Ok, it is a bit misleading but our Christmas leg of lamb was such a big hit I had to try it again on a much smaller scale. I was at the store and bought some lamb shoulder blade chops. I never knew they sold these but hey I’m always learning! I bought 2 chops (wish I had bought more) as a test and froze them. 2 days ago I took them out to thaw overnight and was literally thinking about them all day yesterday gearing up for dinner. Of course as luck would have it, we also ended up eating very late around 9PM for dinner thus prolonging my anticipation.
I did not have any romano chunks as with the leg of lamb recipe, so I used what I had. I rubbed them with olive oil, shoved some crushed garlic cloves in various meat creavases and slits, along with some chopped parsley. Sprinkeled a bit of salt (which I didn’t think was necessary and will probably not do until the very end). I threw in a whole head of garlic gloves (unpeeled) for roasted garlic, and some left over parsley too just for kicks. Covered it in foil, and baked for 45 minutes at 350 F. The aroma was awesome. I uncoverd it half way through and I think this was a little premature, I’d wait a tad longer to make sure it doesn’t dry out. I don’t know if I needed to remove it at all, I just wanted to help speed up the cooking a bit to be honest.
How did it taste? It was a winner! It was simple to make and bake therefore I’ll put it on the site. Was it as good as the Christmas leg of lamb? No, because shoulder blade lamb chops are a total different cut. If the chops were to be the main dish only, I’d have made more if I had it. But I served it with some of my meatless meatballs which I had in the freezer (read my blog on Yogurt Containers Saved Me), along with some baby lima beans. Ideally, I’d have served the lamb with a side of pasta as I love having some meat with my pasta, but not in my pasta. Protein and carbs together are a good balance, plus it just tastes so darn good!
To be honest, when I plated the whole dinner I thought, gee this looks more impressive than I thought it would – of course I didn’t admit this to anyone! By the way, this meal took about 10-15 minutes prep with 45 minutes baking. Always make sure juices run clear from the meat to make sure it is cooked well.
Liz
Simple Italian Cooking
“If it’s not simple, I won’t post it!”
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