February 2, 2015 Lunch Red Beans and Rice Dinner Grilled Lamb Chops with New Recipe: Onion, caper and tomato couscous and steamed asparagus

February 2, 2015  Lunch  Red Beans and Rice  Dinner  Grilled Lamb Chops with New Recipe: Onion, caper and tomato couscous and steamed asparagus

Simple can be wonderful, especially after a weekend of excessive eating.

Today for lunch I ate a bowl of the lovely red beans and rice Suzette made yesterday for the Super Bowl.  The Cajun seasonings; white and black pepper, thyme, and cayenne had cooked into the meat and beans and gave the whole stew a lovely, almost aromatic, flavor.  Long cooking until the flavor components integrate seems to be a big plus with stews like this one.

Suzette was on the road to and from Santa Rosa today, so I knew she would be tired when she arrived home.  Also, I knew we wanted a simple meal that would be satisfying and easy to cook and Suzette had told me we have no more space in the freezer and we need to clean it out.

So at noon I took two packages with 2 lamb chops each (Sprouts Farm Market $5.99/lb. on sale) out of the freezer to thaw.  By 6:20 when Suzette arrived they were thawed completely.

I asked Suzette what she wanted with the lamb chops and we agreed upon the large fresh asparagus we bought at Costco yesterday ($5.99 for 2.25 lbs.) and tomato couscous.

Tomato Caper, and Onion Couscous

I was in the mood to cook a bit and wanted to make a more elaborate couscous, so I sliced 3 Tbsp. of brown onion and cubed 1 Roma tomato.

Then I put 2 Tbsp. of butter into a sauce pan and heated it with the cubed onion and tomato over medium high heat and let it cook for a few minutes to soften the onion and tomato. 

Then I added 1 ¼ cup of boiling water and 1 cup of organic couscous and 1 tsp. of capers (pickled in vinegar and salt) and covered the couscous and let it cook for another minute.

Then I lowered the heat to as low a simmer as my gas range would go and cooked the couscous mixture at that temperature for 4 minutes and then turned off the heat and let the couscous sit until dinner was ready (about ten minutes).

I steamed the asparagus for 8 minutes at high heat while Suzette grilled the lamb chops.

While the lamb chops were grilling I fetched a bottle of 2011 Tuella vinho tinto (Trader Joe’s $6.99) from the Douro Valley of Portugal.  There are 77 native grape varieties grown in the Douro Valley on terraces as shown on the Douro certification label.  The valley must be filled with enzymes because the traditional means of fermenting starts with a foot crush of the grapes in large holding vats open to the air.  These are usually steel and then this wine is fermented using ultra-modern wine making methods (see back label, meaning up to date technology such as temperature controlled steel tanks) and then is aged in oak barrels.    DOC is the government’s guarantee that the wine was made in the Douro Valley (Portugal's Denominação de Origem Controlada)

Here is some history of the Symington family vineyard from their website:

“There is a natural affinity between wine and the family business, which can be largely explained by the long-term endeavour and commitment across many generations, essential for the success of an enterprise of this nature.

One of the companies that best reflects this profile in Portugal is Symington Family Estates, a well-known name from the Douro, both as a producer of outstanding Ports and Douro DOC wines. The Symington family (with Scottish, English and Portuguese ancestry) has been present in the Douro for five generations – since 1882 – and, through a great grandmother, their links to the wines of the Douro span 14 generations, stretching back to the mid-17th century.

The Symington family is today the largest vineyard owner in the Douro Valley, with a total of 947 hectares (2,340 acres) spread across 26 vineyards. This considerable landholding allows the family to ensure the long-term sustainability of its ambitious ALTANO Douro DOC undertaking. The family has been at the forefront of the considerable headway that Douro DOC wines have achieved, not just in Portugal, but in overseas markets as well.”

When the lamb chops were grilled to medium rare brought them into the kitchen and we checked their doneness by cutting into them.  The largest one needed a few more minutes on the grill to get to medium rare.

I fetched mint jelly for the lamb and Béarnaise Sauce for the asparagus and poured the Tuella and we had a very satisfying meal while watching the Antiques Roadshow.  We love watching the Antiques Roadshow and enjoy seeing Suzette's ad for the Center for Ageless Living at the beginning of each show. 

the terraces are about ten feet wide and high

Tuella is my current favorite wine at Trader Joe’s.  For the money, it is hard to find a better wine, especially if one likes the complexity of the different grape varieties unique to the Douro.

I drank a cup of tea with milk after dinner for a simple finish to the meal.


Bon Appétit