The East Bay has its own [Fairway](http://omnivorousfish.com/node/62): [Berkeley Bowl](http://www.berkeleybowl.com/pages/main.html). It’s not the same as Fairway, some things are better, some not as good, and they don’t have any angry UWS blue hairs crashing their carts into you, but it’s quite a place. I stopped there to pick up a few things for yet another memorable meal with a fellow food blogger.
Lamb and Okra
Well, when I say fellow, what I mean is a real food blogger. People read her blog, and she has, like, traffic and stuff. I’m talking, of course, about the ravishing Shuna “Fish” Lydon of [Eggbeater](http://eggbeater.typepad.com).
We dodged hippies and faced off with moms on cell phones, but we came up with the spoils of an interesting if not completely balanced meal:
**Marinated Japanese cucumbers with radishes
Stew of morels and english peas over artichoke bottoms
Okra with corn and tomatoes
Rack of lamb with agrodolce jus, herb butter and wild asparagus
Plumcots**
The cucumbers were sort of inspired by a dish from [O Chame](http://www.themenupage.com/ochame.html) in Berkeley. It was a salad of Japanese cucumbers cut in large chunks with sliced icicle radishes, dressed with salt, pepper and [Banyuls](http://www.epicurious.com/drinking/wine_dictionary/search?query=banyuls&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit) vinegar. Very complex, very good.
The stew was the sum of several dishes and ideas I’ve had and thought of over the years. I sauteed some shallots and carrots in butter and olive oil, then added morels and mushrooms and cooked until all their water was released. I added some stock which reduced most of the way, and some cream, then the peas.
Meanwhile, I carved the artichokes. You basically peel away the outer leaves, then pare around the bottom, until only the soft inner leaves and meat are left. Then you scoop out the fuzzy choke until you’re left with a completely edible little cup (be sure to pare yourself a flat bottom). Trim and cook your chokes in acidulated water (with lemon juice or vinegar added) to keep your artichoke bottoms from turning the color you look after your third jaegermeister. Then, put them in the oven with a little butter, and when they’re just hot, cover with the stew and bake them together until you feel good about it.
Carving Artichoke Bottoms
Filling Artichokes with Stew
Shuna made the okra, sauteeing sliced pods in olive oil until they caramelized, then covered them with white corn kernels and covered the pan. When the corn was mostly steamed, she added chopped tomatoes and cooked everything together *a point*, as my old chef would say.
Okra Saute
The lamb was marinated with carrots, shallots, olive oil, white raisins and herbs: parsley, thyme, savory and mint. When the time came, the rack was seared on the stove, then covered with the vegetables from the marinade and finished in the oven to medium rare. We made a pan sauce with more banyuls vinegar, stock and butter, and an herb butter with the same herbs from the marinade, but since I decided to season it while smoking crack, it wasn’t all it could be. These were served with beautiful little wild asparagus, blanched and tossed in butter, they were like little green wheat stalks. Kind of. In my imagination.
Leave me alone.
Sauteeing Wild Asparagus
Anyway, it rocked and rollled and we sat on the couch and ate plumcots.
Dinner
Pictures by Shuna and ruined by Drupal Image. I’m working on that…
Listening: birds. No, not The Byrds, just birds.
