Anniversary Dinner

To celebrate our anniversary, we decided to make dinner at home. I wanted to make a fancy dinner to celebrate so I searched Food Network for "romantic" recipes. Of course they had a bazillion so I chose one of the easier ones with ingredients on the fewer side. I cannot stand recipes that call for 1/2 teaspoon of 50 ingredients. Seriously, I will not even consider them. This recipes came from Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals, but of course it took us about an hour. And yes, I say "us" because the boy was a super help. Here we go! (Side note: the recipe calls for LAMB. The boy's job was to buy the LAMB and dessert so of course he buys PORK. After this recipe, I realized I do not like pork. However, it still tasted really good.) Read the recipe all the way through because some of the steps overlap in time. This is my take on... 


Black Cherry and Black Pepper Lamb Chops with Sweet Pea Risotto 
Ingredients

• 1 quart chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup Arborio rice (in the regular rice section)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup peas, defrosted (I used canned but next time will use frozen)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese 
• 2 tablespoons chopped mint (I do not like mint on food so I nixed this)
• Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 4 loin lamb chops
• 1 shallot
• 1/2 cup black cherry preserves
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• salt 

1. Place the stock in a small pot and heat over medium heat.
2. Prep your ingredients: chop the onion, garlic, and shallot.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium/large skillet with a tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onions and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the Arborio and cook one minute more.

4. Add the wine and cook it all away. 

5. Add a ladle or two of the warm broth and let that cook off, stirring occasionally. 

6. Now... Rachael says the risotto will take 22 minutes to make. Maybe my heat wasn't high enough, but it took me about 35 minutes. It still worked! All you need to do is: once the liquid in the skillet is cooked off, add another ladle of broth, stirring occasionally. Repeat until all of the chicken stock is used and the risotto is starchy and creamy. Add peas, cheese and parsley right before serving.

Since we were using pork, the boy just cooked it on the stove-top. To see how Rachael did the lamb in the oven, go to the recipe's site (link above.) 

7. When the risotto is about half done, heat a medium skillet with some olive oil. Pat dry the pork and season with salt and pepper. Cook a few minutes on each side until done.

8. When you start the pork, heat a small skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 2 minutes. Then, add the preserves and whisk together with the balsamic vinegar and black pepper. Bring to a bubble and let reduce until desired thickness. I let mine reduce for about 8 minutes and it was thick and yummy.

9. Place the pork (lamb) on a plate and drizzle with black-cherry reduction. Serve along side risotto.

Enjoy!