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Recipe-need reply today!


Sugar Magnolia
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It's Mr. Sugar and my 24th wedding anniversary. Instead of going out to eat, we are cooking a meal together. We love cooking together, and to us, more fun and special than going out.

 

On the menu is:

 

Grilled Lamb and Fig Skewers with Mint-Pepper Glaze and Grilled Eggplant (no vomit emoticons for eggplant haters please) and Tabouli.

 

We need a salad or appetizer. There's already tomato in the Tabouli and mint in both dishes and Mr. Sugar doesn't like feta cheese which rules out some dishes I had in mind. We also need a wine selection in the $20-$25 range. I was thinking of something with some good Greek olives or tappanade but haven't found anything yet. Any help?

Edited by Sugar Magnolia
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A tapenade would be your easiest to prepare, here's one that I got from Alton Brown that we use a lot along with some crostinis...

 

1/2 pound pitted kalamata olives

2 anchovy fillets, rinsed

1 small clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons capers

2 to 3 fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

 

Thoroughly rinse the olives in cool water. Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Process to combine, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until the mixture becomes a coarse paste, approximately 1 to 2 minutes total. Transfer to a bowl and serve with crostinis.

 

For the crostinis-

Slice up a loaf and brush with melted butter and garlic

Place in oven around 325 and let them become golden brown or lightly fry in pan

 

Wine - Malbec or Tempranillo

 

EDIT: I t was driving me nuts that I couldn't remember the word "crostinis". It actually came to me in the middle of a meeting. Good to see where my focus was. :D

Edited by twiley
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mixed greens with lemon, dill vinaigrette, with warm chevre

 

blend:

2 shallots

1/4 c lemon juice

1/2 tbs chopped dill

1/2 tbs sugar

salt and white pepper

 

emulsify inot that 1 c canola or grapeseed oil

 

 

diced or sliced cucumber (about 1/2 or 1/4 of a cuc- peeled and seeded)

4-5 pear tomatos

 

slice chevre into 1/4 or 1/8 inch rounds. lightly dredge. pan sear each side... serve warm

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Prosciutto and Melon

 

1 Honeydew

1 Cantelope/Muskmelon

(a Galia Melon is good too if you can find it)

6-8 slices Prosciutto di Parma

either use a melon baller and make... melon balls

or just cut some bite size pieces

 

wrap a melon ball in a strip of prosciutto, secure with a toothpick

 

Its simple, it tastes great, and you can use the left overs for breakfast.

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It's Mr. Sugar and my 24th wedding anniversary. Instead of going out to eat, we are cooking a meal together. We love cooking together, and to us, more fun and special than going out.

 

On the menu is:

 

Grilled Lamb and Fig Skewers with Mint-Pepper Glaze and Grilled Eggplant (no vomit emoticons for eggplant haters please) and Tabouli.

 

We need a salad or appetizer. There's already tomato in the Tabouli and mint in both dishes and Mr. Sugar doesn't like feta cheese which rules out some dishes I had in mind. We also need a wine selection in the $20-$25 range. I was thinking of something with some good Greek olives or tappanade but haven't found anything yet. Any help?

 

Lamb is so versatile, you can go in any number of directions, but the fig and mint are the key players here. Typically, a big red would be the way to go but I think you may need something a little lighter to pair with the fruit and mint. How much mint will you be tasting? I think you may have the opportunity to drink some wines with this dinner that certainly wouldn't come from the more typical wine regions.

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Lamb is so versatile, you can go in any number of directions, but the fig and mint are the key players here. Typically, a big red would be the way to go but I think you may need something a little lighter to pair with the fruit and mint. How much mint will you be tasting? I think you may have the opportunity to drink some wines with this dinner that certainly wouldn't come from the more typical wine regions.

 

There is a 1/4 cup of mint in the Lamb dish and 1/4 cup in the Tabouli

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Hearts of Romaine-1 bag

Small can mandarin oranges-drained

Roasted Pecans-about two fingers high in a sammich bag, and bust them up

Crumbled Blue Cheese-nicely cover salad but don't overdue

 

Find "Good Seasons"- Garlic and Herb dressing(the powder mix you make in a Carafe)

 

Mix together and toss with the dressing-outstanding salad

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There is a 1/4 cup of mint in the Lamb dish and 1/4 cup in the Tabouli

 

In that case, the answer is clearly Pinot....ok, maybe not this time.

 

Because of the mint, I don't like the Malbec suggestion either. Certainly, malbec (esp an Argentinian) would be fine with some lamb dishes but it doesn't sound like lamb is going to be the dominant flavor.

 

I like the Shiraz suggestion because of the pepper. That could work well.

 

Another popular suggestion would be Bordeaux / Cabs or blends but I don't think those are great matches for this preparation either. A Cotes du Rhone (or even du Beaune) would probably be better.

 

A tempranillio or similar wines from the Duero region should work nicely. You could also do well with a Greek or Lebanese wine but you'll probably have to look around to find one with relatively low acidity.

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So what was the final menu? How did it turn out?

 

The grilled lamb/fig skewers with the mint glaze were out of this world-I'll try to find it and post-hubby found it on epicurious.com. We labeled in as restuarant quality and really easy to make. We did the melon/proscuito (sp?) suggestion by Thunder Chicken and that was very good. Hubby liked the Tabouli salad better than I did. We didn't do the salad suggestions since the Tabouli was really a salad. Would like to try Bier's salad sometime. We make a salad all the time like PD's except using pear or apple instead of the oranges.

 

For the wine, we already had a 2001 Malbec from one of our favorite wineries for deep reds-Obsurity Cellars in Fairplay, CA. We wouldn't have opened it without the suggestions here. It was on one of the best bottles we've had in a long time.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions-Huddle comes through again.

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The grilled lamb/fig skewers with the mint glaze were out of this world-I'll try to find it and post-hubby found it on epicurious.com. We labeled in as restuarant quality and really easy to make. We did the melon/proscuito (sp?) suggestion by Thunder Chicken and that was very good. Hubby liked the Tabouli salad better than I did. We didn't do the salad suggestions since the Tabouli was really a salad. Would like to try Bier's salad sometime. We make a salad all the time like PD's except using pear or apple instead of the oranges.

 

For the wine, we already had a 2001 Malbec from one of our favorite wineries for deep reds-Obsurity Cellars in Fairplay, CA. We wouldn't have opened it without the suggestions here. It was on one of the best bottles we've had in a long time.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions-Huddle comes through again.

Glad you liked the Malbec.

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The grilled lamb/fig skewers with the mint glaze were out of this world-I'll try to find it and post-hubby found it on epicurious.com. We labeled in as restuarant quality and really easy to make. We did the melon/proscuito (sp?) suggestion by Thunder Chicken and that was very good. Hubby liked the Tabouli salad better than I did. We didn't do the salad suggestions since the Tabouli was really a salad. Would like to try Bier's salad sometime. We make a salad all the time like PD's except using pear or apple instead of the oranges.

 

For the wine, we already had a 2001 Malbec from one of our favorite wineries for deep reds-Obsurity Cellars in Fairplay, CA. We wouldn't have opened it without the suggestions here. It was on one of the best bottles we've had in a long time.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions-Huddle comes through again.

 

 

Excellent. Glad it worked out. I'll be interested to see the recipe for the skewers.

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