Spring means moderate temperatures, cool rain, and warm sunshine.  Along with better weather, Spring brings a bounty of new and delicious things to eat.  We transition from hardy cold-weather meals to crisp, fresh, and green fare.  Now, I keep my grill going year-round but it really starts to kick into high gear as the weather improves.  That flame-licked aroma wafting across the backyard is like a green flag being waved for the start of the grilling season.  Grilled Lamb Chops scream springtime so I’ve chosen some amazing lamb to get off the blocks quickly.

     I have to give my wife some credit here.  She informed me lamb was going to be on the menu for Easter and it was up to me to decide how to accomplish those goals.  Heeding the wishes of my insistent muse, I decided to create the recipe before you.  With everyone in quarantine, I knew it was going to just be the three of us so it wasn’t important to get overly elaborate.   However, I did want to make sure and use some fresh spring ingredients.  You’ll always have a better meal if you can cook seasonally with what your local farmers produce.

      My friend Valerie at Freedom Run Farm produces some amazing lamb and I was able to purchase a rack at my local Kroger.  Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this recipe.  I bought the lamb myself,  I think it’s very important to support our local farmers, especially in these uncertain times.  My goal was to fabricate lamb chops from the rack and pair it with some spring vegetables and a bed of couscous.  I had recently been out foraging for wild ramps and was able to create this delicious Wild Ramp Pesto that would be the perfect finishing touch.  However, If you don’t have ramps to make the pesto don’t fret this recipe is excellent with or without it.  Radishes, asparagus, carrots, fingerling potatoes, sugar snap peas, and some extra ramp bulbs round out my list of fresh veggies that I plan on roasting.

     Before we tackle the grilling we have some optional prep work to do.  This particular rack of lamb came with the cap on and it’s likely how you will find most racks in your local grocery store.  The cap is a layer of fat and muscle that covers the loin and extends down over the ribs and into the belly.  I’ve had some other recipes in mind that required lamb and decided the cap would be just the ticket to get those recipes off the ground.  I personally like the presentation with the cap off and you get to remove a thin layer of silver skin that covers the top of the loin that can be slightly chewy.  In addition, I’ve also decided to cut the rack into two bone chops.  As a family of three, we weren’t going to eat the whole rack so I decided to cut, vacuum seal, and freeze a portion for later.

     In addition, I decided to get a bit fancy and french the bones.  Frenching a rack of meat essentially means removing the rib meat off the lower portion of the rack so you can see the bare bone.  It acts as a nice handle if you’re into eating with your hands.  It’s basically a meat lollipop.  Hey, it’s Easter why not?  As an added benefit I get to save the rib meat and toss it in with the cap for those later recipes.  Having said all of this you can absolutely cook the entire rack just as it comes. The only difference is your cooking time will be extended a good bit and you will need to keep a closer eye on flare-ups from the melting fat cap.  I would encourage you to remove if for no other reason than to improve your knife and overall cooking skills.  If you mess up and gouge out a bit more than you wanted, guess what, it still tastes good and you can save any scraps for later use.  Be brave!  That being said, not everyone has the time or desire to fabricate their own lamb chops from a whole rack.  You can simply ask your local butcher for double lamb rib chops and all this work will be done for you.  Feel free to skip ahead if you take this route.

     To remove the cap I like to start at the tips of the rib bones and nick away at the seam with my boning knife.  I recommend using a boning knife or a smaller paring size knife for this because you have more control. You aren’t “cutting” so much as freeing the cap from the rack.  After you get a few inches into the seam you can use your hands and peel back the cap and nick away at more of the connective tissue making as few cuts as possible.  This rack had a small piece of shoulder blade still at one end.  It’s easy enough to remove with your knife.  Eventually, you should be able to remove the cap in one piece.

     From here there is still a bit of fat and silver skin on the loin that needs to be removed.  I like to start a couple of inches from one end of the loin.  Slowly wiggle your boning knife just under the surface of the silver skin.  It’s extremely thin.  You shouldn’t have to go in deeper than a sheet of paper.  After that, slide your knife back toward the end of the rack.  This should give you a flap of silver skin you can grab.  You can now make small cuts between the silver skin and the loin the entire length of the rack.

After we’ve removed the cap and silver skin, it’s time to french the rack. With the bones facing up, score a line down the entirety of the rack.  This will determine the length of your “lollipop handle.”  For instance, I went with 4-5 inches for this particular rack.  At this point, it’s simply a matter of removing the meat from the bones.  I start by cutting between each section running my knife right against the bone as close as I can get.  You’re giving these bones a shave.  After you remove the majority of the meat there might be some leftover bits.  Scrape away with your knife perpendicular to the bone with firm pressure to remove those stubborn bits.

We’ve now got a beautiful frenched rack of lamb that would make a professional chef proud.  If I had a number of guests coming over I would probably leave the rack whole.  People want to see the chef slice into a beautiful hunk of lamb prepared with a skilled hand.  It can elicit lots of oohs and aahs. Don’t worry, they don’t know it was relatively easy.  Smile and bask in those compliments.

To make lamb chops simply cut between every second bone.  I like two bone chops because it’s a good portion and it’s easier to nail a perfect medium-rare to medium temp.  If it’s a single bone chop it’s easier to wind up with a well-done lamb chop.  My guess is you aren’t cutting up your rack to make lamb leather.  Who knows maybe I’m wrong and you’re just going drown it in ketchup when its all over. In other words, gross.  :squint:  After that, season with salt and pepper and set aside while we prep the vegetables.

Prep for the vegetables is pretty straight forward.  Start by giving them a good wash.  Next, peel the carrots.  Give the radishes, asparagus, carrots, and potatoes a rough medium dice.  However, we’ll leave the sugar snap peas and ramps whole.  By keeping all the ingredients roughly the same size they should all cook at the same rate.

Place all your veggies in a large mixing bowl and season them with salt, pepper, and give them a healthy splash of extra virgin olive oil.  Mix them all up and place them on a baking sheet.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and cook them for about 20-30 minutes.  I waited until about 6-7 minutes remained before I added my ramps because they were much thinner than the rest of my vegetables.

Grilling your lamb chops

    While your oven is pre-heating it’s a good time to go ahead and get that grill fired up to medium-high heat.  We will be cooking these chops with direct heat over the hot coals or burners.

It’s time to get your lamb chops on the grill and get that fat sizzling.  I like to shoot for about 1.5 minutes per side.  You’re looking at a 6-8 minute cook time depending on your particular grill and thickness of your chops.  When all sides have a nice color I’m going to brush them with some of my Wild Ramp Pesto.  This step is optional but it’s spring and that Wild Ramp Pesto screams springtime.  After that, it’s time to start checking your internal temperatures.  If you don’t have a digital thermometer I highly recommend picking one up.  You’ll be able to nail that perfect doneness on a more consistent basis.  For these lamb chops, I’m shooting for 125-degree internal temp. As they rest they should raise about 5 more degrees to 130 which should be a nice medium. Be aware that the loin was larger at one end so some chops will be thicker than others and therefore cook at a slightly different speed.  At 125 I’ll pull the lamb chops off and give them a 5-minute rest before cutting into them.  If you get too eager and slice into them before they rest you risk losing some of the juices because the muscle does not have time to relax.

On the bright side, that resting period gives us time to whip up some couscous so our veggies and lamb chops have a nice fluffy bed to rest on.  Couscous is super simple.  For every 1 cup of couscous, you’ll need 1 cup of cooking liquid.  You can use water with a dash of salt, however, I like using a nice chicken or vegetable stock.  Bring your liquid to a boil.  Once your liquid is boiling dump in the couscous, remove from heat and set aside with a lid on your pot for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes fluff with a fork.

It’s time for the payoff for all your hard work! It should now be time to cut into your delicious perfectly cooked lamb chop and plate up your beautiful springtime meal.

My family certainly enjoyed this meal.  Let me know if you did as well.  If you happen to make this recipe please drop me a comment or tag me on social media with a picture of your own lamb chops!  @ilovemeatdotcom on Facebook and Instagram

Cheers!