Dinner for One Sir?

Hello all, unfortunately my girlfriend is back in her hometown so in the meantime I've had to excite my taste buds all on my own for the past several days. This is not such a horrible predicament primarily because if the food turns out on the less satisfactory side of things I am the only one in on the secret. With that being said I whipped up a dish the other night which was both fast and simple to prepare. Now I will preface breaking down this dish by stating a couple of things, first of all as much as I love making everything fresh and from scratch I think that in this day and age the grocery store is filled with products that can make your life easier. Also, I am all about using leftovers especially sauces because the can easily be tweaked to finish up a future dish.

Okay so two nights ago I decided to do lamb, I love lamb and my local Harris Teeter had a pretty good deal which I simply could not pass up. I purchased about a pound of chops three in total. They were some very decent cuts a few inches thick with considerable meatiness. I decided to accompany them with some steamed veggies and for a little flair I whipped up some Moroccan curry whole grain pilaf.

The veggies were pretty simple just some okra, snow peas and carrots. I used them just as much for color as I did for their nutritional content.

I think when it comes to lamb chops they often times need nothing more in the seasoning department then salt and pepper but I am a sucker for McCormick's Montreal Steak which is a tasty assortment of spices and herbs specifically for red meats. I try not to over do it on the seasoning because I have noticed with red meats that you can always give it more salt or pepper after you have finished cooking. I used a medium sized skillet with about a table spoon worth of olive oil to do the honors, I think it is important that the pan is nice and hot before placing the meat, you can always tell by flicking a little water onto the surface of the pan if it crackles or reacts with the oil you're good to go. I prefer my chops in between medium and mid rare so I let them cook on both sides for about 4-5 mins.

Now to address what I had brought up in my preface I don't think that there is anything wrong with giving your dish a little bit of complementary aide with prepared products. They can save you headache and time and in my experience they can make you look more skilled in the kitchen then you actually are (it just takes a real solid poker face and bluff which I cannot teach). As I mentioned earlier I did a pilaf thanks to the hard work of the people over at Kashi. It served as the cultural flair on my plate which in addition to subtle flavors it boasts 8g of protein and 7g of fiber per serving which ain't bad at all. It also only takes about 5 mins to heat up because of its NASA like packaging so even if you didn't grow up to be an astronaut in some ways you can still eat like one.

I used a leftover spicy Szechuan based sauce that I had used to make some chicken wings while I was watching the NBA playoffs the night before. To make it a little lamb friendly I added some A1 steak sauce and sesame seeds and heated it up in a small sauce pan with a touch of white wine. I used the sauce sparingly on the chops while I was plating the dish, I'm a sauce guy and like a little moisture on my plate.

And that's that, put it all together and eat either with your girlfriend or by yourself it tastes the same promise. Can't wait till you get home babydoll.