Recipes 18 & 19: Lamb Chops and Risotto

No photos this time but the recipes were so good, I had to share anyways.

For my friend's 25th birthday (er, at least that's the number she's giving), I threw her a dinner party. I wasn't totally sure how this would turn out in Kabul but the answer was - fantastic. There are great lamb chops to be bought (by other people since I'm not allowed to head out to a butcher) and we are lucky enough to have a balcony for our charcoal grill (with Kazakh coals!). Another friend procured Parmesan cheese (the real thing! Yes, I'm going nuts with parentheses) and I had some arborio rice that I'd shipped from Milan that was just screaming to be made into risotto.

I used this recipe and it was VERY GOOD. I had leftover lemon juice from my salad dressing that I threw in halfway and it was a nice touch. I kinda-sorta followed Giada's instructions on the lamb chops (marinating in red wine vinegar/garlic and rubbing with Penzey's lemon-pepper rub). Marco threw them on the grill and with a little trial and error (this was our first time ever cooking lamb), we finally got them perfect.

Considering I can do that in Kabul without a grocery store (at least, not one I can visit myself), I'm very excited to try my hand with DC farmer's markets next year!