Weeknight Surf and Turf

I cooked a special dinner for my girlfriend this early this week and when I was stumped on what to make I decided to do a popular surf and turf menu, its the best of both worlds. For the sea I chose large dry pack scallops, which were flawless, meaty and sweet without that horrible brine that a lot of scallops are packed in. For the land its got to be lamb loin chop which is very elegant and flavorful. Next question was the accompaniments? for the scallops a sauce of pink grapefruit beurre blanc which is a fine diced shallot and grapefruit reduction with butter whisked in served on a bed of slow braised leeks.  For the lamb, a marinade of red wine and herbs then served on simple potato puree. The lamb is grilled outside while the scallops go into a smoking hot sauté pan to sear and cook till just medium rare. Everything then makes its way to a warmed plates with a chilled flutes of vintage Billecart-Salmon Brut, Ah life is certainly good.

Perfect Scallops ready for the Sauté Pan

Marinated Lamb Grilling

Scallops with Pink Grapefruit Beurre Blanc and
Leeks, Grilled Lamb with Potato Puree

Friday Night Rack of Lamb

Its been a long busy week at work, so with the start of the weekend I went all out with a rack of lamb for dinner. I don't eat lamb often but sometimes I am in the mood for it and this was it. I started my weekend with a very nice evening sail on San Francisco bay then when I got home I started preping dinner with a glass of good red wine. First I made a tomato, onion and saffron chutney then I simply seasoning and roasted the lamb rack in a hot 400f oven for about 12 minutes. I allowed the lamb to rest before cutting into chops and served them with the tomato chutney. The weekend is off to a good start.

Lamb Sirloin

Did a quick dinner with a nice piece of Colarado Lamb, marinated with the usual rosemary, red wine and garlic. Then quickly pan seared and finished in the oven till done medium rare. I served it with a rustic style crushed Yukon gold potato, carrots and garlic mash. The sauce was made with a splash of vegetable stock in the pan to deglaze the good brown bits.

Slovakia

Slovakia is a very common food in Greece and its neighboring countries, normally it is made up of chunks of marinated lamb that is skewered and grilled. I did a verison of this with large chunks of pork called "Souvlakia Hirina"marinated with red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, cumin, garlic, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, this was allowed to marinade for a few hours then threaded onto bamboo skewers that have been soaked in water to prevent burning. It was faster for me to broil these instead of firing up the grill. Basted with marinade as it cooked to a crispy brown. In addition to the meat I rolled out some bread dough and cooked these small rounds on the pizza stone to resemble pita bread, a simple Greek style cucumber and cherry tomato salad was made also. To go with the skewers a simple plain yogurt sauce was made with shredded cucumber, lemon juice and ground cumin. It all came together and was Delicious.

For the Souvlakia:

1 pound large diced pork

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 T dried oregano

1 T ground cumin

1 dash kosher salt

1 t ground cinnamon

4 crushed garlic cloves

Yogurt sauce:

1 cucumber, shredded

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup chopped mint

1/2 cup chopped parsley

dash lemon juice

1 crushed garlic clove

ground pepper

Lamb Tagine

Being close to the Easter holiday, lamb is the meat of choice. With the idea of doing something with lamb, I choose to do a tagine which takes its name from the dome shaped clay cooking vessel. I cut boneless lamb into large pieces then browned them in a saute pan, then transferred to a braising pan, next onions and garlic were browned and added to the pot, also cumin, saffron, raisins, green olives and a little water. covered and into the oven for three hours at 350F, when tender the thickened lamb stew is spooned over steamed cous cous.

Mini Lamb Burgers in Pita Bread

A grey and cold Sunday morning made watching cooking shows on cable an easy choice. My youngest daughter who is first in line to inherit all my cooking gadgets was learning some tricks from her favorite "cool" chef, Bobby Flay. He is well known for doing a lot of good simple cooking on the grill. She took his recipe ideas and changed them to suit her own taste. Her idea was mini cheese burgers stuffed in pita bread. My burger idea was cumin scented ground lamb, which is a natural with pita bread. She made hers plain but I added shredded lettuce, sliced tomato and ripe and creamy avocado to mine. It was really fast and easy using the indoor grill on the stove then putting the cut pita bread on the grill to warm and soften them for stuffing. A middle eastern style yogurt sauce would have been a good addition, but I used my favorite hot sauce instead.