Taste With The Eyes

An Inelegant Table Setting?

Initially I set the table with turquoise cans of sparkling water because they complemented my color scheme. But on further consideration, I liked the idea that my guests would pour their water into a tumbler full of ice, nice and fizzy, straight from the can.

Water glasses were filled with ice just before everyone took their seats. Guests popped open their own cans. Guess what? They liked this too. La Croix is naturally pure sparking water with no sodium, just a clean taste with crisp effervescence. Inelegant. Casual. Refreshing.

Cans on the table? What say you?

Leg of Lamb, Curry Quinoa Crust

Roast Leg of Lamb Medallion, Curry Quinoa Crust
Over Steamed Spinach
Curried Heirloom Tomato Salsa with Mint
Avocado & Serrano Chile with Lime

So here’s the challenge: Cook a leg of lamb as the main-course to serve at a dinner party for 8 people using no more than 10 ingredients (excluding salt & pepper) with a prep time of under 30 minutes (not including cooking times). It must be healthy, lean, and nutrient-rich – using only “good fats” and “good grains.” The folks at Tri-Lamb are sponsoring this “Lean on Lamb” challenge for cooks in Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington DC with a focus on healthy ORIGINAL recipes for entertaining.

So, as is Taste With The Eyes style, I was looking for harmonious colors, various textures, and memorable flavors to create a vibrant lamb entrée for my guests. All ingredients had to be commonly available, so while the dish is not exotic per se, it is alluring and appealing on a hot summer evening. Heirloom tomatoes add a seasonal element, while the curry adds a bright sunny quality, spicy serrano gives it just enough kick while fresh lime juice (from my tree) brings the tart acidity balance…

10 Ingredients

1. Leg of Lamb
2. Quinoa
3. Curry Powder
4. Olive Oil
5. Spinach
6. Heirloom Tomatoes
7. Avocado
8. Serrano Chile
9. Mint
10. Lime Juice

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Lamb Medallion Stack, Warm Anchovy-Pine Nut Vinaigrette

Leg of Lamb Medallion, Dijon Mustard Anchovy Crust
Polenta Cake, Spinach, Parsley, Tomato
Warm Anchovy – Pine Nut Vinaigrette

I’ve been testing leg of lamb recipes for an upcoming event. One of the requirements of the challenge is that the entire recipe use no more than 10 ingredients (not including salt & pepper). So my goal is to get as many colors, textures, and memorable flavors into the lamb main-course dish as possible. Another guideline stipulates that all ingredients must be commonly available – so no Italian summer truffle, no foie gras (now banned here in California).

Leg of Lamb Roast
Olive Oil
Polenta
Spinach
Parsley
Tomato
Anchovy
Pine Nuts
Dijon Mustard
Sherry Vinegar

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5 Fabulous Bloggers: Foodalogue

“A 5-Tapas Cocktail Party for 5-Years of Blogging”

No, it’s not me. I’m only approaching 4 years. But my friend, Lori Lynn of Taste With The Eyes, is celebrating her fifth anniversary by inviting 5 bloggers to guest post on her blog. If you know LL’s work, you know this is an honor with a capital-and-bolded H.

Lori Lynn is a goddess of good taste, a high priestess of entertaining, a hostess with the mostest. I’ve been following her blog since 2008; I guess shortly before we met at the first FoodBuzz Festival in San Francisco. To visit Taste With the Eyes is to have an open door to Lori’s warm and inviting home and gardens, and to meet her family and friends. I feel like I’ve celebrated holiday dinners with the family … attended a seasonal Sunken City Supper Club event … sat at the table and enjoyed creative and exquisitely presented recipes (some of which use ingredients I haven’t heard of) … and vicariously dined at the top notch restaurants she takes us to … and, to all of those I’ve often said, “I wish I was your neighbor!” (Of course, taking the big leap that if I were her neighbor, I’d be invited.)

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5 Fabulous Bloggers: Just One Cookbook

Gyutan | BBQ Beef Tongue

Hi everyone! My name is Nami, and I share quick and easy Japanese home cooking at my blog, Just One Cookbook.

I’m really excited to be here today to celebrate Lori Lynn (LL)’s 5 year anniversary for her blog! Congratulations LL! For the past year I’ve followed her blog and I’ve been continuously inspired by her beautiful and unique creations. Each week I am really excited every time I receive recipe updates from her. Working together in the food blogger community, she is someone special to me because I truly admire her culinary talents and magical photography skills. I feel very honored to be invited by her today for this special series of guest posts she’s having. Thank you LL!

The only request from her for this guest post was that I cook something exotic. For someone who is not familiar with Japanese food, it’s possible to think many dishes in Japanese cuisine can be exotic, such as sashimi (raw fish). Being a Japanese myself, I had to give it some thoughts and I finally came up with one, which might be too exotic for some readers.

I prepared gyutan, which is grilled sliced beef tongue. Until I did a bit of research for this post, I didn’t know that beef tongue is used not only by Japanese cuisine, but enjoyed in many other cuisines such as American, Mexican, Romanian, German, Persian, English, Russian, Italian, Filipino, Korean and many more (source). I was very surprised when I found this out since I don’t typically see beef tongue on restaurant menus (except in Mexican Taquerias).

The Japanese word gyutan is a combination of the Japanese word for cow (gyu) and the English word tongue (tan). The region in Japan that first started to cook gyutan was Sendai and it was initially considered a rather unusual dish, but gradually gained popularity throughout Japan around 1950s.

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