Lamb chops and salad

Yesterday's dinner was delicious!

A note about our lamb: For the past 3 or 4 years we have bought a half a lamb (processed into various cuts) from a friend's sister who raises them on a small hobby farm a few hours south of us. So they are totally sustainably and organically raised. And delicious. The chops are small, so you generally need to eat two of them, with a side dish, for a meal. Which we did, with our visiting friend Miss Single USA.

I must give credit to Miss Single for finding the lamb marinade recipe in Amy Sedaris' book "I like you," which was sitting out on our coffee table.

Lamp Chop Marinade (from Amy Sedaris):
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper
4 lamb chops
Combine all ingredients and pour over the chops. Marinate for 3 hours. Then broil.

I used a lot more rosemary - because I love it and have a few large bushes right outside the back door. I also used 2 cloves of garlic (mashed in a garlic press) and 6 small chops. I actually didn't measure anything else, just dumped it all in a large ziplock and stuck it in the fridge for about 2 hours.

To cook the chops, I put them in a glass casserole and cooked them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven. Then I switched it to broil and did 5 minutes per side. This resulted in amazingly moist and flavorful chops with plenty of juice in the pan, but they were well done (but not over done). Broiling 5 minutes per side is probably enough. Or maybe just 5 minutes in the oven before hand.

I tend to cook lamb chops a different way every time. I definitely liked this way a lot, and will try it again.

Our local newspaper, The Register-Guard, has a food section every Wednesday that often has good ideas and/or recipes. Last week there was a salad recipe I tried with the chops, and had again tonight. It was that good. The below is the way I made it, not exactly like the recipe in the paper.

Apple Salad with Hearts of Romaine and Toasted Hazelnuts:
- Hearts of Romaine leaves, in bite-sized pieces (tonight I mixed these with arugula, which was great!)
- A nice flavorful apple (I used a Granny Smith); cored and diced up
- Crumbled blue cheese (I used Rogue Creamery's Oregonzola)
- Coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts
- Balsamic Vinaigrette with Sweet Honey Mustard (see recipe below)

Toss the diced apples in with a bit of the dressing while you prepare the rest. Then throw them in the salad, add a bit more dressing and toss it all up.

Balsamic Vinaigrette with Sweet Honey Mustard:
- 1/2 cup red or white wine vinegar (I only had 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, and another 1/4 cup of a raspberry champagne vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. sweet honey mustard
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 2/3 cup canola oil
Put it in a container and whisk it all together. Makes a cup of dressing.

Finally, we had a very nice bottle of wine with this dinner. On Friday, Miss Single and I stopped by the Vista Hills tasting room in the Dundee Hills in the northern Willamette Valley. We came home with a few bottles of their 2007 Marylhurst Pinot Noir, which is delicious. It stood up well to the lamb and the salad, tasting especially good with the blue cheese. I don't think you can get this wine outside of the vineyard, but I recommend it.