Armenian Lamb Chops

from The Armenian Table
by Victoria Jenanyn Wise

2 shoulder lamb chops
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
pinch cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardamom seeds, smashed
2 tsp orange zest
1 TBSP olive oil

Sauce:
2 TBSP butter
4 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juices reserved
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
1/4 cup cilantro leaves

Combine the garlic, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom and orange zest. Rub into lamb chops and let sit 15 minutes at room temperature or at least one hour in the refrigerator.

Add oil to a heavy saute pan and heat over medium heat. Saute lamb chops, approximately 4 minutes per side. Set aside and tent to keep warm.

Melt butter over medium heat in same pan. Add the tomatoes, salt, Aleppo pepper, stir to mix and saute until tomatoes soften. Stir in the cilantro and then add the lamb chops back to the pan. Reheat and serve hot.

Notes: If you look this up in the actual cookbook, you'll need to find "Spicy Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Cilantro Sauce." Since I didn't have ground lamb, I opted to adapt this to shoulder lamb chops and it worked out pretty darn well.

Posted by Jennifer at August 6, 2007 7:28 PM | TrackBack