I made a grilled lamb dish for dinner and promised to get the recipe on the blog. Since I'm on a support call (listening, since I'm no longer useful as I'm in management), here it is.

NOTE: I'm feeding six with leftovers planned for lunches, so that's what this calls for. Adjust accordingly.

Miz ɑ̃n plas:

• Two boneless, lamb loins, either cut from a whole leg or packaged
• 16 oz plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup of cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp (or more) of turmeric
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 tbsp (equivalent) chopped or mortared ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• salt
• fresh, ground pepper

Slice diagonal strips in the lamb and pound it a bit with a meat mallet to get it fairly evenly thin (1-1.5") thick.

Thoroughly mix everything but the lamb in a bowl. In a glass baking dish, spread part of the mixture on the bottom and place the lamb on it and then cover with the rest. The lamb should be thoroughly covered.

Seal well and leave in the fridge for 12-24 hours (it can go a bit longer if necessary).

Prepare a real charcoal grill and toss some hickory chips on it. Grill lamb for 1-1.5 hours, turning every 15 minutes.

Serve with chana dal (drop a note in the comments if you want me to post a quick easy recipe for chana dal) and a lovely merlot/shiraz.

Dinner turned out pretty well, so I tend to want to preserve the recipe when that happens.

Miz ɑ̃n plas:

• pork, chicken or veal cutlets (4 thin per person if pork)
• asparagus, sliced into thin rounds
• red pepper, thinly diced
• butter
• white wine
• tarragon
• orange zest
• honey
• flour
• salt & pepper
• olive oil

Oven at 250°!

Have your butcher take a pork loin or thick center cut pork chops and slice them thinly (typically, 4 slices per standard, thick chop). Salt & pepper them, then dredge them in flour.

Add olive oil to a medium-hot pan and sauté the pork until just cooked on both sides (a scant 5 minutes in total).

When done preparing the pork, put them in the heated oven on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Remove most of the olive oil then return the pan to the heat (lowered to medium) and sauté the asparagus until almost cooked through (seasoning as necessary). Add tarragon and red pepper and do a quick toss or three, the turn up the heat and add the orange zest and white wine. Scrape the pan as everything reduces. Remove from heat and add butter and honey. Gently swirl the pan around to incorporate the butter and honey without over-mixing it.

Remove pork from oven, plate it and pour the sauce over it.

I served it with mashed potatoes and deep-fried butternut squash tossed with cinnamon sugar.

I wanted to do something different for dinner tonight, both because I was getting bored with some of the "usual different" and because I was not able to celebrate the new year that a large portion of the world celebrates (and I desperately miss Eric's new year feasts at Monsoon in Seattle). So, I threw together a last-minute menu for this evening.

I, unfortunately, am directing this recipe at fairly established cooks/chefs since I am giving the bare-minium of measurements and cooking instructions. Drop a note in the comments if you would like more detail (I'll need the number of people you plan on serving).

5-spice, Panko-crusted Pork Chops

Miz ɑ̃n plas:

• bone-in pork chops (not too thick, not too thin)
• Chinese 5-spice powder
• Kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• flour
• buttermilk (we use Kate's)
• Panko
• vegetable oil + peanut oil

Rinse & dry the chops. Sprinkle 5-spice powder and then salt & pepper them. Dust with flour & shake off excess. Dip in buttermilk (let the excess drip off) then drip in Panko (make sure to add some salt to the Panko before dipping). Do this for all the chops.

Heat oil in a good pan on the stove and cook the pork chops like you would any breaded pork chop. Panko burns a bit easier than "regular" bread crumbs/cracker meal so watch the heat and pay attention to them. You can finish them in the oven if they brown before they cook through. You can cook them ahead of time and leave them in a 350°F oven or try to time it with the rest of the meal (the rest go quickly, so it should be very doable).

Bok choy & Chinese broccoli steam & fry

Miz ɑ̃n plas:

• Chinese broccoli, cut into thirds
• bok choy - the "white bits", cut cross-wise into 1" chunks
• powdered ginger
• Kosher salt
• sesame oil
• mirin
• water

Par-boil both the broccoli and bok choy then immerse in an ice-water bath to stop the cooking. Dust with ginger & salt. Heat a wok then add the oil. Wait until it just smokes then add the vegetables and stir fry quickly until heated through and a tad caramelized. Add mirin and water and steam through until fully cooked. Again, you can place it in the oven (in a dish with a lid) with the chops (or on their own if the chops are still cooking) while you make the noodles or time it right for all being done at the same time.

Buckwheat (soba) noodles with Ponzu sauce

Miz ɑ̃n plas:

• buckwheat noodles (duh)
• peanut oil & sesame oil
• Ponzu sauce
• mirin

Boil water (salt it!) and cook soba noodles for 3 minutes. In a wok, heat oil and ponzu sauce and mirin. Let that reduce just a bit and add the noodles. Vigorously stir fry until completely coating the noodles and (lightly) browning some of them.

Serve all three at the same time with some lovely, unfiltered, warm sake.