Boneless pork chops  - we’ll leave the number up to you

Minced garlic

Fresh or dried Rosemary

Olive Oil

Cavender’s Greek seasoning.

Okay, here’s the hard part:

Liberally coat each chop with olive oil on both sides. Then, sprinkle on the rosemary (fresh is better, just dice it up) and the minced garlic.

Season with the Greek seasoning, or whatever else you want to use.

Throw them on the grill.

Cook.

Eat.

Thank us later.

Sometimes I score big. Big as in getting the Little Black Dress to marry me. Big as in finally figuring out how to cook one of my favorite food groups. In this case, lamb.

People either love or hate lamb. I am – obviously – in the former group. Part of the problem I think is knowing how to cook and serve lamb. It really needs to be served on the medium-rare to rarer end.

Anyway, I’ve played around with this enough times until I finally got it. It was an expensive experiment, as lamb is not exactly the cheapest piece of meat to try new things with.     Nevertheless, the secret lies in wrapping the lamb in foil before you grill it.

2 racks of lamb (oh heck, however many you want)
½ cup of minced garlic
1 cup of olive oil
Several sprigs of fresh rosemary (or ½ cup of dried)
½  cup of some type of spicy mustard. You can also get the kind that has horseradish in it, which is what I do.

Mint jelly  
Mix the garlic, olive oil and spicy mustard together. If you’re using fresh rosemary, just chop it up and add it in as well. For dried, just add to the bowl.

Rack of lamb usually comes in a slab with about 10 to 12 bones on one side. Sometimes the rack is pre-cut. If not, I normally cut the racks so each piece is about an inch thick. Or, cut the rack about every two bones.

Liberally coat the lamb with the above mentioned sauce.  Then, and this is the kicker, wrap the lamb up in foil.  What I normally do is tear off about two feet of foil, take two pieces of the lamb and then wrap the foil around the lamb. You don’t want just one thin slice of foil around the lamb, but rather three or four.

Place the lamb on an outdoor grill on medium to medium low heat. Shut the lid and let cook. What you’re basically doing is baking the lamb for now, and that sauce is just marinating away within the foil.   After a few minutes, turn the lamb over and shut the lid again.

Exact times vary depending on your grill, and you are just going to have to experiment. I’ve found I know I’m close when I hear the lamb start to sizzle.   In a nutshell, you have to peek – you want the lamb to be slightly brown.

Next, unwrap the foil and place the uncovered lamb back on the grill. Word of caution – that foil is going to be hot. Continue cooking the lamb until it’s at the temperature you want. What you’re basically doing now is just cooking the outside so it looks great.

Serve it up with your favorite side dishes and lots of mint jelly. I don’t know who came up with mint jelly or why, because I’ve yet to find a use for it other than for lamb. But with grilled lamb, mint jelly is about as awesome as you can get.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, minced

½ pound mushrooms, thinly sliced

½ lemon, very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ cup white wine

1 can (14oz) whole artichoke hearts, drained and quartered  

Pound chicken breasts between saran wrap into ¼ inch pieces. Start from the center and pound out, pushing outward as you pound. Cut into two-inch squares

In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook about 2-3 minutes a side until tender. Remove chicken, but keep warm – the chicken that is.

Add garlic, lemon and mushrooms to the same pan, cooking until tender. Sprinkle with flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Continue cooking about one minute. Add the wine, bring to a boil and keep stirring until mixture thickens.

Add the artichokes and chicken, simmer two or three minutes until everything is heated through.

Some passed, others did not. But usually, because it was the first time, Bill’s biggest gripe was that he was told to show up at 7 pm. For dinner, which usually didn’t start until 10 p.m.

But John finally came through with this one, which even Bill said was his favorite. So, for all he’s put up with – or rather  stomached – over the years, this one’s for Bill.

2 cups onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 ½ cups red bell pepper, chopped

Seasoning mix: 2 teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon white pepper, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried basis. You can also just use one of those ready-made Cajun spices, just don’t tell us.

¾ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon garlic, minced

5 ½ cups seafood stock (take the shrimp shells, put them in a big pot of water; add carrot stick, stalk of celery and one onion and some garlic. The longer you cook it the better, just keep adding water).

1 pound andouille smoked sausage or other good hot sausage (kielbasa) you can cut into cubes
1 dozen peeled medium shrimp
1 dozen medium to large oysters in their liquid
¾ pound of crab meat
2 ½ cups cooked rice

Combine the onions, bell pepper and celery in a bowl and set aside. Do the same with the seasoning mix.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat until it starts to smoke. Add the flour gradually and stir it constantly with a whisk or spoon. If it starts to burn, take it off the heat for a few seconds. Continuing cooking until the roux is a dark-red color. Remember to add flour slowly, and if it gets ahead of you, just take it off the heat.

Once you have the right color, immediately add half the vegetables to the roux and keep stirring for about 1 minute.

Add the remaining vegetables and cook/stir another minute or two. Add the seasoning mix, stir and keep cooing a couple more minutes. Add the garlic, stir another minute and then remove from heat.

Put the stock in a large saucepan or Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Add the roux mixture above in spoonfuls to the boiling stock and mix well before adding more. Bring it all to a boil and add the sausage.

Continue cooking for about 15 minutes, stirring every now and then. Reduce heat, simmer 10 more minutes.

Add the shrimp, undrained oysters and crabmeat. Return to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat, skim off any oil and serve over  rice

One good way to use up those plants is to make this dish. And yes, it is green. If you ever make this for someone who’s never had it, make sure and tell them what it is and that it’s supposed to be green.

One Christmas before we got married, I made this in Dallas for a party my Mom threw for us. Hardly anyone tried it because they had no idea what it was. And yes, I’m still sore over the subject.

2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon of salt

½-3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons butter

1 food processor

Wash the basil leaves in cold water and pat dry. Put the basil, olive oil, minced garlic and salt in a food processor and process until creamy. Throw the mixture into a bowl.

Next, add the cheese and mix it in. Then add the softened butter, mixing well.

In a large pot, cook 1 ½ pounds of pasta. We like to use angel hair with this, put any kind of pasta will work.

After the pasta is done, put it on plates and spoon the pesto over. Wait!! Don’t throw out all the pasta water, save a little to spoon over the pesto as it makes it a little saucier.

Three months into our marriage, I walked into the kitchen and saw Corby busy cutting, dicing and all that other chef stuff. When I asked what she was making, she said “salsa.”

Now, being the chef that I am, I merely nodded in that nice husband way and continued on, knowing she would have the same trouble I did. Imagine my surprise when she brought it out for me to try.

This is so good we’re thinking about starting a little specialty business. Anyway, it’s the best salsa you will ever have and you can even add/subtract to it to get it just the way you want.

3 to 4 fresh tomatoes, diced, seeds and all

1 yellow bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 large purple onion

3 or 4 green scallions

2 jalapenos

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 bunch fresh basil

Several good shakes of Tabasco sauce

3 or 4 garlic cloves, minced

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 large can (20oz ) tomato sauce (or just use fresh tomatoes and process in food processor)

Beer as needed for liquid and to fortify the cook.

Essentially, get a very large bowl and dice everything up and throw it all in together. One thing, with the basil and cilantro all you want are the leaves. Stir everything together and let it refrigerate for at least one hour. This is one where you need to really play with it and get it the way you want. Add this, subtract that. And isn’t that what cooking is all about?

Each time we did this, Brenda always complained it was too hot. But it’s great and will definitely make you sweat on the top of your head.

And in honor of Brenda, we’ve included the original “John, this is way too hot, where’s the water, my mouth is on fire” version. We don’t think it’s that hot. 

Seasoning mix:

2 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon dried thyme

¼ cup purple onion, chopped

¼ cup celery, chopped

¼ cup red bell pepper, chopped

7 tablespoons vegetable oil

¾ cup all-purpose flour

3 cups in all, seafood stock. Warning: read below first

½ pound of butter

2 pounds peeled crawfish tails or medium shrimp. SAVE THE SHELLS

1 cup very finely chopped green onion

4 cups rice

Combine the seasoning mix very well in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the onions, celery and bell pepper.

In a large skillet, we use a cast iron one for this dish, heat the oil over very high heat until it just starts to smoke. With a VERY long handled whisk, gradually mix in the flour. Add just a little bit at a time. If it starts to burn, pull it off the heat. Basically, you are cooking the flour. It might take a couple of times, but you’ll get the hang of it. When it doubt, pull it off the fire. Whatever you do, keep stirring the flour constantly, slowing adding until it’s all in.

What you’re making is known as a roux. You want to keep cooking the roux until it’s a dark red-brown color. That does not mean black.

Once you have the color, immediately remove from the heat and stir in the vegetables and 1 tablespoon of the seasoning mix with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring.

In a two-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups of the seafood stock to a boil over high heat. Here’s how to make the seafood stock: take the shells from the shrimp and throw them in a big pot filled with water. Throw in a couple of garlic cloves, a stalk of celery, cut up onion and let everything cook. First bring to a boil and then just slowly slimmer that just keeps the water bubbling. You can cook this for hours if you want, just remember to keep adding water. Or, you can do it in 30 minutes or so.

Slowly add the roux to the seafood stock and whisk away until dissolved. Reduce heat to low and keep cooking for about 5 minutes until the flour taste is gone.

In a large saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter over medium high heat. Stir in the shrimp or crawfish and green onions and sauté for about a minute – stirring all the time. Add the remaining stick of butter, the stock mixture with the roux and the remaining 1 cup of seafood stock.

Cook until the butter melts and is mixed into the sauce. The best way to cook this is to move the pan back and forth verses stirring. I don’t know why, but it keeps the sauce from separating.

Add the remaining seasoning mix, mix well and serve in a bowl.

Have plenty of your favorite cold beverage on hand.