STRAWBERRIES! and other fun fruit and veggies

I never really thought I would say this, but I really like to compete. I think it’s because of the way we grow up. Sometimes it comes late in your life. I mostly am pretty quiet, and try to fly below the radar. But lately the self esteem has been coming through for me, and so I did it again and submitted a recipe in for the Strawberry Entrée recipe contest in the Virginia Pilot. And yupp, I won. I really was surprised. When the email came through I was jumping up and down in the office. It really was a great shock and then Lorraine Eaton called me for more information about the recipe, and then I get this really cool bag and apron from Virginia Growers, and a nice letter of congratulatory and then I went to go get my gallon of strawberries. It really was exciting. http://hamptonroads.com/blogs/lorraine-eaton

I chose Henley Farm Market for a lovely drive out to almost Pungo, with my daughter Kiara in tow to get the winning strawberries. She was like “oh boy and I think I will take a nap,” until I came back with the strawberries, then she was like how many can I eat before we get home? But what I think about all these winnings was how beautiful this time of the year is. I just love fresh fruit and vegetables, and really can’t wait for my garden to start kicking in.

Once I was over the strawberry gorging, on Saturday, Sunday was Mango gorging day. At the commissary was gorgeous Mango for 33 cents apiece for the little Mexican ones and 43 cents apiece on the big ones. Fresh fruit was topped out with the lettuce I found at the market on Saturday for Monday, and Tuesday its zucchini!

Following is the recipe for the Lamb Chops and Strawberry Sauce that was listed in last Wednesday’s paper in case you missed it. The recipe is really user friendly and can be used on any vegetable or protein, and switch it up in the winter and use figs instead of the strawberries. FUN! FUN! FUN!

Lamb Chops in a Strawberry Sauce

Lamb Chops

4  Lamb Chops frenched and trimmed of excess fat
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp shallots, finely diced

1 clove garlic, finely diced
1/4 cup pistachios, coarsely ground
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper, freshly ground

1. Trim and french lamb.

2. Slice into chops, sprinkle with salt and pepper. You could also keep the rack together depending on your choice of presentation.

3. Sear the chops on all sides and set aside to cool before adding the pistachio crust.

4. For the crust, mix coarsely ground pistachios with a little cornstarch.

5. Once the chops have cooled, spread a little mixture of Dijon mustard and grated shallots on the face of the chops, then dip in the pistachio mixture.

6. Place the crusted chops with the crust facing up on a sheet pan, cover and bake at 400'F for approximately 30-40 minutes or until a thermometer reads 140'-150'F for medium-rare or 160'F for medium.

7. During the last 5 minutes, turn the oven to broil and uncover to brown the crust.

Strawberry Sauce

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 ½ cup cream sherry

1 stick cinnamon

1 whole clove

2 finely chopped garlic cloves

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon cumin

1 cup veal stock

¼ teaspoon of cornstarch

1. Add all ingredients except cornstarch to a medium sauce pan and reduce by half. Remove cinnamon stick, and cornstarch until thickened and serve with lamb chops.