Friday's Dinner

UBER NOM! Lamb shoulder chops, butter-parsley noodles and green beans. Oh, and gravy...duh!

After our walk yesterday, we stopped at one of my favorite grocery stores, Oceana Market (formerly Food Town) in Eureka Square Shopping Center in Pacifica. It's a small market but they deal in mostly organic whole foods and really hard to find grains and such; they also have the best meat counter in the 415 or 650! The staff at the meat counter are extremely helpful and can give you plenty advice on what to do with the cut of meat or kind of meat, fish or poultry you buy.

Brought those hunks of lambie love back to Seester Kathy's; salt and peppered them, then marinated them in olive oil, balsamic, a little red wine vinegar, chopped garlic, fresh parsley and rosemary. I pan-fried them and when just about done, put them to rest on a plate, covered loosely with foil and put them in a warm over. Made the wide egg noodles and used butter, herb salt and fresh chopped parsley in those; also made my standard green beans. Then it occurred to me that wouldn't some gravy go well on those noodles? So I used the pan-drippings from the lamb and made the gravy. Had Seester Kathy taste. Good, but flat...then it dawned on me I had those chops resting in the oven, so Seester Kathy pulled them out and poured in the heavenly juicy-juice from the lamb. Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!!

Picture Seester Kathy and I sitting at the table looking at each other moaning and making grunting noises that if you listened hard you could barely make out the word "good". Darryll was siting next to me with barely any food on his plate cause he's doing some silly portion control. He's looking at Kathy and me in shock and awe. I knew he was thinking "Is that my wife or some caged animal?"



Went through Shirley's cookbooks when we were up last weekend. Some gems for sure. Check out the Mennonite Community Cookbook. That sure brings you back to a different time, eh?

A little history: The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons (1496–1561), who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The teachings of the Mennonites were founded on their belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, which they held to with great conviction despite persecution by the various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. Rather than fight, the majority survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their radical belief in adult baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches because of their commitment to nonviolence.

Here's a recipe sampling:

Roasted Pig's Stomach
1 pig stomach
1 1/2 pounds ground sausage
1 quart diced potatoes, raw
1 onion, chopped fine
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Remove the inner lining of the stomach and discard. Wash stomach well and then soak in salt water several hours. Drain and fill stomach with stuffing, Sew securely. Use either of the following recipes for the filling.

1. Make a filling of raw diced potatoes, chopped onion and shredded cabbage. Add seasoning and mix well.

2. Make a bread filling by browning diced onion and bread cubes in butter. Mix with egg, parley and milk. Stir in diced boiled potatoes and 1 pound sausage. Mix thoroughly.

Placed stuffed stomach on a rack in a kettle, cover with water and cook slowly until tender. Then brown in a hot pan to which butter has been added. Serve with gravy made by adding flower and water to drippings in roasting pan.

Who wants to come over for dinner tomorrow???

Then there is The Service Cook Book. This book was published exclusively for F.W. Woolworth Co. who happens to be a proud member of the NRA, "We do our part".

Here's a sampling:

Fried Tongue Sandwiches
Sliced canned or cooked tongue
Prepared mustard
butter

Slice canned or plain cooked tongue thin and put the pieces together with a spreading of prepared mustard. Chill and just before swerving, fry quickly on both sides in butter.

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting mighty hungry.

Chow!