Well, my sweet man turned 59. What did he want for dinner? “I don’t know… but chocolate mousse for dessert.” I know he wouldn’t want anything too fussy and I know when we are in Italy he orders lamb so–
I got these beautiful Sliver Fern, organic, New Zealand baby lamb chops from Kent at Clusters & Hops. I just seasoned them with salt and pepper and rubbed a little garlic and dried thyme onto them and gave them a quick sear in the cast iron skillet–about 2 minutes per side. Perfect! I also made a simple vinegar mint sauce I found on epicurious which was nice but a little too much vinegar for me. We also ate some simple “cavolo nero” (tuscan kale) and gorgonzola mashed Yukon Golds. I’d never done the potatoes with gorgonzola before and I really loved it. For about 2 pounds of potatoes, I used about 2 ounces of the cheese, with the half and half and butter, which I thought was the perfect balance of flavors. You could still taste potatoes with an undercurrent of blue.

For the mousse I used the recipe in Cook’s Illustrated’s Best Recipe cookbook. It was simple, classic and fabulous. I used a combination of Ghiridelli 60% and Sharfenberger 82% chocolates.

We drank a NXNW cabernet which wasn’t as wonderful as I remembered but still paired well with the meal.
So, Happy Birthday to Ken. He DID enjoy it!