LAMB-O-Licious!!

Even though this is our first "Official" post, it's definitely not our first dinner. But, it's a perfect place to start. Last night, was the second night of the "Chopped-Like" dinner competition. It was another great night of laughter, good food and fun times!

• Cooking Couple: Josh & Alex
• Ingredients: Tequila, Lamb, Fennel and Peanut Butter
• Special Guest Judge: Daley (Kristin's Lil Sister)

First and Foremost, We started the evening with shots of 1800 tequila and frozen Mango Margaritas with sugared rims.


Mango Margarita 

Appetizer

For our first dish, we decided to make a fruit salad with a Tequila drizzle sauce. The ingredients for the sauce made me hesitant at first. Tequila?? Sour Cream?? But as soon as I tasted the finish product, I knew we had a winner. It was sooooo good that the first thing out of Kristin's mouth was "Ooohhh!!' and then Ryan finished his portion by licking his plate clean. (Below is a picture and recipe)


Fruit Salad w/Tequila Cream Drizzle

Ingredients:

• Fruit (Any kind, we used: Peach, Mango, Strawberries and Blueberries)
• Sour Cream (1 cup or 8 oz)
• Sweetened Lime Juice 
• Tequila (Sliver, we used: Milagro Sliver)
• Sugar
• Ground Cinnamon (Optional)

First Slice/Dice/Cut all fruit. Add about 3 tablespoons of Sweetened Lime Juice to the fruit, mix together, cover and place in fridge. In a small bowl, add 1 cup of sour cream, 3 tablespoons of Sweetened Lime Juice, 3 tablespoons of Tequila and 1/4 cup of sugar. Whip them together and taste. Add more sugar, if tequila presence is too much for your liking. Once, you're satisfied with the sweetness, cover bowl and place into freezer for 20-30 mins, to allow the cream to thicken up. When serving, place fruit in bowl/plate, drizzle sauce over fruit and top with a few dashes of cinnamon.

Entree

For our entree, We made Lemon Garlic Lamb Chops with Potato & Fennel Au Gratin and Pecorino Scones. This was one of our most labor intensive meals so far. It took nearly 4 hours, but it was so worth it. The potatoes, had that nice crispy crust, the lamb was succulent and the scones added that extra...umpf! :) (Below is a picture and recipes of the potatoes and lamb. I'm lacking the scone recipe but it will be uploaded on a future post)


Garlic Lemon Lamb Chop w/Potato & Fennel Au Gratin and Pecorino Scone

Garlic Lemon Lamb Chop
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon of Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon, zested
• 1 Lemon, juiced 
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped Oregano leaves
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic (5 cloves chopped)
• Salt (1 teaspoon)
• Ground Black Pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
• 6 (6oz) Lamb Loin Chops

In a small bowl, mix the first seven ingredients together. Place chops into a ziplock bag and pour marinade over them. Seal bag and move the chops around, coating them with the marinade. Place bag in fridge for 1 hour. Grill or Broil chops for 4-5 mins on each side for Medium. (We broiled ours, beware of smoke. Ha!)

Potato & Fennel Au Gratin
Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons of Butter
• 5 tablespoons of flour
• 3 1/2 cups of milk
• 1 tablespoon of Garlic Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon of Ground Nutmeg
• 2 1/2 cups of Shredded Cheddar cheese
• 8 Yukon Gold Potatoes (Sliced thinly)
• 1 large Fennel bulb, trimmed and diced
• 7 leaves of fresh Basil, chopped. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour making sure there's no lumps. Gradually whisk in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 5 mins. Season with Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg. Remove from heat and stir in Cheddar cheese until smooth. Add potatoes, basil and fennel into a greased (Buttered) baking dish, mix together and top off with the cheese sauce. Make sure potatoes are covered evenly. Cover pan with foil. Bake covered for 1 hour, remove foil and bake additional 30 mins (or until crispy on top).

Dessert

And finally for dessert, Alex made his mom's peanut butter squares. Since, I don't have the recipe for these, I will briefly describe their taste. Imagine, a fluffy peanut butter cookie, topped with a smooth peanut better spread and ALL topped with chocolate frosting. Yeah...yum. So, if Alex happens to share the recipe it will mostly like be posted with the scone recipe. Until then, you will have to just have to enjoy the following pictures. (PS, Daley's birthday is on Friday the 16th, so we thought it would be nice to add a candle in a square just for her.)


Ann's Peanut Butter Squares


Kristin admiring her square


Kristin DEVOURING it. HA! 

Overall, Alex and I received high praises for our work and not to mention all the funny faces and laughs throughout the night. Can't wait to see what Ryan and Kristin have in store for us next week!