Wyoming

A while back, out of the blue, Lucy expressed interest in trying lamb. I did a little research and discovered that Wyoming is one of the country's largest producers of lamb and mutton. Our Wyoming meal was decided!

Marc and I like lamb a lot--more tender than beef and such a rich flavor! It is a bit more expensive and a "special treat" meal for us, but always worth it!


Iowa vegetables are in full swing now, so roasted potatoes and fresh green beans from our CSA rounded out this meal.


The meat was rubbed with olive oil and seasoned generously with salt and pepper. Today the temperature approached 100 degrees (In Iowa on September 1st!), so we opted to enjoy our air conditioning and use an indoor cast-iron grill pan. I bought this pan several years ago--it covers two burners, has a griddle on one side and a grill on the other. It might be the best $20 I've ever spent; simple and functional. Marc heated only one end of the pan over a medium high burner until it was nice and hot before putting down the chops: 4 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second side for a nice close-to-rare chop. If you like them a little more "done," go for it.

The potatoes got a dressing of olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh chopped rosemary and went into a 425 degree oven for about 35 minutes, then were tossed every 10 minutes until nice and brown. Marc declared that the trick is to toss the potatoes in oil before putting them on the sheet pan, so they get good coverage and don't stick to the pan.


The green beans were simply blanched for a couple minutes in rapidly boiling water--the leftovers will provide lunch vegetables for the rest of the week.

This meal was a hit with everyone. Maia requested less pepper on the meat next time, but other than that, there were no complaints! Our kids often declare that they don't like potatoes--but this version, sliced thinly and well seasoned, got positive reviews. Again, as a parent, I found myself ashamed at my attempts to start my kids with bland, boring foods (like the plain, pan fried chicken breasts that I prepared over and over, to much grumbling).

Another success (I love this project)!

Next up: New York