What's for Dinner #8 - 4/2016. The April Flowers Edition

Gives me a great idea for tonight . I have the Agostino Recca salt packed anchovies and have new potatoes and green beans . I will combine all . I purchased a pack of prime cut New York’s from Costco about 2’’ thick . I will grill the steak and have along with that a simple grilled bread.

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Chicken and blistered green beans stirfry, sauced with Sriracha and garnished with fried peanuts, ginger, garlic and jalapenos. Spicy and delicious! The fried garnish totally made the dish - next time I’ll double the quantity!

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I had a really enjoyable, relaxing day. Errands, but then decided I needed to go to Mahoney’s Rocky Ledge just down the street for herbs and some flowers. I walked out with:

…Italian flat-leaf parsley, Genovese basil, Rosemary, Thyme
…Geraniums, Coleus (Under the Sea Fish Net), Calibrachoa (Superbells Grape Punch and Superbells Dark Red)
…Better Boy tomato plant
…Cajun Belle sweet pepper plant

I’ll plant lettuce, carrots, and radishes from seed next weekend, if it’s nice. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get too cold to hurt the herbs.

Dinner was marinated and sauteed chicken - marinated in olive oil, lime juice, minced garlic, maple syrup, salt, pepper and Aleppo pepper. Sauteed, and then the marinade was poured on top to finish cooking.

Israeli couscous in chicken stock with dried minced onion, and steamed green beans alongside. Wine. I’ll hve some sliced Ataulfo mango for dessert with tonight’s episode of “Outlander”.

Dinner and some gratuitous flowers.

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With DH’s help I managed to hobble through the market today since the frig and pantry were bare. Dinner was Mexican…chicken tacos for DH and a veggie plate for me. We made spicy mashed beans (pancetta, shallots, and jalapeño, sautéed with pinto beans, finished with some habanero jack cheese) spanish rice, and sautéed garden zucchini with tomato. The chicken was from a store bought rotisserie.

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Having gone through the warmest winter on record, I think we may be going through the coldest, wettest spring on record. Even a fairly light shower of rain is turning the bottom half of our garden into a pond. The ground must be absolutely saturated and it’s well nigh impossible to get on with the gardening.

As for dinner:

To start… asparagus, butter

To continue… navarin of lamb. Neck fillet, shallots, Chantany carrots, Jersey Royal potatoes

To continue a bit more …Aberwen cheese

To conclude… Orange posset

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Harters started a new WFD thread here for the month of May:

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That is a great idea, emglow! I’ve done the very same thing, both with asparagus, and with green beans… Fab accompaniment to your steak.

Ooooowch! You poor thing!! That sounds horribly painful. I’m impressed you are even off the couch! Those beans sound delicious…

Got some nice fava at the FM yesterday so I will make Bobbies recipe for fava bean salad , with lemon vinaigrette and shaved Manchego . Leftover pasta and the piece of prime steak from last night . I might make a simple salad also.

@emglow101, we’ve moved on to a new May thread.

Ad libbed this one. Sauteed chicken & asparagus with scallions and low & slow fried garlic (aka crack).

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At one time mint jelly was often served with lamb. I never tried it. I couldn’t shake the idea it would be like toothpaste.

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It is still served but I don’t do it. I like the toothpaste comparison. Honestly can’t think of anything I’d put mint jelly on. Love mint though.

Ohhhhhhh I know very well. I miss those days!! I grew up in the restaurant business and in the 70’s/80’s mint jelly was a fixture with lamb, I had tried and actually enjoyed the jelly on it’s own with crackers etc. however as a child I never tried lamb. I was a late-lamb-bloomer not trying it for the first time until I was well into my 20’s…(outside of lamb brain one time for Greek Easter) but let me tell you…lamb and mint jelly as odd as the combination sounds is truly delicious.

Mint with lamb is the normal British accompaniment. It’ll be mint sauce, rather than a jelly which I suspect would be very sweet. At it’s most traditional, it’s mint, malt vinegar and sugar. Fancier, more modern, versions use wine or cider vinegar. It’s a perfect contrast to the sweet fat on the meat. The trick is to get the balance right between the three ingredients. By the by, chopping mint for the sauce, under Mum’s supervision, is one of the first two jobs I remember ever doing in the kitchen (the other being shelling peas).

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Interesting…do you have a family recipe you wouldn’t mind sharing with us? Mint jelly, which is the norm as far as I know for here in the states is rather sweet, but it does pair well with the lamb, as odd as it sounds.

“Chopping the mint for the sauce, under Mum’s supervision, is one of the first jobs I remember ever doing in the kitchen”, Mine was sealing ravioli’s with my grand-mother, using a fork to press down on the edges of the dough creating the seal.

“Recipe” is much too strong a word - we are northern peasants.

Mint. Chopped.

Vinegar. Added till it looks fairly wet.

Sugar. Added, stirred until dissolved.

Adjust until it tastes right.

But, if a recipe is required - http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2063672/simple-mint-sauce

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lol, ok I see your point. Thank you none the less.

Mint jelly, which is the norm as far as I know for here in the states is rather sweet, but it does pair well with the lamb, as odd as it sounds.

I love to dip pork in Apple butter. It is also a bit sweet, bit so good.

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I can easily see the apple butter and pork combination, apple sauce has been a staple pork accompaniment in my home since I was a child. Even Peter Brady said; “Pork Chops and Apple Sauce…”

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