October 17, 2020
Lamb Chops with White Asparagus Puree, Oyster Mushrooms,
and a Pistachio Vinaigrette
Pg. 119
Nathan, Season 3 (Finale!)
46 down…53 to go!

Y’all. Seriously. This dish was beyond amazing! It completely blew me away.

I vaguely remember trying lamb a long time ago, and thinking that it was kind of gamey– not my fav. I was putting this recipe off for that reason, plus I was incredibly intimidated to cook this new-to-me meat. I’ve seen MasterChef contestants (adult and junior) struggle to nail this protein. I know that cooking it improperly was surely going to ruin it in an instant.

Thankfully, as you can see in the pictures, it came out a perfect medium rare!

The lamb chops were generously seasoned with salt and pepper and then pan seared on both sides for 2 minutes each. Once I took them off the stove, I rubbed dijon mustard on the meat and applied the panko bread crumb mixture. The chops went in the oven for 10 minutes, then I had to let them rest for another 10 minutes. This, of course, was the most nerve-wrecking thing for me, patiently hoping they’d be perfect when I could finally cut into them. I have a meat thermometer, but I still get nervous when cooking a new protein. Does that make sense?

This was also my first time cooking white asparagus and my second time cooking “fancy” mushrooms. While I was getting the side dishes ready, I was brainstorming how to plate this dish. I’m working on challenging myself to get better with my food photography. So far, so good!

On the show, they often put purees in squirt bottles and dollop them on the plate nice and fancy-like. I gave that a shot and I think it turned out pretty good for a MasterChef-wannabe like me. Overall, I liked the plating of this dish. It’s harder than you’d think to plate food so that it photographs properly. I’m learning! 🙂

As much as I love a pretty picture, I honestly just want the food to taste good. Luckily, this dish tasted amazing! Even my fella, who isn’t a big fan of lamb, liked it a lot. We’re still eating the asparagus puree, a few days later. It has a similar color and consistency to mashed potatoes, which is perfect because my beau just started a low carb Keto diet.

I can’t wait to make this again for us soon!

What I did differently:

• The recipe called for Morel Mushrooms, which are some of the fanciest mushrooms in the world. Central Market didn’t have them and I wasn’t about to go on a crazy witch hunt for special mushrooms, so I settled with Oyster Mushrooms. They were delicious and therefore a perfect substitution!
• When I made my grocery list, I wrote down “shelled fava beans” (which was just another small veggie element to go with the mushrooms). I purchased dried fava beans, failing to realize I actually needed them to be fresh. So I just left them out of the recipe. Now I have to look for another dish with dried fava beans!
• I was supposed to use the chopped pistachios only in the vinegarette, but I decided to mix them in with the panko bread crumbs too. I’m so glad I did!
• Also, I couldn’t find pistachio oil (which even sounds expensive), so I just went with good ol’ EVOO.
• I also substituted green onions for chives because they have more flavor, and I just love onion in all of my recipes.
• The garnish you see are thinly sliced asparagus stalks. The instructions didn’t say to cook them at all, which I found odd. I don’t know if you’ve ever had raw asparagus…but it’s not good. So I threw them in a pot of salted, boiling water for about a minute. Once I drained the water, I tossed them in a little oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. It was definitely better this way, in my opinion.

All my love,
Dani, a big tid

P.S. Let me know if you have any fav Keto-friendly recipes (which are easy; I don’t want to try tackling too much) in the comments!

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