try it.
Mike really liked it, but I thought it was merely OK. There was nothing wrong with it, it was quite flavorful, but I think the flavors just didn’t do it for me. I thought it tasted like something I’ve made before, but Mike didn’t think so. In any case, I won’t be rushing to make it again.
I did make one change from the original recipe. I used prosecco instead of white wine, because, lo and behold, I actually ran out of the white wine making bolognese sauce – but I can’t imagine that affected the taste.
Mike bought a couple of bottles of this wine last year when they were on sale for $20. He really seems to like it. I always feel guilty about drinking expensive wine (and for me, any wine over $10 is expensive) for the hell of it, but we don’t have enough special occasions to actually drink all the bottles we have (yes, we should have more, but it’s not always easy with 2 little kids).
Sunday night, however, I was making a Cameroonian Menu and my friend Arthur happened to drop by, so we invited him to eat with us. He’s moving away soon, so I figured that merited a nice bottle of wine. Plus I didn’t have any cheaper ones 🙂
Anyway, I wasn’t too kin on the BV Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon 2003. It had a nice beginning, it was smooth and buttery, but then it just fell flat. There was nothing there. No middle, no finish.
Mike and Arthur said they liked it, but the bottle went unfinished.
Mike (my husband) reports today in San Leandro Bytes that the city council will be voting on allowing a new farmer’s market to operate in San Leandro. This market would operate downtown on Wednesday evenings from 4pm to 9pm starting on May 14, 2008, and continuing through October 22, 2008. I, for one, would really like to have it!
More information at http://www.pcfma.com/markethome.php?market_id=21
I spent yesterday cooking. It’d been a long time since I’d spent much time in the kitchen – I haven’t had a dinner party in a very long time. I didn’t last night either, but I made a whole Cameroonian menu for Mike and I (the girls, of course, did not want to touch anything but dessert, and they had chicken noodle soup instead). It was only 3 courses and fairly easy to make.
Harder was the boeuf bourguignon I made following Julia Child’s recipe. It wasn’t hard per se, just took a while. Same thing for a bolognese sauce I made that I will serve over pasta later this week (tonight we’re eating the beef).
I still have more cooking for this week – I’m planning on making a chicken dish with prosciutto and rosemary as well.
Recipes for all as soon as I put them up.
I just received a menu for “Blossom Chinese Restaurant on East 14th. A quick search online shows that this is the old “Good Food Restaurant”, which just a little while ago was “Szechuan Restaurant”. I haven’t been to the restaurant, under any of its incarnations, but Blossom offers delivery for $1, so I will try it sometime.
No. Not yet. But it’s coming!
Yesterday, as we walked past the corner of our block (at East 14th & Estabrook), we found that there were people finally working inside the building that used to house a hip-hop clothing store after housing a video store. The shop has been empty for over a year, one more of the empty storefronts in San Leandro.
But apparently (at least according to the workers inside), the store is becoming a Vietnamese restaurant. I’ve no idea when it’ll open, definitely not very soon given that they are at the very beginning stages of the work (I assume they have to build a kitchen), but eventually we’ll have a Vietnamese restaurant in the corner. As you can imagine, I’m thrilled. Yes, it’s true that we have at least 3 Vietnamese restaurants in San Leandro, and that two of them are within walking distance, but the point is that this one will be mere feet from my house.
Anyway, I’ll keep you informed as to what happens there.
Last weekend we went to Berkeley for Cal’s Day – a day in which UC Berkeley opens to the public with a myriad of activities for adults and children. The kids saw and got to play with lots of animals, made pottery and watch African dance.
Mika and I were quite hungry in the midst of this all and decided to go off-campus for lunch. I wanted a place where we could sit down, and my first choice was La Vals, a pizzeria I frequented during my college days, but it has closed down. After much discussion we decided on the Chinese restaurant in that tiny restaurant mini-mall almost in front of the old La Vals building. There is a donut shop there, and there used to be a Nation’s, again, in my college days.
I have no idea what the restaurant was called but it was very good. I had a huge portion of crispy chicken – very much like Hawaiian katsu – which was impeccably fried and quite tasty with the accompanying sauce. Mika had the chicken chow mein, again a huge portion, and she loved the chicken. I thought it was very tasty too, a couple of notches above your run of the mill chow mein. I don’t remember the prices, but they were quite reasonable. If I was in the neighborhood and wanted some Chinese, I’d definitely go back.
Recent Comments