Getting Some Lamb in my Life


Last night, as I was rubbing down some lamb chops with a fragrant marinade, my cousin Lindsey entered the kitchen.
"Do you like lamb?" I asked.
"I don't know." She replied.
"Well, it seems you're about to find out!" I answered with a smile.

I do the bulk of the cooking at home, and often I'm just serving myself and/or me and my husband Josh. My cousin Lindsey lives with us, but she works...a lot. So we only have her around for dinner maybe once a week, and I often don't know which day that will be. Which doesn't really matter because I always make more than enough and she is usually willing to give new things a try.
Also lucky for me, I purchased the lamb chops (on sale, bonus) at Sweet Clover Market in Essex the previous day and the lovely lady behind the meat counter gave me the last two chops for free so she wouldn't have two lonely chops sitting around (double bonus).
I hadn't had lamb in a while, it's expensive. When I go grocery shopping I usually find myself picking up a rack of lamb, inspecting the price (as if I think it will somehow be cheaper than usual) get a small heart palpitation when I see it's still out of the budget, and put it back down and move onto pork.
I lucked out by going to Sweet Clover Market specifically for lamb chops and finding them on sale ($15 a lb, still, not cheap). And I think part of the reason I was willing to spend the money (apart from a lamb craving) was that I wasn't buying everything at once. I broke my grocery shopping into 2 parts, buying the usual paper towels, milk, cereal, and such at the "lame-ass Price Chopper" near my house in Colchester. Their meat and seafood departments are basically non-existent so I was forced to search for quality protein elsewhere. And thus, was led to beautiful ruby lamb chops, on sale and two for free, at a quaint market that supports local, natural, and organic food.

I did the lamb chops in a Moroccan-style rub and served them over cous cous (to stick with the Moroccan theme) and a salad of mixed greens with a fig and yogurt dressing. The recipe is below. And I must say, was quite tasty. As Lindsey noted, "That's some meaty goodness!"


I paired my Moroccan-style meal with a plush and lovely Argentine Malbec. I've been kind of a shunner of Malbec from Argentina, preferring the French style instead. And I blame most of that on some of my early wine buying days. Years ago when I was getting into wine more and more, Malbec was everywhere! It was always the bargain wine, often costing less than $10 a bottle and though quite drinkable, usually quite forgettable. As in, "I remember buying that wine, but did I like it?"
I became all kinds of burned out on Malbec and I put it on the shelf for awhile. So I tried the La Puerta Alta Malbec with some hesitation. Turns out, this Malbec is bringing a little bit of sexy back!
My first whiff of was exotic spices, plump blackberry, and a touch of mint. The palate was mouth-filling, lush, and dark. Flavors of inky black fruit and loads of brown spice were finished with a lovely note of freshly brewed coffee. It was not only delicious, but a perfect match to the Moroccan-style lamb and mixed greens with figgy yogurt dressing.
Also it's quite nice to spend only $12.25 for a bottle of wine, when your main course is so pricey. It delivered the flavor and balance for a great price, and that is worth every cent.

Moroccan-style Lamb Chops
(*note, number of chops varies on how many people you're cooking for, size of chops, and how much of the side dishes you have. Our chops were small-ish but our side dishes were ample, so we were perfectly well fed with just 3 chops per person)
Serves 2-4

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground curry powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary, roughly chopped (not Moroccan, I know, but so good with lamb, and I had some in the fridge)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
6-8 Lamb Chops

1. Mix all ingredients in a large shallow bowl, add lamb chops and toss well to coat each chop with marinade.
2. Set grill pan on medium heat, grill chops until browned and mostly cooked through, turning just once, 6-8 minutes for med-rare to medium.
3. Pull chops off and let rest a few minutes. Serve over cous cous.


Mixed Green Salad with Fig and Yogurt Dressing:

4 dried figs, diced
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream in a pinch!)
2 Tbls fresh lime juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 cups mixed greens (I used watercress and fresh parsley leaves)
1 handful of roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to top with

1. Mix figs, yogurt, lime juice and salt and pepper in a bowl until smooth and incorporated, thin with a bit of warm water if too thick.
2. Place greens in large salad bowl with pepitas and Parm shavings, toss together with dressing and serve.

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