On-My-Own Lamb Dish At Home!

I am someone who loves lamb.  When I go out to eat, if there is lamb on the menu I will probably end up ordering it.  Lamb is a dish my mom cooked a bit when I growing up, and to this day it remains one of my requests for special occasion holiday dinners.  While I do not have much experience cooking lamb, I did make some lamb meatballs, but then got some help from the Tri Lamb Group when they gave me a kit to make lamb pizza.  Eventually I had to take off the training wheels and just go for it, or else I would never get out of using basic ground lamb (not that there's anything wrong with ground lamb!).

Dinner is Ready!

So, off I went to Whole Foods, where I bit the bullet and bought some lamb.  I meant to buy a rack of lamb with 6 chops, but ended up asked for 6 lamb chops instead and did not realize what I had done until I arrived home - whoops!

6 Lamb Chops

The lamb chops were a nice size and had some fat around the outside, but I just left it on there because I was worried about drying out the chops and figured the fat would help my cause.  That, and we could just cut it off after it was cooked!

I decided to keep things clean and easy this time around.  I prepared them right on a baking sheet on which  I spread some olive oil.  I first sprinkled both sides of the chops with salt and pepper.  I then minced up a couple (~4) garlic cloves and chopped up fresh rosemary.  I poked some holes into the meat and smushed in the minced garlic and then spread the remainder on top.  Following the garlic, I pressed on the rosemary.

Chop with garlic and rosemary

The final step was taking some nice whole grain mustard and smearing it across the top of the chops.  I popped the prepared chops in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Smeared mustard

While the lamb was cooking I prepared some simple boxed cous cous and asparagus to accompany the lamb.

Fresh Veggies

I decided to just saute the asparagus in some olive oil on the stove.  I really just stirred it up a few times and added some salt and garlic to give the asparagus some zip.  I had a ton in the pan so it took probably about 10 minutes to cook, but still it had some crispness to it.

Cooking asparagus

When I took the lamb out of the oven it was nice and browned and felt like a good medium rare.  I don't like well cooked meat in general, but really cannot stand over cooked lamb!

Lambs done!

I tried to get a bit fancy with the plating.  I piled a large spoonful of the cous cous onto the plate and then placed 3 chops on the cous cous.  I placed a sprig of rosemary between the lamb chops for a little decoration.  Finally, I placed a bundle of asparagus next to the meat and the plate was ready to go.  Not to shabby!

Finished Plate!

I was rather impressed with how this meal turned out!  The lamb was well cooked and very tasty.  The meat was nice and tender - I was happy I left the fat on.  Really, there was very little to trim off when the chops were on the plate.  The cous cous and asparagus were nice accompaniments and did not overpower the lamb.  With a nice start under my belt I am ready to test the waters a bit more.

Do you cook with lamb - what is your favorite way to prepare it?