Thursday, February 12, 2009

Pan Roasted Lamb Chops in Less Than 15 Minutes


Pan Roasted: Seared on the stove top then finished off in the oven. Gives food a tasty golden outside and a juicy inside. You can pan roast anything - chops, steaks, fish, chicken. Heck, I pan roasted a turkey breast on Thanksgiving once. Yummy.

Okay, so remember the lamb chops I bought on sale on Wednesday? They were yesterday's lunch. If you're not a super chef, don't get intimidated by lamb chops or any chop for that matter, I'm a regular person just like you. I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen creating culinary masterpieces.

I want to eat.

So here's a step by step on how to make Pan Roasted Lamb Chops and Spinach Sauteed with Garlic in less than 15 minutes:

Pre-step: 10 minutes ahead of time, chop one clove of garlic and let it sit. Crushing or chopping garlic and letting it sit 10-15 minutes ahead of cooking it activates its cancer fighting components.

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat your chops with olive oil. Then sprinkle with salt (preferably kosher or sea salt) and pepper.

3. On the stove top, heat a non-stick pan with a metal handle over medium high heat. NOTE: This is going in the oven, so you must use a metal handled pan.

4. Sprinkle some kosher salt on the bottom of the pan. (Prevents any sticking.)

5. When it's hot, place the chops in the pan and let them sear on one side. It should look like this:



6. Next, pour olive oil into another pan (with any kind of handle since it's not going in the oven) and heat the garlic in it.

7. Once the garlic is soft (make sure it doesn't brown - it doesn't taste good) add your spinach to the pan. Sprinkle it with salt, pepper and cover it.

8. After two or three minutes, when your lamb chops are nicely browned on the bottom, flip them and turn off the stove. Then sprinkle some fresh rosemary on top, like this:


9. Then pop the chops in the oven for three minutes. Unless you have double cut chops, these are single cut (meaning just one bone). If yours are double cut (two bones), roast them for about six or seven minutes for medium rare.

10. Check on your spinach. It should look like this:


If your spinach is wilted, like in the picture, turn off the heat.

11. Use an oven mitt to remove your chops from the oven. To test for doneness, poke your chop. If it feels mushy, it's not ready. If it feels firm, yet gives a little bit, it's done.

Plate them immediately. If you let them sit in the pan they will continue to cook. Let them rest on a plate, loosely tented with tin foil, for five minutes.

NOTE: If you cut into meat immediately, all the juices will run everywhere. Let juices redistribute after cooking any cut of meat.

12. Enjoy!


See how easy that is?

I'm excited to explain away your kitchen fears. I've already got requests for fish and chicken info. I'll cover them over the next few days. What else do you want to know?

Suzie

8 comments:

  1. I love how simple this is. I'm a big fan of lamb, but I do get scared of cooking it myself because I'm used to the more common meats like beef or pork. I like my meats grilled on the BBQ, but in winter weather, the pan roasting seems much more convenient. I've always associated pan roasting with dry, overcooked meats (the tough, hockey-puck-like steaks we've all had to suffer through) because in order to fully cook a piece of meat on the stove, you basically have to cook the shit out of it. But your method of searing on the stove, then finishing off in the oven is the perfect solution to this. Thanks for the recipe!

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  2. I love the fact that you're using pictures! I've done lamb before but not with sauteed spinach and I like the idea. I think I'll have to pick some up at the supermarket next time I go!

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  3. I love the pork chops. They look great and easy. We get the shorter thicker chops around here. I"ll try it that way anyway. The spinach looks the same as the spinach we had in Tuscany!!!! . We spinached our way through that trip. It was sooooo good.
    Love the pics. They are very helpful.

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  4. I'm planning on lamb chops tomorrow night so I'm lucky to have come across these intructions!

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  5. this is a really silly question, but do you sear both sides of the lamb before putting in the oven?

    and 3 minutes searing per side?

    on high or medium heat?

    i'm new to searing. used to grilling. but i'd really like to try this out this week.

    thanks!

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  6. Dear Anonymous,

    It's not a silly question. As long as you're cooking single ribbed chops (because they're so thin), you should be able to sear one side until it's really brown, flip them and put them into the oven without browning the other side.

    Lamb tastes so good when it's medium rare. So you're definitly going for pinkness. Three minutes in the oven plus letting them sit for five minutes afterwards should get you to the perfect pink. (When they sit afterwards, they continue to cook while allowing time for the juices to redistribute.)

    But if you're nervous about doneness, keep them in the oven for five minutes. Or sear them on the stove top for a minute or two. It's up to you.

    Unfortunately, cooking is not an exact science, so play around and see what works for you.

    Thanks for chooing Suzie Foods!
    : )
    Suzie

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  7. I took lamb chops out for dinner tonight and there happened to be a big storm in our neighborhood so we could not grill them. My hubby and I cooked this recipe together and boy are they delicious. We had the double boned chops so we cooked them for 10 minutes and let them rest 5 minutes covered in foil. They were perfect. We also loved the fresh spinach as I have breast cancer and the leafy greens are so good for me. Thanks so much for this recipe.....I will make again and again.
    7 Year Survivor!

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  8. Cindy, thank you so much for your comment. I'm so glad you and your husband enjoyed the chops and the spinach. Congratulations on beating cancer. Keep up the good work! :)

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