Mystery box #3: Lamb, apricots, and Swiss chard.

Yea, just a little bit behind here. Was waiting on Chef’s pictures then got distracted with other business. That means a couple of short entries before we get back to the longer version of these entries.

I absolutely LOVE lamb. Unfortunately, the only lamb available at the farmer’s market is frozen, and the lamb at the regular grocery store is pricey. So frozen it was. Unlike frozen vegetables, which weather freezing better than being canned (canned vegetables are just nasty), meat doesn’t retain its flavor or texture very well when frozen. Even the lamb I love becomes so much less than it is in terms of flavor. But it’s still lamb and one of the best meats on the planet.

So, he had to use frozen lamb because of finances. We found a lovely red Swiss chard and chose dried apricots as the farmer’s market didn’t have fresh. Chef didn’t do much with the lamb—broiled it, I believe. He did a wilted Swiss Chard with olive oil, nutmeg, and paprika and made a glaze for the lamb with the apricots.

It was absolutely a wonderful, delicious combination. Just loved it.

One of the things we learned from this plating is that the glaze might have done better on the bottom of the plate. The chard definitely should have gone on top because you can’t see it here at all.

Still, another wonderful success from the Chef.

No recipe play for me this week: we’re short on cash and the Chef will be very busy tomorrow, which is when we actually get some cash and would be able to purchase some food to play with. I’m thinking about trying to do something interesting with the chicken we have, but not sure I have much to work with, so it might end up being a very simple, not so interesting dinner tomorrow night.

Mystery Boxes are also less likely to be regular every week. Chef finally has a job! But it’s at a sport bar and restaurant, which means working nights, and especially means working Fridays. The hope is that he will have one weeknight a week off and we’ll be able to still do the MB’s every week, but we’re not sure that will be the case.