Restaurants often have some kind of a “mixed grill” and seafood places will have “Captains Plate” with different items on it. When we do Sonny’s BBQ, one of us frequently gets the Pork Three Ways which comes with some ribs, pulled pork, and sliced pork.

Last night I carried that idea into a leftovers dinner. We actually used some leftover steak on Monday to make carne asada. We also had a portion of chicken paprika and some grilled pork tenderloin in the fridge. Either could have been used for a lunch, but I had decided to do a combination instead. There was enough sauce in the chicken to be able to just slice it and reheat in the microwave. The pork was not sauced and would have dried out too much with re-heating. Jars of roasted red peppers are a pantry staple for us, so I took one out, added chicken broth, and white wine and blended it up for a sauce. I put that in a skillet, added a little salt and cracked black pepper, reduced the sauce by about half to give it more depth of flavor, then added the slices of tenderloin to cook on low heat for about eight minutes, turning it a few times.

There is a brand of frozen crispy green beans we like as well as red roaster potatoes with onions; both items bake at the same temperature. The potatoes go in ten minutes before the green beans and it all comes together nicely. It made for a nice-looking plate. While we normally drink red wine with grilled pork, Hubby agreed to Chardonnay in this case since we also had the chicken paprika.

There are certain meals we do that are multi-step and/or time consuming which means we don’t make them very often. Whole fish on the grill is one and I’m not sure exactly why we decided to do it last week. I think it was because it had been a while.

Step one of course is to get the whole fish and the market that does them changed ownership several months ago. There weren’t many changes inside and it was later on a Saturday so the selection was limited. They did have some nice yellow-tail snappers. Next step is waiting for the lady (in this case) to prep the fish as we don’t do that. Prepping the fish when it’s time to cook is a process, too, with seasoning, then putting fresh herbs, and lemon slices. Hubby did dill, parsley, and rosemary as the herbs. Salt, pepper, and a little seafood seasoning for that part. The fish is scored although I don’t remember the reason for that step. Next is prepping the grill to try and keep the fish from sticking. Yes, this step can be by-passed if you do them in foil packets, but that wasn’t the plan this time.

Okay, grill and fish are all prepped and Hubby has the extra special spatula he uses to turn them and did manage to do so with leaving them intact. Now, the whole fish is on the plate and it’s being very careful with eating as there are the bones to deal with. I managed to only get stuck once. It is a delicious meal although not everyone likes looking at a whole fish on a plate. We did small whole potatoes and corm as the sides. I don’t recall the brand, but Publix has the potatoes in a package that has a seasoning pack and they are done in the microwave in like seven minutes. You cook them, then stir in 1-2 TBS of butter and the seasoning mix until the potatoes are coated. They are excellent and easy to do.

As I’ve mentioned before, I did not grow up with lamb as a food in the Deep South. I would have read about it books I’m sure and I suppose you could get it in the big city of Shreveport although I never heard anyone mention it. Although I did have a number of different things during my time in France, lamb was not one of them, nor did I have it when I was in my first few years in the Army. I was in Maine with my first husband’s family for Easter so of course it was roast leg of lamb with mint jelly. I was pleasantly surprised even though it wasn’t like I enjoyed it to the point of deciding we should routinely add it to the menu. It seems as if Italy was where we began to see lamb more often in restaurants and have access at the commissary (military grocery stores). Roasting was still the common way to prepare because Hubby was deprived of a grill until we were later assigned to Hawaii. Once again, lamb was not exactly a staple on the island. Being in the Washington, D.C. area was where it was plentiful and grilled lamb chops became the fall back. It really is much quicker than roasting a leg.

A few years ago, Hubby got the idea to use lamb shoulder as a substitute for veal in Osso Bucco because the store hardly ever has veal shanks. It works remarkably well and we always have broth and veggies left over as well as some lamb. That’s when I make a soup adding in another meat; often chicken, turkey, or sausage. We haven’t used ground lamb for anything, mostly because we have it often enough in other forms. When the kids come to visit, we make a point to do lamb chops since daughter-in-law loves them and son can’t bring himself to eat lamb. He acknowledges that dates back to enjoying the cute little lambs that belonged to one of the neighbors who lived close to his grandparents in Maine.