[Sca-cooks] Lamb dinner ideas wanted

[marilyn traber 011221]

> I need to cook a dinner for four people.  I'd really appreciate the 
> help of anyone who has any ideas.  I am very weak from having 
> whatever's been going around over the holidays, and I'm still so 
> exhausted that my usual ability to be creatively frugal seems to be 
> missing at the moment.  So I'm hoping for some help from all the 
> kind and creative people here.  I have a day left to figure out what 
> to make and 3/4 of a day to cook it.  (I don't think I'm well enough 
> yet to make it through the next few days without at least one nap.)

Looks like you have plenty to make yourself a good meal. Do you have any 
chicken stock?

If so, I'd suggest a quick soak on the garbanzos (boil for 5 minutes, let sit 
for an hour, should be pretty tender.) Add sliced carrots (only one or two, 
primarily for color). Take a bit of the olive oil, and sautee gently some of 
your garlic and some of your onion, until almost golden, then add a stalk of 
sliced celery and sautee it until just soft, then add all this to the 
garbanzos with chicken stock, and maybe a handful of the red lentils, again 
for a bit of color. I'd spice with a bit of the rosemary, to compliment the 
lamb, other herbs as you choose, salt and pepper to taste, after things have 
boiled for a few minutes.

Boil up a batch of rice, and if you have any, throw in a handful of raisin, 
or some diced dry fruit as it cooks.

To plate, put a scoop of rice on the plate, and ladle the garbanzo mixture 
over that, as you'd present spaghetti sauce. gently layer several thin slices 
of lamb, as medallions around the edges, to the side. If your celery has 
decent leaves, one of them on each plate as a garnish, with a few chives.

For a dessert, peel, core and quarter the pears, and parboil them, just 
enough to tenderize them a bit, and disguise their, um, maturity ;-) 
Depending on your available platage, either put them in a line, alternating 
fat and skinny ends, or place them in a circle, and sprinkle with cinnamon 
suger, to which you've added a bit of powdered ginger. If your carrots are 
fairly thick, reserve 4 thin slices from the thinck ends and make carrot 
flowers (5 or 6 little notches around the edges) and let them boil in the 
water you parboiled the pears in until they're tender, and put them in the 
center of the pears.

This help any?

Phlip