August 11, 2016. A Day of Yogurt. Lunch. San Pedro Middle East Restaurant. Dinner. Grilled Rack of Lamb, Tzatziki, and chard and tomato couscous
Today was a day filled with yogurt in many forms. I started with yogurt and blueberries with a drizzle of honey.
Then I met Rosemary and Terry Jassmann for lunch at San Pedro Middle East Restaurant located at 4001 San Pedro near the corner of Montgomery. It served all the standard fare. We nibbled on kibbeh served with two sauces, one a tomato and cucumber vinaigrette and the other a Tzatziki like cucumber sauce. Kibbeh is bulgar wheat wrapped around a core of seasoned meat and fried, like a falafel.
We also tried hummus, labni, tabouli, and baba ghanoush served with warm pita bread baked daily on premises. I bought a half gallon of a yogurt drink. Since labni is yogurt with some of its moisture removed, we had yogurt three ways. We ended lunch with pieces of baklava and Rosemay had a Turkish coffee. After lunch we walked through and I shopped in the store. I bought No. 4 bulgar, and cans of garbanzo and fava beans and Rosemary bought a container of labni.
After lunch I drove to Costco for gas and bought a 1.5 lb. rack of lamb for $9.95/lb. and canola oil.
I drove home around 4:00 and Suzette arrived around 4:30. Willy was leaving for a wedding in San Francisco at 6:30. I thought there was a possibility that he would have time to eat dinner, so we started cooking. Suzette went to the garden and picked a basket of chard and six or seven ripe small tomatoes.
I made a Tzatziki sauce for the lamb with a cup of yogurt, 1 ½ T. of olive oil, three cloves of garlic from our garden, two cucumbers (El Super 3 for $.99), a diced tomato, 2 oz. of onion, and ¼ cup of fresh oregano leaves.
Suzette cleaned, de-stemmed, and chopped about two cups of chard and the tomatoes. I then heated three T. of butter in a sauce pan and then added 1 cup of couscous and 1 ½ cup of water and then the chopped chard and tomatoes. I made a mistake that turned out to not be a mistake with the couscous. Normally you reduce the heat when you put in the chard and you use 1 ¼ cup of water to 1 cup of couscous. Today I did not reduce the heat, so the heat and extra water formed steam that steamed the chard and tomatoes along with the couscous. I came to my senses and ran and turned off the heat when I smell a burning smell. The couscous was a bit charred on the bottom but the vegetables were perfectly cooked. One of the interesting things about couscous is that because it is steamed, there is a lot of moisture in the couscous, so when you let it cool, as we did after dinner, it will free itself from the sides of the pan. I put the pan of PPI couscous into the fridge and removed the couscous to a plastic container the next day.
In fact I like the slightly charred brown edges.
Suzette grilled the rack of lamb dusted with Moroccan black pepper and sea salt to rare and covered it with aluminum foil of keep it warm and allow it to keep cooking a bit more.
Willy did not arrive until after 6:00, so instead of eating, we helped him pack for his trip and I took him to the airport at 6:30.
When I returned home, we had a lovely meal with a glass of PPI Dearly Beloved red wine that was opened but not drunk at my BD party on July 3. It still had a deep fruity flavor that made it very drinkable.
Bon Appetit
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