The Shop Girls Cook

We love to cook, main dishes that is but we actually made a fruit crisp as well. All this web-site building has made us well, pretty hungry. Also, we have never met a sauce we didn't like. We sell cookbooks every now & then at the store. We love' em!
I discovered this gal in our House Beautiful,
Susan Spicer a chef out of New Orleans. So we decided to tackle this main dish by her.
Enjoy!
*I added peach crisp recipe @ the end

Herb-Roasted Lamb Loin with Goat Cheese and Zinfandel Sauce
Serves 4 Prep time: about 45minutes

{*We subsituted a flat iron steak for the lamb loin.}

Goat Cheese Filling
3 oz fresh goat cheese, at room temperature

1/4 pound pancetta, diced and cooked until crisp

2 tablespoons diced marinated sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence or fresh herbs of your choice i.e. rosemary, thyme or basil

1 garlic clove, minced

This filling can be made one day in advance. Using a fork, combine goat cheese, pancetta, tomatoes, herbs, and garlic in a small bowl. Chill the mixture for a few minutes to allow the flavors to meld. When ready to use it, let the cheese mixture soften slightly at room temp.

Zinfandel Sauce
1 cup Zinfandel or full-flavored red wine

1 medium shallot, finely minced

2 sprigs fresh thyme or rosemary, or a combo

2 cups lamb stock (or substitute chicken stock) I used canned

2 tablespoons butter, cut in four pieces
salt and pepper

Place the wine, shallot, and herb in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup of liquid. Remove the herb sprigs.
Whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time. The sauce should be glossy and slightly syrupy (but not so thick that it sticks your lips together; add a tablespoon or two of hot water if it gets too thick). Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Lamb (or a flat iron steak in our case)
1 1/2 pounds boneless lamb loin,
cut into 4 ( 6-ounce) portions

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

Goat cheese filling

Zinfandel sauce

Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Sear the lamb on both sides for a minute or so, to brown, and then reduce the heat and cook each side 3-4 minutes longer. Transfer to a plate and rest. You may serve the loins whole or sliced, with equal portions of the goat cheese mixture crumbled along the top and Zinfandel sauce spooned over it.

Fresh Peach Crisp
Yield: 12 Servings
Crisp
5-6 cups peeled and sliced peaches (about 6 large) ok this is March in Ohio and there is no peaches around so I found in the canned section freestone peaches, now my mother goes ga-ga over these in the summer and when they come up from Georgia--she loves this variety of peaches. I thought this was a good pick & used two large cans of these.

1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup dry cooking oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks margarine, melted

Vanilla Creme Fraiche
1 8oz. container sour creme or creme fraiche or sour cream
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place peach slices in an ungreased 9x13 inch baking pan. sprinkle w/ sugar
Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Add margarine and mix well. Spoon evenly over fruit.
Bake 40-50 minutes. Serve warm with Vanilla creme fraiche or icecream
To make Vanilla creme fraiche, place creme fraiche in a medium bowl. Add seeds from vanilla bean. Stir in sugar. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour, or up to 3 days. Serve w/ fresh fruit or fruit desserts.