I’m sure you all miss Randall by now. Don’t worry—lamb steaks for a random, romantic Monday dinner coming right up! As I often work from home so that I can “hear my inner voice” when I write articles, I also find time to do little things around the house to make our after-work time more special. Not every day, mind you, but that wouldn’t be special anymore, would it? I like to surprise Randall with lit candles and music from a one of our favorite local bands, Roman Street. I have the candles lit and the music playing when he walks in the door. Sometimes I spread flower petals on the floor that lead from the door to whatever room I’m in. A kind of follow-the-yellow-brick-road style treasure hunt with me being the treasure, of course. Ha! And I’ve even been known to draw a nice bubble bath in our Jacuzzi tub and have it waiting at the time he usually arrives from work.

Well, this particular night, I decided to make a scrumptious, gourmet meal instead of the usual, I-hate-Mondays type of throw-together. I had found lamb steaks on sale a few days earlier. I’ve enjoyed lamb immensely, the few times I’ve eaten it at restaurants, so I delightfully placed the package of meat in my buggy and thought of the delicious and different meal to stand out against pork chops and chicken.

Yes, I’ve enjoyed lamb on several occasions, but I’d never actually cooked it! Naturally, I looked for a recipe online so that I could get to work on dinner and have it ready when he walked in. Lucky me! The second recipe I found tempted my taste buds and I got started on my Rosemary Pesto-Crusted Lamb Steaks.

Since my snip-its of inspiration often to me in that sporadic, stroke of generous manner, I didn’t have time to go to the store. I’d have to make this work. Those lamb steaks would have to yield to whatever I had on hand!

Fresh rosemary and parsley…no, not really items I keep in the fridge. But, I had dried spices. Adding a little water would make up for the moisture difference.

And I didn’t have extra virgin olive oil. But I had vegetable oil. Olive is a vegeatable…right? So into my mini food processor went the spices-plus-water, vegetable oil, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and minced (not fresh) garlic.

Tada! I’d made my first pesto.

Next I poured the “remaining olive oil”, that is, vegetable oil, into a pan and heated the stove to medium-high. (Because that’s the temperature everything cooks at on my stove.) I beat an egg and brushed one side of the lamb steak, then added lots of pesto mixture on top of the egg. As instructed, the lamb went into the skillet, pesto side down, and I set the timer for three minutes.

If you’ve ever tried to pan fry something with breading on it, you probably go with something similar to my less-touching-is-better policy. It seems the more you try to check or flip or glance-at, the less breading stays attached to the meat. So I opted to follow the directions exactly…for probably the first time in my life! Three minutes and not a single prod. During my short interim of boredom, I glanced back at the recipe to check the skillet heat. OOPs…medium, not medium-high! About that time my three minute timer beeped, as if to call me out on my mistake. Dun, dun, dun. Too late now.

I flipped the steak over. Would you believe not a single bit of pesto released from the lamb?! Probably because the light-blackness was holding it together better than the “light brown color” I was supposed to see.

The recipe called for an additional 3-4 minutes for medium steaks, so I decided on two and a half. MMM!!! As I removed the steaks, juices ran onto the plate and the strong scent of rosemary filled my nostrils. So the top was black…at least the bottom was more medium-rare. That equals medium, doesn’t it?

I whipped up some homemade mashed potatoes and added a few sprinkles of parsley to the top (just to bring the two together) just as Randall swung open the door.

His face instantly lit up as he smelled the pungent aromas bursting from the room. As he squeezed me into a big hug, I could hear him sniffing the air over my shoulder.

“What’s for dinner? It smells fantastic!”

“Rosemary Pesto-Crusted Lamb Steaks!” I beamed.

But I quickly pulled him over to the plate and explained my medium-high incident, just so he didn’t get his hope up.

My sweet man quickly reminded me that “everything’s better blackened” and we sat down at the dinner table, lights dimmed and Roman Street playing.

He complimented me through mouthfuls of lamb and insisted that it was such a special dinner because this must be how rich folks eat.

It actually was quite delicious. A little lamb for my dear goes a long way!

Rosemary Pesto-Crusted Lamb Steaks

1/3 cup chopped dried or fresh parsley (if using dried, add 3 tbs. water)

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped dried or fresh rosemary (if using dried, add 1 tbs. water)

1 clove garlic, chopped (or 1 tbs. minced garlic)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil (or vegetable oil)

1/3 cup dry bread crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg, beaten

2 (3 ounce) boneless lamb rump steaks

2 tablespoons olive oil (or vegetable oil)

Puree the parsley, rosemary, garlic, Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and bread crumbs in a blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper; set aside. Brush the lamb steaks on one side with the beaten egg. Spread the rosemary pesto onto the egg-coated side of the lamb, coating liberally.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the lamb steaks into the pan, pesto-side down. Cook 3 to 4 minutes until the pesto mixture has lightly browned. Turn the steaks over, and continue cooking until done to your desired degree of doneness, 3 to 4 minutes for medium.