My journey of cooking, gardening, preserving and more
The second the weather starts to cool off, I kick into comfort food mode. I love making braised dishes and soups in the fall and winter, don’t you? Beef brisket with root veggies in a tomato and red wine sauce is a perfect recipe to …
Looking for an easy, delicious lamb shoulder chop marinade recipe? If you don’t believe me, be sure to read the comments. This is one of my favorite ways to make lamb and I’m sorry, but here’s the only photo I captured from this dinner: This is …
Leave it to me to make it more complicated.
I’m on one of my must-clean-out-our-freezers kick and, since seafood doesn’t fare well frozen for too long, I decided to add shrimp.
Then, since I had store-bought broccolini in the fridge that’s been ignored for a week due to us being inundated with veggies from the garden, I decided that was going in also.
Hence the reason my 20-minute Sunday Night Dinner turned into 45 minutes of steaming, chopping and broiling.
For the faint of heart, here’s the simple and basic Lemon Spaghetti recipe. If you like lemons, please try this…it’s truly delicious. And easy. I promise.
In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and Parmesan. If you prefer, you can leave out the zest and add it as a garnish at the end.
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Try to cook it just to al dente’ – this is really better with the pasta a little on the firm side. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water before draining the pasta.
Return pasta to pan, add lemon mixture and pasta water and toss well. Cover the pan for about 3-5 minutes and then toss again – this will help the pasta absorb the sauce.
Transfer pasta to bowls and top with a little freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with sliced basil leaves (and lemon zest if you reserved yours) and serve.
To add shrimp – I used 2 pounds of frozen, raw, 26-30 per pound, easy peel shrimp. Thaw them and peel them, toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and spread out in a single layer on a heavy-duty pan. I also added about 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick, but this is optional. Place directly under the broiler for about 6-7 minutes. Toss shrimp and pan juices with prepared lemon pasta.
To add broccolini – steam for 4 minutes and then run under cold water to stop cooking. Chop on a diagonal in about 1-inch pieces. Toss with prepared lemon pasta.
Some other things that would be great with this: steamed asparagus, edamame beans, or snow peas.
Oh, and the lemon slices in the photo? I sliced them off before juicing my lemons and, using a pair of long tongs, lightly caramelized both sides of them over the open flame of my gas stove burner.
When all was said and done, I’m not going to lie – this dinner was divine. The extra effort was well worth the final result.
I am a summer lover, it’s true. I love heat and sunshine and long days. But seriously. Enough with the 100+ degree days already. The heat here in the Northern IL area is becoming oppressive and depressing. I hate air conditioning normally. Does that make …
I am a pasta lover, especially if it’s homemade pasta. When I buy dried pasta at the grocery store, my personal favorites of the mass-produced ones are Barilla or De Cecco. When I make fresh pasta at home, it’s in large batches, so that I …
And yet, I read this weekend that, according to a 2011 survey by the American Lamb Board, nearly 40 percent of Americans have never eaten lamb.
Really?
Okay, I admit it: my first time having lamb was cooking chops myself until the point of near incineration. I didn’t know that it could be “temped” (done by temperature) like beef, so I cooked it to a second death for fear that I would under-cook it. Even the smell of them was bad. Ugh.
I refused to ever try lamb again.
Fast forward a few years past that and a friend of mine had me over for Easter dinner. Her Greek mother made a leg of lamb for dinner and even I had to admit that this time it smelled delicious….garlic and herbs and oil all roasting slowly in the oven.
Now I was raised that it was good manners to try a little bit of everything that a host prepared unless I was deathly allergic of course. And even I had to admit that it sure smelled wonderful. And…it was.
Now, thanks to that lovely Greek goddess, I am a huge fan.
Blah, blah, blah…just get to the supposedly easy recipe, right? Okay, let’s do this and don’t say I didn’t warn you when I said it was easy.
Preheat oven to 400º
Heat a heavy, oven-safe skillet (I typically use my cast iron – just be sure not to use a non-stick pan for these) over medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil + drain a teaspoon or so of the marinade from the chops into the pan.
Add chops and cook for 4 minutes. Flip with tongs and let cook for 3 more minutes.
Place pan in oven for 8-10 minutes for medium to medium rare, remove, and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Now, I’ve let the chops sit in the marinade from 30 minutes to a day…it depends on my free time and planning capabilities. Yes, it’s better if you let them sit for a few hours but even 20 minutes will render you a delicious dish. If you’re letting them marinate longer than 30 minutes, pop ’em in the fridge but be sure to bring them back to room temperature before cooking.
This also works great with shoulder chops, but I really like to let these marinate overnight, as it’s a less tender cut of lamb.
Wanna do these on the grill? Even better! Grill them on high heat for about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare.
A little splash of acid such as lemon juice or balsamic vinegar is always nice with this – just be sure to add it to the marinade only an hour or so before you cook them. Lamb is a wonderful dish when it’s cooked right.
Enjoy!