Bottega - Michael Chiarello [61]
Porchetta (Whole Suckling Pig)
Smoked and Braised Natural Short Ribs with Roasted Cipollini Onions and Smoky Jus
Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Grilled Grass-Fed Porterhouse) with Grilled Radicchio
Grilled Rib-Eye Tagliata with Grilled Stone Fruit
Smoky Paprika Skirt Steak with Salsa Rossa
Grilled Quail with Sausage and Calabrese Romano Bean Ragù
Oven-Roasted Cornish Hens with Panettone Stuffing
Conserva di Anitra con Frutta di Mostarda (Whole-Duck Confit with Fruit Mustard)
Grilled Fennel-Spiced Lamb Chops with Roasted-Cherry Vinaigrette
SERVES 6
Lamb is rich; you don’t need a rack per person. I serve three chops per serving and it’s the perfect amount, especially with Ancient-Grain Polenta underneath.
I like to clean the lamb bones right to the eye. You can take a paring knife and scrape the bone clean to make it look like the kind in a fancy French restaurant. Wrap some foil around the end of the bone during grilling so it stays bright and beautiful. (Ask your butcher to French the lamb if you’d rather not do it yourself.) When I’m making this at home, I bring the lamb chops to room temperature and grill them rare no more than 1 hour before I plan to serve them, so they need just a little more time on the grill before serving. Then, when guests arrive, I finish grilling them so it takes me half the time and I’m back with my guests sooner.
You can pan-sear the chops in a hot cast-iron grill pan, or grill them. I prefer to use a wood-fired grill.
For the cherry vinaigrette, you don’t have to roast all of the cherries. If you roast a portion of them, it flavors the whole batch. If you don’t have good cherries, use a pound of pitted and halved fresh apricots in their place.
Wine Pairing: Pinot Noir
ROASTED CHERRY VINAIGRETTE
1 pound fresh sweet cherries such as Bing or Rainier, pitted and halved, or 1 pound apricots, pitted and halved
8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt, preferably gray salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 scallions, white part only, cut on the bias into ¼-inch pieces
1½ tablespoons tarragon vinegar
1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon
18 lamb chops cut from a rack of lamb, at room temperature
Sea salt, preferably gray salt
Fennel Spice Blend
Extra-virgin olive oil for brushing
Ancient-Grain Polenta
FOR THE CHERRY VINAIGRETTE: Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a large bowl, mix the cherries with 7 tablespoons of the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Heat an ovenproof sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat, add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, and heat until shimmering. Add half of the cherries and toss them once or twice. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast until the cherries around the edges of the pan begin to turn lightly brown, about 2 minutes. Remove from the oven and add to the remaining cherries. Add the scallions, vinegar, and tarragon. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Set aside.
Prepare a hot wood fire in a charcoal grill or have a grill pan ready. Season both sides of each chop with salt and Fennel Spice Blend. Brush lightly with olive oil. If using a grill pan, heat the pan over high heat and oil the pan. Using the cross-hatched grill-mark method, grill the chops for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the chops to a platter and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Place a mound of polenta on each warmed plate. Place 3 chops on top of the polenta with the bones pointing toward the plate’s center. Top with a spoonful of the vinaigrette. Ladle any extra vinaigrette into small ramekins to pass at the table.
Note: The Evolution of Grass-Fed Lamb
Grass-fed lamb has come even further in quality in the past ten years than beef. I prefer domestic lamb to the lamb from Australia or New Zealand. Even though I admire how the Aussies and Kiwis have created a great product and generated a lot of new interest in lamb, I buy lamb that tastes like lamb. Lamb from Down Under often has all gaminess bred out of it, so it tastes closer to beef.
For the best flavor, ask your butcher to cut your chops from a rack of lamb