so I didn’t sleep very last night, which meant I spent a good majority of the morning on the couch, curled up with our (surrogate dog) Sonny, basically vegging out- and watching Law & Order! I did, however, have the motivation to create a menu for the next 7 days. Yea ME! So after a bit of nap through an episode with that new lawyer guy (instead of Jack McCoy)– because those are really the best– I finally made it to the grocery store. Does anyone out there take absolute pleasure in going grocery shopping? I do. And let me tell you–I’ve been missing my grocery time! What’s also funny is the deli guys know me as the “meat butter” girl. I normally get prosciutto di parma (which goes for about $26 a pound) on Friday’s for the pizzas I normally make at home. One day I was getting some and the deli guy asked another patron if he’d like to try some and GASP– the guy said he’d never had prosciutto. My deli guy proceeded to explain to him that it tasted like “meat butter”. Is there a better description of it?! I think NOT. So I was getting some Mortadella today and the two constant deli guys BOTH asked if i was getting some “meat butter” today. I like being a regular!
So now I am sitting in my kitchen (on the wonderful stool my hubby thought I would enjoy pondering on) preparing about 3 different dishes…for the next 3 days. It’s a gorgeous day but a bit too hot so I figured I’d catch up on my meal planning. I have a menu – YEA! – and I have all the ingredients, save a few perishables that i’ll pick up later in the week.
So what have i been preparing? My husband, James, will be on the early shift this coming week (meaning show time at 5.15 am) so I’m getting his breakfast burritos ready for the week. I prepare them ahead of time and them freeze them. Tomorrow I will be doing a Julia Child recipe so i had to get the meat marinating today. And then I so loved the lamb we had the other night so I figured we’d do lamb kabobs tonight, which are also marinating away.
So that lamb from the other night…I admit that I have been very scared of lamb over the years. Which is odd because I love LOVE gyros! I figured I’d broaden my horizons! I found lamb shoulder chops at my local supermarket and went looking for a recipe. I found one from Martha Stewart (you can find the recipe under my recipes tab) that also included an aioli. While the aioli looked great, I wasn’t in the mood to make it. But the ingredients looked great. So I sorta took the herbs from the aioli and put em towards the lamb. In the morning I chopped up some oregano, thyme, and rosemary (from my little bitty garden) and combined those with some garlic, salt and pepper. I threw everything in a plastic bag with the lamb chops and added some olive and red wine. A bit different than the recipe.
I wasn’t in the mood for firing up the grill so instead i fired up the indoor grill pan. Love it! I grilled off the lamb and let me tell you– the aroma from the marinade was amazing. I was feeling a bit daring so I cooked it to a medium rare and it was divine! I also made red quinoa to go with it as well as some roma tomatoes with a balsamic and oil vinaigrette topped off with basil and feta. YUM!
I was very impressed by the lamb. It was tender and the marinade was perfectly balanced to really bring out the flavor of the lamb. I think next time I need to add a bit more salt and maybe a little heat to the party. But it was pretty darn good!
Pizza Friday was a nod to one of the first homemade pizzas I did: Fig, prosciutto, oven roasted tomatoes, and mozzarella (pearls). This time I added some Fontina cheese for some extra ooey gooey goodness! I’m pretty sure I overload it but I can’t help myself. I used a bit less pizza dough to make it more of a thin crust and yea, it was good too.
Lamb again tonight and look out…JULIA CHILD tomorrow!!
My kitchen musings! 
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