This weekend while we were at the ranch celebrating the Aggies Golf National Championship, my father in law asked me to cook for him a special meal worthy of champions!
Without thinking it twice I grabbed by little yellow notepad and started scribbling our wonderful dinner..
We started with some smoked salmon (pre package) served with tiny pieces of boiled egg, capers, and red onions, paired amazingly with some Veuve Cliquot.
Then we continued our dinner with some lamb chops, which took 15 mins of preparation at least 2 hours prior to cooking; and 18 - 20 mins of cooking time.
Here are the steps to follow:
1) Get a full rack of chops and make sure to season it generously with salt and pepper, remember that lamb has a very gamy flavor to it and needs lots of time to be marinated.
2) In between each bone make a 1 1/2" insition until the middle of the meat; do not cut it all the way through because that will make the chop dry when you are cooking them.
3) Get some fresh rosemary and take little pieces of the branches and shove them into the cuts, you can not use too much of it, so don't worry and be generous!
4) Chop 2 to 3 more stalks of rosemary very thinly, mix the tiny pieces with 1/4 of butter stick per rack of 6 lamb chops and put it in the microwave for it to melt.
5) Spread the melted butter with rosemary evenly through out the lamb chops and set them in a baking sheet. Cover up with some aluminum foil and let them rest.
6) 30 mins before you want to serve dinner, get a big non sticky pan, drizzle some olive oil and heat it at medium temparture until the oil starts to sizzle. Put the first rack in the pan with the back part facing you and wait until the fat becomes golden; around 5 mins. At this point you preheatthe oven at 450 degrees.
7) Then turn the rack and cook the back side until golden.
8) Repeat the process on each of the side chops.
9) Finish searing all the racks, this makes the flavor of the rosemary to set in and prevents the juices from drying when baking.
10) Place all the seared racks on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
11) Carve each lamb chop and you will be ready to serve them!
For the cherry wime redution you need to follow simple step:
1) Open a bottle of red wine, cabernet preferably. Mix in a sauce pan 1/2 bottle with 1 cup of sugar, and a bunch of cherries cut in halves (approx 20-24). Let the mix reduce at low heat (approx. 45 mins) taste the reduction and you can add more wine to make it a little less sweet or you can add more sugar to make it sweeter, it is all about your taste!
2) AFter you cut the lamb chops, grab a spoon full of the reduction and cover the chop; the contrast of flavors is to die for!
You should pair this dish with a nice bold wine, that will mellow with all the strong flavors of the lamb!
Let me know if you have some questions about it, I would love to help!
