lamb chops!

I am sorry to have to torture all of you not living in the Bay Area but I have recently discovered yet another reason to live here. I'm not going to mention the obvious perfect things like the weather or our stunning array of produce, because you know all of that already.

I am here to tell you about Prather Ranch lamb chops. I took a chance and bought some at the Sunday Marin Farmer's Market, cooked them very simply, and they swept me off my feet. I've had other meats from them I didn't much care for as I grew up with a particular taste in beef and that's what my tiny taste buds reach for when I'm eatin' it.

But this lamb? You need to go out and get yerselves some right now! (Another incentive is that you can talk real serious about meat with cute cowboys...) I just salt & peppered 'em, picked them up gently with my tongs and crisped the fatty side first, rendered some of that plump fat and then lazily rolled them from side to side in my blacker than black cast iron skillet, (who needs chemical non-stick pans when you can make a non-stick pan yourself with a little elbow canola oil?), and set them in my 350F oven for 7 minutes. MMMMmmmmmm medium rare. Rested these gems for a few minutes and then sliced into their young spring flesh. Not too shy to gnaw on the bone either. Tender and lamb-y but not too gamy.

I've been eating a lot of bitter greens this year. My favorite salad has been a mixture of sauteed and raw escarole mixed with various radicchios and treviso, dressed in Meyer or eureka lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, flaky sea salt and a few turns of black pepper. Simple because I let the greens speak for themselves.

The bitter greens are a perfect foil for the lamb.

Bitter. Sweet.

Comments

[melissa]

yummerooo! i need to stop reading this so far from lunchtime! you are making me hungry, and i'm still trying to lose that baby weight....
love,
melissa

[sam]

ok. i will. lamb is the meat that undid 10 years of vegetarianism for me. I keep meaning to try out Prather, so this recommendation is a perfect excuse.

Prather are grass fed, right? and aged?

If there is one animal bone I can't help nibbling on til its clean, tis a lamb bone. Forget bone marrow, just give me a fatty lamb chop.

[Melissa]

Sounds great.....nice and pink!
but, dear Shuna, what is eureka lemon juice??

[Kudzu]

This is the first time I have ever contemplated lamb for breakfast (not brunch, mind you -- breakfast!).

Of course you nibbled them. It's a payoff for cooking them perfectly. This is especially fun when you tote some little beauties on a picnic. V. Thomasina Jones?

Perfect salad, too. This time of year demands those clean, clear tastes, simply dressed. Eurekas are better than Meyers with those stand-up greens.

[Rose]

I have a personal love affair with lambchops. They are my FAVORITE meat of any kind or cut.

I personally love them just stuck in the broiler for a few minutes on each side.

When I get out to SF I must try Prather :-)

[shuna]

Sam--

yes they are grass fed and possibly yes on the dry aging. (The beef is both of these things I know for sure.) **And remember, besides the fat, lamb is a lean meat in general...

Melissa Paris--

A eureka lemon is like a Lisbon lemon-- they tend to be the "regular" sour kinds.

mmmm lamb chops for breakfast...a new way of thinking.

[sam]

ha ha - i dont care - diet be damned - I LOVE lamb fat more than anything, (except duck fat which i love equally)

[Dr. Biggles]

Hey Sam, what about goose fat? Don't forget the goose!

Oh Shuna, I love it when you talk meaty to me.

Biggles

[MC Hungry Hippo]

Talking to cute cowboys about meat...sounds too good to be true! I love how really nice quality meat only needs salt and pepper.

I'm also a fan of greens, bitter or non. If you cook them, how do you prefer to prepare them?