LAMB lends itself to the lovely flavours of herbed butters.
HERB butters are limited only by your imagination – but they go with so many meat dishes it is a shame they are so often overlooked as something that can turn a meal into something quite special. The recipe below is a popular one and the beauty of them is, you can prepare and then freeze them for use at a later date. I love tarragon for its beautiful fragrance and taste (fantastic with fish and especially potatoes), but it goes with most meats too. Grow a pot of it on your back doorstep or in your garden, just about every nursery will have it in stock.
Ingredients 8 lamb chops 1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp olive oil salt and pepper handful of herbs such as rosemary sprigs, mint, sage, parsley, roughly chopped (optional) Herb butter as below
Herb butter 150gms butter, at room temperature 1 clove minced garlic Pinch ground chili flakes ¼ cup finely chopped, fresh tarragon, or, 1 tbs dried tarragon, or, equivalent in Italian parsley. 1 tsp lemon juice ½ tsp lemon pepper
Method for herb butter In a small bowl, mix together the butter, tarragon, garlic, lemon juice, and lemon pepper. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, to let the flavours develop and until the butter can be moulded into a roll about 2cm wide. Wrap in baking paper.
Method for chops Choose chops with a reasonable depth of meat and before you cook, trim a couple of cuts into the areas around the fatty areas next to the bone to prevent the meat curling up. Season with salt and pepper. Melt the butter and oil together and cook for three or four minutes either side, depending on how thick the chops are and if you like them pink on the inside, as lamb often is. Throw in the roughly chopped herbs a couple of minutes before they are cooked. Discard when removing the chops. Slice the cooled butter into medallions and serve immediately on the cooked lamb. Spring new potatoes and honey-glazed carrots go well with this.
