Lamb Chops with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce and Tuscan White Beans

I love lamp.  I mean lamb!  I love lamb. 

Last Friday night, we invited some guests of honor to our regular dinner with Uncle Brian and Auntie Lauren.  The special guests were my husband's parents, and I had lamb on the brain.  I went to the local butcher and almost had a stroke when the nice butcher man gave me a quote on 12 lamb chops (everyone needs 2 chops, clearly).  I backed out of the store slowly, like, "uhhh....I just remembered that I left the, uh, kitchen sink running....gotta go!".  Then I went to Fresh Market and got them for like half as much!  Even so, the butcher there asked me who I was making such a fancy dinner for and I said, "the in-laws!".  Dude was like, "honey, you do know that they're stuck with you now?  Like, legally.  You don't have to impress them once you're ALREADY MARRIED to their son".  Ha!  I'm totally going back there....that butcher is hilarious, and I didn't even mind that he called me "honey" because he was elderly. 

Anyway, the in-laws ARE stuck with me, but they are wonderful and they deserve all the fancy dinners in the world.  Besides, I got to eat the lamb, too.  Its not like I served lamb to everyone else and ate bologna sandwiches by myself in the basement with boxed wine.  No sir-ee, everybody wins during dinner at my house.

I made a quick red wine/mushroom sauce to serve over the chops and served them with Tuscan white beans and roasted root vegetables (prepared by the lovely Lauren).  And lemon sugar cookies (also prepared by Lauren because I don't know how to make cookies).  And we had wine, of course, but not out of a box. 

Then after dinner we played cards until 2:00 in the morning and didn't make it to spin class on Saturday morning.  Oops.

Broiled Lamp Chops
Source: Adapted from Cooking Light, January 1995

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, crushed

12  (5-ounce) lean lamb loin chops

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mash rosemary, thyme, pepper, salt, and garlic to a paste.

Drizzle oil over both sides of chops, and then rub garlic mixture over both sides of chops; cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Place chops on rack of a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 5 1/2 inches from heat  5 to 6 minutes on each side or to desired degree of doneness.


Red Wine Mushroom Sauce
Source: Adapted from Mount Bethel Winery

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup onion, diced

2 tablespoon garlic, chopped

1 pound mushrooms, sliced

5 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cup good quality red wine

1 1/2 cups beef stock

Salt and pepper, to taste

Add olive oil and butter to heavy hot saucepan. Add onions, garlic, mushrooms, sauté until mushrooms are tender. Add flour and cook about 1 minute then deglaze pan with the wine. Add beef stock and cook until thick and flavors are blended and the sauce begins to thicken. 

Serve immediately over lamb chops.

Tuscan White Beans

Source: Adapted from Epicurious

2 cans cannellini beans (I used canned, but dried would probably be better)

5-6 fresh sage leaves, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3 cloves minced garlic, or more to taste
3 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste 

 

Drain the beans and put them in a saucepan with a little bit of chicken stock.  Heat over medium-low heat, being careful not to dry the beans out. 

 

Add the sage, salt, pepper, and garlic, stirring to mix.  Add about a tablespoon of the oil.

Remove from heat and put in a serving dish.  Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top and serve immediately.