Chops – lamb or pork – make an effortless supper, and with a simple marinade they can be as flavoursome as a meal that you might slave over. They also give the man of the house some quality time with the grill!
If you’re pushed for time or the meal is extremely impromptu, marinades can be skipped over and replaced with a ‘dry-rub’. To dry-rub chops, just rub any salt, pepper, herbs or spices that you like into the meat, it won’t tenderise the meat nor will it give it the extra succulence that a marinade would provide, but it’s a quick and easy way to add a great deal of flavour.
That’s one tasty looking chop!
Chops are best cooked on the BBQ but it’s raining so I’ll be doing mine under the electric grill (on a very good BBQ, thin chops can be cooked in just 5 minutes: flash each side with the lid down for a couple of minutes). For thin lamb chops under an electric grill, the highest temperature setting will give the best result. In the case of pork chops, which tend to be thicker, favour a more moderate setting to prevent them drying out during the longer cook time.
It’s of utmost importance chops are allowed to rest for up to 10 minutes, allowing the juices to flow through the chop. If you don’t allow them to rest, you’ve wasted the time you spent cooking them.
Let’s stop chopsing and get down to it.
Ingredients: (serves 1)
3 lamb chops
3 Tbsp olive oil
10 peppercorns, crushed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 lemon
2 Tbsp mint, chopped
8 small tomatoes, still on the vine
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Preparation & Directions:
For the marinade: combine mint, garlic, vinegar, olive oil and the juice of the lemon in a bowl. Put the chops, marinade, and squeezed lemon halves into a sealable bag, seal it and give it a quick shake. Put this in the fridge for a minimum of two hours before cooking, overnight is best though.
Once the chops have marinated, remove them from the fridge and leave to come to room temperature, 20 minutes. In the meantime preheat your grill to a high heat setting. Put the lamb chops straight onto a rack about 6 inches away from the heating element, a tray beneath to catch the juices. Make sure to leave the oven door ajar to stop the cooker overheating and spoiling the chops. Grill each side for 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of the chops, until they brown slightly. Set aside to rest for up to 10 minutes so that they retain their juices.
Heat some olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Pierce the tomatoes so that they don’t rupture and add them to the pan, still on the vine so that they can be easily removed together. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. Let them sizzle for 5-10 mins then remove from heat.
Dish up.
(Forgot to photograph the finished article, too excited to stuff my face, sorry!)
The Porky Pantry 