Kitchen Drunkard

Earlier this year, we held a party at my house entitled Meat Fest: a Festival of Meats, and a friend of my fellow’s, Phil, brought me the most wonderful hostess gift – lamb chops (Phil is a meat supplier to restaurants).  Now these were no ordinary lamb chops; these babies were 2.5 inches thick beauties from Colorado, a single chop being almost big enough for one person.   So when Phil and Melissa called us up a couple of weeks ago to ask if we wanted to make a meal out of the last few chops they had in their freezer, I jumped at the chance.  We made them last night, using a recipe from Bobby Flay’s Grill it! 

Menu
Leek and Potato Soup
Mustard Glazed Lamp Chops with French Fried Green Beans
Vanilla Peach Cobbler with ice cream

Leek and Potato Soup
Cut up a bunch of leeks (3-5 leeks, depending on the size) into thin rounds.  Submerge in a bowl of water to get the grit out, then strain them in a colander.  Go ahead and squeeze out the water too. 

Peel and dice 3 large potatoes.  Cut up two slices of bacon into lardons. 

Add some butter to a big pot, then toss in the bacon.  Once it renders down, throw in the potatoes, then the leeks.  Cook with the lid at the lower end of medium, stirring occasionally, until the outside of the potatoes are soft and the leeks have sweated out all their goodness. 

Pour in enough chicken stock to cover by an inch.  Not to get all Ina Garten on you all, but homemade really is best.  When I smoked that turkey breast over the summer, I kept the carcasses and made smoked turkey stock (I used it in my turkey braised with apple recipe too).  If you don’t have enough (like me), just topped it off with water.  Cook at medium heat until the potatoes are soft. 

Use an inversion blender to puree the whole thing.  Season to taste, and voila!  My fellow thought it was a little too bacon-y, coupled with the smoked turkey stock to boot… Perhaps it wasn’t leeky/potato-ey enough, but it sure was good. 

Mustard Glazed Lamp Chops with French Fried Green Beans
First step is to light your BBQ.  If you have functioning taste buds, you should be using a charcoal grill, which will take some time to light.  We’ve got it down to about 20 minutes. 

Glaze
1/4 cup of grainy mustard (I used a mix of espelette pepper and mesquite grainy mustards, from my extensive collection of mustards)

2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of Soya sauce
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
3 finely chopped cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of freshly chopped thyme
2 teaspoons of Spanish paprika (I used that La Chinata stuff – it’s the bomb!)
Some freshly cracked pepper

Mix all those ingredients up and split the glaze into two bowls.  I tried it just on its own, and I think it would make a wonderful steak sauce, too.  Make one bowl bigger than the other, and use that one for when the chops are cooked. 

Sprinkle salt on the chops, then brush glaze on one side (smaller bowl of glaze).  No need to marinate, just go for it. 

Put the chops glaze-side down on the BBQ, direct medium-high heat, for 5 – 7 minutes per side if you’re lucky enough to have these giant chops.  Otherwise, 2 – 3 minutes should be enough for the little guys.  Before you flip the chops over, put glaze on the non-glazed side. 

Take the lamp chops off the grill and put glaze on them from the uncontaminated bowl, then tent them with foil for a good 10 minutes.  Resting is the most important part.  Cut in too soon, and you’ll have a virtual massacre on your plate.  Check it out below:

 

Last step is to thank your friends Phil and Melissa for being so awesome!  An aside – this is also not the first time that Phil and Melissa have brought meat in advance of a dinner.  Check out these pictures of the racks beef ribs he brought over last time.  They are the only dinner guests I’ve ever had who brings their own meat. 

 

French Fried Green Beans
A friend of mine once told me about French fried green beans, and I’ve tried to come up with a recipe for it.  The only thing I know for sure is that they are supposed to be oven fried. My boyfriend loves these, but I just don’t get it.  They never seem to come out right, no matter what I try.  Last night, I tried par-boiling the beans first and heating the oil in the oven for a good ten minutes.  Sadly, they still came out kind of greasy and soggy.  Any suggestions? 

Vanilla Peach Cobbler
I was always a crisp person, until I tried Tyler Florence’s bourbon peach cobbler.  This recipe is from his latest book, Dinner at my Place, which reads like a love letter to his new wife.  Recipes for Tolan’s birthday dinner.  A special carbonnara he came up with for Tolan when she was pregnant.  Baby food for his new baby with Tolan.  Less Tolan, more food.   And less flagrant promotion of your new vanity winery and gourmet food store.  Also, less Sammi Hagar and flagrant promotion of Sammi’s premium brand tequila.  I will say this, though.  I’ve never made a recipe from one of Tyler’s books that turned out bad.  They’re good every time.  

I halved the recipe and used single serving ramekins, so I cut the cooking time by 10 minutes.  I omitted the bourbon last night and just used vanilla extract.  Did you know that extract is alcohol?  I bought this mickey of it a couple of years back, and the shop owner told me that when it was done, just fill it back up with brandy (there’s a bunch of vanilla beans in there, so I guess that’s how it regenerates). 

Here’s the link. 
 
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/bourbon-peach-cobbler-recipe/index.html