Our tradition on Valentine's Day is that we cook lamb and have the dark chocolates we gave each other for dessert. No need to try and fight the crowds and pay a bunch of money for a meal we could have made ourselves better at home. Plus we get to relax and have fun with each other. Come to think of it... Every night is like valentine's night at our house.


Last night was no different we had a boneless leg of lamb so Mrs. Irish seasoned it and added fresh rosemary. I folded it together and tied it up before searing it in the cast iron with some olive oil. Then we placed it in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes. We also cut up some Yukon Gold potatoes, tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley, and rosemary and roasted them in the oven along side the lamb.

While all that was going on Mrs. Irish roasted some fresh beets and let them cool, then she went about making a salad and some homemade dressing... Field greens, sliced roasted beets, purple onions, toasted almonds, feta cheese crumbles and drizzled with her homemade Cara Cara Orange vinaigrette dressing.



If you want to have a fine dining experience, sometimes you have to work for it...



This lamb looks almost good enough to eat...



But it's worth the effort in the end...



Mrs. Irish always makes a pretty salad...

The food you post pictures of looks amazing and I'm sure you can make most anything taste delicious, but even you can't make a beet taste good. In fairness, the rest does look incredible.

Beets. I remember eating beets when I was a little kid. Once. I LOVED them and the lady gave me a whole jar. I proceeded to eat most, or maybe all of them. In a little while I commenced to spewing like Krakatoa. And I spewed and spewed and spewed till I thought I'd die. Still can't get past the smell of beets.

I'm not a fan of beets, but i did purchase some Pickled Beets a few weeks ago and they were some count.

Looks Good!

You guys need to understand (And may already understand) that there is a huge difference between canned stuff, frozen stuff and freshly prepared stuff. For instance I never liked Asparagus, Brussels Sprouts, Artichoke hearts, Broccoli, English peas, etc... Until I started preparing them and cooking them in the freshest form possible. Worlds apart in flavor and texture. Those beets were fresh roasted and it makes a world of difference. Those weren't yo' Mama's beets. We're even going to make something with the beet greens.

Sure there is, but I'm still not a fan of beets, but love fresh Asparagus & Brussels, and I'll eat the hell out of English Peas from a can without heating them up 😀

Love some beets. One of my favorite things to grow in the garden. Got a 100’ row that’s about golf ball size right now. And I’d dive head first in that lamb. I’m impressed once again.

Don't you dare use that expression and beets in the same sentence.

Here's the deal with beets. You can put enough sugar in them to make syrup, and they still taste like dirt.

Irish, I thought those were pickled beets. So how did the beets get cooked?

I'll have to ask her. I think I was chillin' with a Scotch while she was tending to the beets, but I think she washed them and then roasted them in the oven in some aluminum foil. Then if you look at the picture she let them cool and peeled them by hand, before slicing them and serving them cold and sliced on the salad.

They certainly didn't taste anything like dirt. They were delicious. We had another salad like that last night. All our guests loved it too.

I don't think I have ever eaten a canned beet. The thought of canned beets don't appeal to me.

The only beets I've ever eaten were pickled beets. I've tried several different kinds, but they all tasted like dirt, with varying amounts of sugar added.

I'd like to try some fresh beets. I don't know that there's any other vegetable, normal in the American diet, that I don't eat. Not many if there are any.