The story really started on Friday, when I went to the epicerie, a great little store, a lot like Sunshine Foods on Erie. I saw these beautifully packaged fresh green beans. Not just green beans, les haricots verts. Yummy. The price wasn't marked, but hey, how much could they be? €9.00! But won't they be good. Well, I brought them home and then started searching for the perfect recipe.
You might remember what a great butcher we have (who welcomes customers, regardless of their ability to speak his language). Well, yesterday, we wanted to try lamb. We wanted to cook it on the grill, and that meant we had to ask about cuts of meat, etc. That was an adventure, the butcher asked, "does anyone speak English?" Another customer tentatively came forward, and after listening to the butcher for about 5 sentences, she said, "this one (pointed left) you cook on skillet, fast. This one (pointed right) you cook in pan, slow, with juices." That was exactly what we wanted to know. So now we had two beautiful steaks.
Here's what we did:
Start with your lamb steaks and cover them lightly with salt and pepper on both sides, let sit for 20 minutes. Grill on a hot grill for less than five minutes on each side, "cooked to medium."
Blanche the young, tender green beans (remove the stems from both ends) in boiling water, for no more than 5 minutes. In the meantime, cut about 5 strips of bacon into 1/4" strips and fry in the skillet. Remove the bacon from the skillet and drain the grease off, but don't clean the skillet, you are going to put the beans back in there.
Drain the beans and rinse with cold water. Add the beans to the bacon grease in the skillet. Toss the beans for about 5-7 minutes. Add the bacon back in, now, add 2 oz. of crumbled blue cheese and a couple of handfuls of sliced almonds.
Blanche the young, tender green beans (remove the stems from both ends) in boiling water, for no more than 5 minutes. In the meantime, cut about 5 strips of bacon into 1/4" strips and fry in the skillet. Remove the bacon from the skillet and drain the grease off, but don't clean the skillet, you are going to put the beans back in there.
Drain the beans and rinse with cold water. Add the beans to the bacon grease in the skillet. Toss the beans for about 5-7 minutes. Add the bacon back in, now, add 2 oz. of crumbled blue cheese and a couple of handfuls of sliced almonds.
I used blue cheese from Auvergne France called bleu d'Auvergne, lamb grown locally, les haricots verts grown locally, and bacon from the Sunday market. I don't know where the almonds were grown. Needless to say, this was an excellent meal. Add a bottle of a red Cotes du Rhone, and some hearty un pain de campagne (bread) dipped in olive oil and basalmic vinegarette, and you have a wonderful dinner at home.
For dessert, we worked on a New York Times crossword puzzle after dinner, then went for a walk along the Marne. All in all, it was a delightful evening. Bon Appétit.
For dessert, we worked on a New York Times crossword puzzle after dinner, then went for a walk along the Marne. All in all, it was a delightful evening. Bon Appétit.
