I have given you guys a bunch of jam recipes and one might wonder, how much jam can a family really go through? Well, I am going to begin showing you alternative uses for your jam that will not only prove useful but are going to give you little mouth-gasms in the process.

There used to be a little restaurant near my flower shop called “Cibo di Vino” I believe that translates to “Wine Food”. Yaaaassssss… Now that I have your attention (as if mouth-gams didn’t do it) let’s move on. They had a dish that was Pistachio crusted lamb lollipops with a cherry sauce. Every time I went, this is what I ordered. This recipe is my own take on that meal. Albeit a simpler version, it was quite delicious.

You will need the following:

* 8 individual lamb chops

* 4-6 sprigs rosemary

* 4 cloves garlic, crushed

Sauce

* 1/4 cup cherry kumquat jam (see previous recipe) or any cherry jam, if you don’t want to make your own

* 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

* 3 table spoons olive oil

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, add all sauce ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring often. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes stirring frequently until sauce thickens.

2. Salt and generously pepper your lamb chops. The extra pepper will be a great accent to the cherry sauce.

3. Add a few table spoons olive oil to a hot pan, place chops in pan with the crushed garlic and whole sprigs of rosemary. This will give a nice and subtle flavor infusion to your meat.

4. Allow your chops to sear, undisturbed for about 3 minutes on each side. This should yield a beautiful medium rare chop with a nice bit of caramelization.

Plate the chops and spoon the sauce over the meaty portion. garnish it with a sprig of rosemary and serve hot. You can serve this atop a bed of greens and orzo for a lovely Greek inspired salad. Add some crumbled feta and a little extra cherry sauce for the dressing. Your guests will LOVE you… Seriously, I ate my chops in like, a minute. No joke… a minute.

Bon Appetit, bitches.

I want to give a little shout out to my Whole Foods people. In my 9 to 5 I work in the photography department of a large “table top” company. That is to say, we design, manufacture and sell dinnerware, cookware, stemware, flatware etc etc… It’s a good job. I enjoy it and the team that I work with very much. I am not a photographer, as you may have guessed from my photos, I try hard and get tips from the real deal, the guys that I work with, but unless otherwise indicated, I shoot most of what’s on this blog with my iPhone. But I digress… My job takes me into my area Whole Foods Market nearly every day. Their produce is beautiful, they have unique and inspiring items and my frequency has made me fond of the people there. I have become close with my specialty foods ladies, as I mentioned in a previous post but I also have people at the front of the store. This is Dennis. He’s one of the produce guys and he’s a character! Always singing and joking… Sometimes he’s such a fool, but it’s nice to see somebody with good energy first thing in the morning.

This is Adam, I don’t know him as well because I don’t buy a ton of meat. BUT, when I do, I buy it here where I know it’s responsibly sourced and can ask any question I have an get a knowledgeable answer. Seriously, good meat is key. If you can’t afford good meat, maybe sacrifice the frequency of it and choose alternative proteins instead. Oooooo… Take note of the case behind Adam and his ultra cool gauges, that’s the goods back there. Dry aged to perfection beef! I’ve never bought it because it’s eeeerrrrr… a little pricey (gulp) but, trust, that’s the goods.

You may think it strange for me to be including pictures and stories about the people at the grocery, but it’s all part of the journey, yo! They are on my daily path and they aid me in making directional choices and give me good advice and inside info… Make friends with your grocers 🙂

Swearing Mom out.