Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Minted Pea Sauce

My Fairy Godson was visiting recently from LA so we introduced him, by way of inducement to move north, to the Berkeley Farmer's Market. There, we found a nice grass-raised rack of lamb and assorted fresh fruits and veggies such as strawberries, green garlic, artichokes and tiny carrots still with their tops on.

We hauled it all home and consulted Google to find out how to "French" the lamb rack. While I was out on the internet learning about that, I thought to ask epicurious.com for a mint sauce for the lamb, as I had some fresh mint left from the chicken I made last week. I didn't want anything sweet, just something minty and clean. What I found was this recipe for Minted Pea Sauce, perfect to use up the mint and the rest of the English peas that were languishing in my crisper drawer. The sauce is simplicity itself to make and was perfect with the (now beautifully Frenched) lamb. Now, the only question is, what can I do with the scraps of leftover lamb from the Frenching process?

Minted Pea Sauce (Gourmet, April 1998)

1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1-1/4 cups frozen peas (I used fresh and they were great - just needed to cook a bit longer)
3/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

In a 3 quart saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Add 2 cups of peas (I added them all by mistake so ended up with a smooth sauce), mint and butter to broth and simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until peas are tender. In a blender, puree mixture until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids) and pour through a fine sieve into cleaned pan. Add remaining cup 1/4 cup peas and simmer until peas are just tender, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Nancy Ewart said...

Hey - I e-mailed you about getting together so watch your mail box for strange women! As for the scraps of lamb, how about lamb barley soup? Even if you don't have that much lamb, barley makes a delicious soup. I always add more spices and if you want a nice change, try adding curry.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound ground lamb (or the lamb scraps, probably best to sautee them first)
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can diced
tomatoes, drained
2 cups water
3 (10.5 ounce) cans beef
consomme (OR your own home made stock)
1 (10.75 ounce) can
condensed tomato soup
4 medium carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black
pepper
1/2 cup barley
DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the lamb and onion into a large soup pot over medium heat. Cook and stir until the lamb is browned and crumbled. Drain excess grease if any. Stir in the tomatoes, water, consomme, and tomato soup. Add the carrots, celery, and barley, and season with chili powder and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for 45 minutes.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008  
Blogger Zoomie said...

NamasteNancy, that looks great! I'll try it next time. I invented a dish today using the scraps and it was delicious but I'll remember this recipe for the next time. Thanks! Got your email and replied to it - this will be fun!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008  
Blogger Nancy Ewart said...

I haven't gotten your e-mail yet; do you suppose that the Internet ate it?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Hi, Nancy - I've sent another email to your hotmail account. I was suggesting that we meet at the Asian at 10am when they open to avoid the crowds, if that's not too early for you on this Friday. Would that work for you?

Wednesday, April 23, 2008  
Blogger Nancy Ewart said...

My hotmail seems to be swallowing your messages but 10 AM on Friday is super. I'm also going to send you an e-mail from my private account on RCN so if you get a message from a strange woman (nej) that's ME!!!!!!

I love the Internet but it can sometimes be frustrating!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Okay, great, we're on for 10am Friday and I've seen your photo so I'm sure I can recognize you. If it's cold, let's agree to wait in the lobby; otherwise, I'll look for you outside. This will be fun!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008  

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