Summertime is birthday time in our house. Mr. Thirdrow seat and I celebrate our birthdays just two and a half weeks apart from each other. While we enjoy a night on the town and a restaurant meal (especially the part where someone else does that dishes), we often choose to celebrate around our own kitchen table. Since we both enjoy cooking so much it is a fabulous treat to throw the grocery budget by the wayside and tackle something extraordinary for one another.
My man loves lamb. He can’t get enough of it. If it’s on the menu he’s almost sure to order it. When Gordon Ramsey serves it up on The F Word or MasterChef he can’t stop talking about it. Clearly it was time for some lamb to find it’s way into our own kitchen.
First stop, you guessed it, Costco. Their meat selection is always surprisingly lovely – good for the belly and the wallet. Next, I had to find the perfect recipe and it was good old Gordon to the rescue. We watched Gordon make his Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb on The F Word earlier this summer and it seemed both fancy enough for a birthday and simple enough for a novice lamb chef like me.
The recipe was easy to follow, not overly complicated, and quite delicious. I followed the directions exactly, save one point – I ran out of fresh parsley. Our plant had burned to a crisp in the mid-summer heat wave and I hadn’t noticed until it was too late (as in, my lamb was on the stove). So, I used dried parsley in my breading. Although it was delicious, I’m certain it would have been better with fresh parsley (and prettier, too!).
Happy birthday to my favorite man on the planet. I’m delighted to be called your wife, thankful for who you are, and looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you! Next year… lobster?
