Grilled Lamb Chops and Tomatoes with White Beans and Spinach

John was jealous of the lamb dish I had described from my New Orleans trip the other day so he requested a repeat for Sunday dinner this week. We had a productive yet relaxing day and decided to top if off with a nice meal in celebration of our cats' 5th birthday....don't laugh. For those of you that know us, our cats are treated more like our children than pets in our house... John actually went out early in the morning to buy them a floor to ceiling "cat tree" as a birthday gift. As he told me, "turning five in the cat world is like turning forty as a human" so we needed to make it a big deal. What better way to toast to your favorite furry friends than to pull a nice bottle of Brunello off of the shelf and to grill up some lamb!

We opened the wine about an hour before we started the grill as a Brunello is best when it has time to really open up. We found this bottle at Total Wine for my Dad's birthday last year and it is AMAZING. As we learned on our honeymoon in Tuscany two years ago, 2003 is the best recent year in Tuscan wine history, so we had a feeling it could be worth every one of the 5000 pennies we paid for it- and IT IS!

While it was breathing, I cut my french rack of lamb into 8 even chops and started on my marinade. In a small bowl I combined 3 large cloves of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped rosemary, 1 tablespoon of mint sliced into chiffonade, 1 tablespoon of honey, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, the juice of half a lemon, 1 teaspoon salt and some freshly cracked pepper. I mixed that together and poured over the lamb chops in a large ziplock bag. After sealing well, I gave the bag a little "massage" to make sure the marinade was coating all of the chops evenly and put it into the fridge for one hour.

I set the table and killed a little bit of time with clean-up in the kitchen before I prepped the side dishes as everything was really quick and easy. About 30 minutes until grill time, I cut two roma tomatoes into quarters and drizzled with olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and seasoned with salt and pepper.

John had actually requested the standard roasted potatoes with the lamb but I was in the mood for something a little different.

The Tuscan wine brought Cannelinni beans to mind which I absolutely love. I had a large can of cannellini beans in the pantry which I drained and rinsed. In a saucepan with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, I sauteed one clove of garlic-minced and two thirds of a shallot-sliced. As soon as the garlic started to get a slight toast on it, I added one teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary and cooked one minute more before adding the beans a sprinkle of kosher salt and some fresh cracked pepper. Once everything was heated through- about 5 minutes on medium heat- I added a generous pinch of fresh mint and a squeeze of lemon juice (approx half a lemon.) The beans were so tasty on their own that I had the left overs for lunch the following day.

Meanwhile, John was manning the grill zone. He put the tomatoes on the grill first and then added the chops on med-high heat for a quick two minutes per side. They came off at a perfect medium-rare temperature to rest while I quickly sauteed some spinach and got ready to plate. I toasted one tablespoon of pinenuts in a frying pan over medium heat until golden brown. I removed them from the pan and added some olive oil, one clove of garlic-sliced and the remaining third of my sliced shallot over the same heat. Just as the garlic began to get some color, I added one bag of baby spinach and sauteed until wilted. I hit it with a splash of balsamic vinegar, some salt, pepper and my toasted pine nuts.

I plated the white beans and lamb chops with a large spoonful of spinach and a few grilled tomatoes. I then squeezed some fresh lemon over the lamb (thanks Heather for the tip!) before we sat down to eat which really livened up the flavor of the meat. The plate was beautifully colorful and of course paired with the Brunello, was pretty close to heaven on earth.

As I've said before and I'm sure I'll say again, a great bottle of red wine requires that you have chocolate on the menu for dessert. I wanted to stick with my quick and easy theme so I found a Quick Blender Chocolate Mousse recipe on Epicurious.com...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Moms-Blender-Chocolate-Mousse-with-Lemon-Cream-237920

I have to say, it is possibly the easiest dessert ever, but my attempt was not so successful. The flavor was fantastic. I used 60% Bittersweet Ghiradelli chocolate (I doubled the sugar to compensate as the recipe called for semi-sweet) and it came together in 15 minutes flat. Instead of bowls, I actually served it in teacups which were the perfect size. I let it set up for over three hours in the fridge but it never did set up as I would have liked it to- the bottom of the cup was still a little soupy. I topped the mousse with Kahula whipped cream and some chocolate shavings. I decided on Kahula instead of lemon seeing as the tea cup made for a playful"cappuccino" presentation and the mousse had some instant espresso in it as well. They were super cute- I will definitely try the concept again but would use a different mousse recipe.

The rich dark chocolate, despite the consistency-and the Brunello was like a fourth of July for the tongue- I honestly cannot tell you how delicious. I managed to make my last glass last about 2 hours!! I could have just sniffed the glass all night long.... I would definitely recommend buying as many of these bottles as you can possibly afford and to do it up right with your favorite lamb, steak and decadent chocolate dessert recipe!

Happy Birthday Caeser and Cleo!!!