Herbed Lamb Chops

Little did I know that the morning The Hungry Neophyte entered Commerce Center and order his double short extra dry cappuccino (with 2 raw sugars if I remember correctly) that it would begin an interesting interacting between barista and morning regular.  I remember him coming up to me after finishing his meeting and complementing my on my silky micro foam used to make his capp, I didn’t think a whole lot of it at the time but looking back now that was a rather fortuitous meeting.  Its been almost 2 years I have been making drinks for H.N. chatting while he waited for his drink, getting to know him a bit more, being told and forgetting what he does for work only to be reminded (by him) when I really needed a physical therapist.

Over the last 4+ months that friendly acquaintance has become a developing friendship around cooking and a shared passion for good food.  Though H.N. I have been getting to know his lovely wife, Kentucky Fried Chick, who shares in the cooking conversation via cooking emails passed back and forth.  I have yet been able  to meet K.F.C. face to face but am looking forward to it with relish as she, from what I have gathered through various conversations with H.N., has a wicked humor and a fantastic palette.  I pass goods along via H.N. to K.F.C. to get her take on things and really appreciate her comments. Having an outside taster is really an advantage for me causing me to stretch even farther in what I do.

What does all this have to do with lamb…well H.N. and I were talking back when I posted The Ragu about using varied meats instead of ground chuck.  I had by mistake picked up some lamb chunks and while kicking around some ideas for meat in the ragu I remembered that lamb.  What a flavor marriage made in heaven!  Well after passing along that Ragu to H.N. & K.F.C. he told me about K.F.C.’s relatives who raise Oxford lambs and how fantastic the meat was from them.  That piqued my interest especially when H.N. offered to bring me back some from the trip they were taking north.  That got me all excited…farm raised lamb Oh yeah was I interested!  So 4 neatly packaged bundles of lamb came into my hot little hands from Winning Ways Farm in Mowequa Ill. The lamb provided to me by H.N. & K.F.C. is absolutely amazing…tender, flavorful without being over powering, well marbled, it is truly unlike any lamb I have had before.  As of right now Winning Ways Farm does not have a web site but you can rest assured as soon as they have one up and running I will be linking to them as they produce such a great product.  Thanks again to H.N. & K.F.C. for passing along some amazing protein to me!

Herbed Lamb Chops

2 lamb chops

1/2-3/4 c olive oil

2 limes (zested and juiced)

1 shallot (fine dice)

2 med sprigs fresh Rosemary

1/4 of  pkg Thyme (3/4 oz pkg)

1/4 pkg Oregano (3/4 oz pkg)

1Tb+ Garlic paste

1 Ts Kosher Salt

1 Ts Fresh Ground Pepper

This is a super easy recipe but with lots of photos to kind of guide you along. Remove the leaves of the Rosemary from the woody stems and strip the leaves of the oregano, discarding the woody stems of both.  Mince all the herbs together.

We need scratch-n-sniff photos because these smelled great!

Make them nice and fine…

Combine everything but the lamb in a mixing bowl and whisk together.

Sorry it’s so fuzzy…didn’t realize it till now.

Get a nice emulsion going before applying to chops

Place Lamb chops in a shallow baking dish and pour marinade over the tops making sure herbs are well-distributed on the chops.  Allow to do its thing for about 2 hours flipping half way though and piling herbs on the new “top”.

Don’t the look lovely all wrapped in herbs?

Ok on to the grill with these bad boys…I had a screaming hot fire under them to cook them and left it on high for the whole cooking time. I allowed direct access to the flame for grilling these.  Now like when we did the Kababs don’t walk away from the chops there is a lot of olive oil that will be coming off them and causing flare ups.  Don’t douse the flare ups unless they really get out of hand.  Once you put the chops down on the grill just let them be to caramelize, they will release when that process is completed.  Don’t freak out if all the herbs stay on the grill its OK they have done their job and are excess baggage now. Remember to use tongs to flip as you don’t want to pierce the chop allowing an escape route for those wonderful juices to vacate your chops.

Look at those herbs and shallots…

Kissed by the flame just like I like them

Disregard the big one it was part of a taste test…

You can see all the herbs stuck to the grill grate in this one

That’s what you are looking for right there!

…and done

Remember to not over cook your lamb, it is OK to serve it med. rare it does not have to be grilled into oblivion to be considered done. They will need to rest for about 10 minutes before you slice into them to allow the juices to settle down, if you cut them right off the grill all that lovely juice you work so hard to keep in them will puddle all over your plate leaving you with a dry cut of meat. These chops were SO good. I will definitely making this again!

Now go play with your food!

WikiJan