March 15, 2013 Grilled Lamb Chops, Red Bell Peppers, and Asparagus with Eggplant Provencal

March 15, 2013 Grilled Lamb Chops, Red Bell Peppers, and Asparagus with Eggplant Provencal and Spinach Couscous

Ricardo Chaves took me to Artichoke today for lunch.  I ordered Pumpkin Ravioli from their N.M. Restaurant Week 2013 Lunch Menu.  It was very pleasant but the most interesting thing about it was the micro cut rectangles of butternut squash accompanying the spinach and ricotta cheese filling.  Each of the six raviolis was topped with its own little dollop of sage butter sauce and the dish was garnished with organic salad, beautiful large hazelnuts some squares of Roma tomato and grated pecorino cheese.

We decided to grill tonight.  I had bought lots of new ingredients at Sprouts on Wednesday with a view to grilling and we decided tonight was the night. 

I fetched the two lamb shoulder chops, the red bell peppers, asparagus and eggplant from the fridge.

Suzette heated up the grill and seasoned the lamb and tossed the asparagus in olive oil and salt in a large freezer bag and de-seeded and quartered two red bell peppers and put them on the grill while I constructed the:

Eggplant Provencal

I sliced one American black eggplant into about 2/3 inch thick slices.

I then brushed a baking pan with olive oil and laid the eggplant slices on the baking pan and brushed their tops with more olive oil (Trader Joe’s California, $5.99 for 1 liter). 

I then sliced two Roma tomatoes into ¼ inch slices and put them on the eggplant.

Then I sliced Manchego cheese and covered each slice of tomato with slices of cheese. 

Suzette crushed about ½ cup of croutons to make bread crumbs and she sprinkled bread crumbs on the top of the cheese.

We put the baking pan with the constructed eggplant Provencal into a 350˚ oven for about twenty minutes or until the eggplant slices were soft to the touch and the cheese melted.

I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of Wellington Vineyards 2007 Sonoma Valley Cabernet Franc (www.wellingtonvineyards.com) and opened it and heated the PPI Spinach couscous in the microwave and voila, we were ready to eat.

Suzette fetched the items from the grill and laid one chop, a few asparagus and a couple of pieces of grilled red pepper on each plate and we removed the eggplant from the oven and tried to fit one or two slices of eggplant onto our plates.

Suzette did not like the shoulder lamb chop cut because it had pockets of fat and lots of tendons. She suggested braising it and slow cooking it in a stew with lots of root vegetables, which I think is an excellent idea.  I, on the other hand, loved mine and ate it hardily with bits of grilled vegetables and eggplant and sips of wine ant then sucked the marrow out of the bone and swallowed it with another large sip of wine (heaven).

Wellington Cabernet Franc is an excellent wine ($30.00).  Cabernet Franc is a French wine that is associated with the Loire Valley and Bordeaux.  It is considered a fine mixing wine and usually found in Bordeaux blends.  Chinon is its most famous growing region according to one of my wine buddies, so I have another reason to return to the vineyards of the Loire.

Cab Franc is assertive and yet has a strong fruity flavor (sort of like grapefruit) but with no harsh tannin aftertaste, which I am sure is due, in part, to being a very good wine and being cellar aged for about three or four years.

I ate green grapes for dessert.

Spring has officially started with the first big grilled dinner tonight and last night’s first dinner on the patio.

The temperature actually reached 80 degrees today, which I think is a record.  I rode to Montano very quickly and realized why when I turned around and faced a strong 15 m.p.h. warm headwind coming home.   But even facing the warm headwind was a nice change from the last month’s blustery bitterly cold gusts of wind.

Bon Appétit