June 18, 2012 Dinner - Grilled lamb chops with bulgur wheat cooked with mint, raisins, slivered almonds, and kale and steamed asparagus with a bottle of Chalone Pinot Noir.

June 17, 2012 Dinner - Grilled lamb chops with bulgur wheat cooked with mint, raisins, slivered almonds, and kale and steamed asparagus with a bottle of Chalone Pinot Noir.

1 cup #4 Bulgur wheat

1 Tbsp. of olive oil

1 Tbsp of butter

¼ raisins

1/8 cup slivered almonds

1/8 cup kale

three sprigs of mint

Our kale is going to seed and so I picked some.  I also picked some mint that was invading the kale, so I decided to cook #4 Bulgur with the kale and mint and some raisins and slivered almonds.  I sautéed two garlic scapes and 1 shallot in 1 Tbsp. of olive oil and 1 Tbsp of butter and then added the bulgur and then the almonds and after a few minutes the raisins and then the kale and mint and sautéed all ingredients together for a few minutes.  We then threw that mixture into a pot with two cups of hot guinea fowl stock and simmered over low heat covered for thirty-five minutes. 

I had bought a package of lamb chops on Friday.  We tried grilling them in the manner that Mike Verhagen recommended, which is grill them for about half the total time with the flat spine bone down on the grill and then a shorter time on each meat side.  We over cooked some of them a bit, but by and large this was a superior method of cooking because it kept the meat more uniformly rare throughout.   We also steamed six asparagus each and opened a bottle of Chalone Central Coast Pinot Noir 2008 (Whole Food $7.87).  The Pinot was heavier that the Anderson Valley pinot we have been drinking lately, but still pleasant with the lamb and bulgur.  I garnished the plates with a sprig of mint and a garlic scape.  I ate my bites of lamb with leaves of fresh mint.  It gave the lamb a fresh minty flavor.      

After dinner we tried the American Blue cheese from Costco with the last of the pinot ($4.99/lb) and did not like it very much.   It is dense, like a muenster or monterrey jack with veins of blue cheese in it, instead of crumbly with more blue cheese flavor, like many other blue cheeses Cabrales or Danish.  I do not recommend it unless you want to slice it for some reason.

Bon Appétit