Conquering my fear of cooking lamb I finally made lamb kabobs last weekend and they turned out great. I've always been leery of paying for lamb for fear I'd ruin it, but a recent recipe in the Washington Post encouraged some culinary experimentation. The lamb marinated for several hours in a little lime juice, chopped onion, garlic, cilantro and salt and pepper before I skewered it with cherry tomatoes, chunks of onion and a 1/4 of a jalapeno at the end of the skewer. Still in fear I'd manage to make tire rubber out of the lamb I threw together a quick tzatziki sauce with Greek yogurt, cucumber, and dill. The lamb turned out tasty by itself, or paired with the veggies/sauce. Hooray for lamb success!
In addition to this whole new lamb experience I wanted to take over the grilling duties and must say, did pretty well. Jonathan was an excellent fire starter and helpful with coal amounts but I shooed him away so that I could figure out this grilling thing on my own. No food caught on fire, and I managed to get a nice sear but not dry out the meat. A good start to future summer grilling indeed. Just maybe I'll learn how not to overcook a burger, which just like cooking potato gratins successfully, continues to allude my cooking abilities.
Despite last weekend's cooking success Monday night's dinner was a big ole flounder of failure. No matter what you're uninformed meat counter guy/gal tells you, flounder does not make for good fried fish. I even asked about it being more of a moist fish as some do better with frying than others and was told, it would be just fine. FAIL. I crusted the fish with crushed Thai-chili-lime seasoned cashews and after one round of frying then baking, ended up with a heap of crumbled, non-recognizable fish/cashew hash. Yech!
You win some and you loose some I suppose. Next stop, Cooks Country recipe book. Watch out fanned potatoes here I come.
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