Grilled Lamb Chops with Salsa Verde and Yoghurt SAuce

Serves: 4

Total Time: 30 minutes

8 lamb loin chops

Salt and pepper

1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons diced shallot

Zest of one lemon, grated

5 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon toasted fennel, anise or dill seed, ground or smashed with a mortar and pestle

½ teaspoon chili flakes

½ cup packed parsley leaves

½ cup packed mint leaves

½ cup packed picked dill, roughly chopped

½ cup grapeseed or olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for frying

½ cup Greek yogurt, preferably organic

What to Do:

1. Season lamb with salt and pepper and set aside.

2. Mix garlic, shallot, zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, spices and chili flakes together in a small bowl.

3. For the salsa verde, roughly chop the herbs and toss them together in a medium bowl. Add chopped garlic-shallot mixture and grated lemon zest.

4. Stir in oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more lemon juice or oil if needed. Allow sauce to rest at least 15 minutes.

5. Set a large grill or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Swirl in 1 tablespoon oil. Lay lamb chops in the pan, working in batches if need be, and cook each side 6 minutes for medium-rare results.

Transfer chops to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes. Squeeze additional lemon juice over the chops and sprinkle with salt.

6. Meanwhile, mix yogurt with 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Season with salt to taste.

7. Serve lamb with bowls of salsa verde and yogurt alongside for dipping.

Pesto

Justin found this online last week and made it to use up some of our overgrown basil plant. It's really yummy! We had it one night over pasta, and one night just on crusty bread with ham, cheese and tomato.

3 cups fresh basil leaves
1 cup pine nuts
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chuck it all in the blender or food processor. Blend (or process :). Adjust seasonings if necessary.

This kept pretty well in the fridge for a few days.

Accidental banana cake

When I was on my mission, I made banana bread all the time, and it always worked and was delicious and everyone loved it (I'm not just remembering it that way, I swear this is true). And since my mission, I can't make banana bread to save my life. Once, when I was at BYU and announced that I would make banana bread with some browning bananas, my flatmate pointed out that we could just throw out the bananas, or wait an hour and throw out the bananas along with some butter, sugar, flour, etc.

We had a bunch of bananas going bad the other day, and Justin requested banana bread (cause he's foolhardy). I found this recipe on tasty kitchen and gave it a try. Because we had so many bananas, I doubled the recipe. Ya, I'm not good at that . . . Anyway, I ended up doubling everything but the flour, and worked that out 20 minutes into cooking. I still maintain that this would have been good banana bread, but it worked surprising well as a soft cake. I'll put in instructions for both:

Ingredients:

• ¾ cups Butter Or Margarine, Softened
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 1-½ cup Bananas, Mashed
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Instructions (for banana bread):
If you don't have buttermilk, just use milk with 1 tsp vinegar.


Cream together butter and sugar, then add bananas, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Add the baking soda and salt, mixing well. Add the flour one cup at a time, mixing well. 


Pour into two medium or one large greased, floured loaf tins and bake at 350 F for 45 min (longer if using one large tin) until a pick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then cool completely on a wire rack.


(for steamy banana cake)
Leave out 1 cup of flour. Follow other instructions. Once cooled. slice into small cubes. Put the cubes in a square cake tin and warm in the oven til warmed through and slightly crisp on the edges. Serve in bowls with warm custard.

Easy Oreo Truffles

I'm not a huge Oreo cookie fan, but these truffles are REALLY yummy and easy to make. I made them for a couple different events in February and they were a hit. I dipped some of them in white almond bark, too, just for variety.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (18 oz.) OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 4-1/4 cups), divided
2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted (or 16 oz chocolate chips)

Instructions:
MIX cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.
SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Dip in *melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.
REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

*How to Melt Chocolate:
Place unwrapped chocolate squares in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2-1/2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 sec.

How to Easily Dip Truffles
To easily coat truffles with the melted chocolate, add truffles, in batches, to bowl of melted chocolate. Use 2 forks to roll truffles in chocolate until evenly coated. Remove truffles with forks, letting excess chocolate drip back into bowl. Place truffles on prepared baking sheet; let stand until firm.