Helen's Birthday Dinner

Lamb sirloin with port and currant sauce, mushroom risotto, and Brussel sprouts gratin

Lamb Sirloin

• 2 10-ounce lamb sirloin steaks
• salt
• pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
• teaspoon dried rosemary, divided

Season the steaks with salt, pepper, and rosemary on both sides. Put one lamb steak and 2 garlic cloves into a 6-by-10-Inch vacuum-sealer bag. Seal with your Weston 65-0501-W Vacuum Sealer.

Put both bags in a water bath with your Joule Sous Vide and set to 134°. Cook for two hours.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Remove bags from water bath, cut open, remove the steaks and pat fry with paper towels. Transfer steaks to skillet and sear on all sides. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes.

Slice thinly against the grain and top with sauce.

Port and currant sauce

• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 teaspoon Wondra flour
• 1 tablespoon dried currants
• 2 tablespoons port 
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper

Bring stock to a boil in a small saucepan. Add flour and which until smooth. Reduce heat to low and let simmer lightly. Add currants.

After cooking the steaks and transferring to the cutting board, add stock to the skillet and return to the boil. Add port and allow to thicken until it coats the back of a spoon. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Brussel Sprouts Gratin

I HATE Brussel sprouts, but Helen loves them. So I made a small gratin as follows.

I preheated the oven to 400°.

I sorted through a 10-ounce bag of sprouts to find the smallest ones. I filled a 7 x 5 baking dish with the selected sprouts. Then I trimmed the sprouts and cut them in half. I tossed them with a large drizzle of olive oil, a heavy pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. I baked them for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile I made a sauce by combining a half cup of cream and a half cup of whole milk in a small saucepan and heated over medium-high heat until it was just short of boiling (do not let it scorch). Add 2 teaspoons Wondra flour and which until smooth. Cook another minute. Allow to cool slightly. Add &‌#8531; cup of grated Gruyere and 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan. Season with a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and a grind or two of pepper. Pour over sprouts and return to oven.

Combine 3 tablespoons of panic bread crumbs with one tablespoon of melted butter. Scatter over top of gratin and heat until browned.

I took a few just for show and left the rest to Helen.

Mushroom Risotto

I used my recipe for Souped-up Store Bought Risotto.

I opened a Chateau Montrose (St. Estephe) 1982, which was the last of my 1982s. 😢 Phenomenal. Fill was still just into the neck. Cork stained to about the halfway point. It had thrown a ton of sediment. But it was still a surprisingly deep ruby, albeit with considerable bricking at the edges. Powerful bouquet of prunes, currants, leather, tobacco, and cedar. On the palate, it was fully mature with silky tannins. Yet, it was surprisingly fruity. Currants, prunes, and black cherry, but also a lot of pencil shavings. I bought this wine at auction over twenty years ago and have been waiting for a suitable occasion. What could be more suitable than a birthday dinner during lockdown? Grade: A+