Lamb Chops
- Total Time
- About 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 appetizer servings, 4 dinner servings
- 1rack (8 ribs) New Zealand baby lamb, trimmed of excess fat and Frenched by your butcher
- Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3cloves garlic, chopped
- Leaves from 2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat a grill or grill pan until very hot. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the lamb with the salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Mix the oil, garlic and rosemary. Spoon half on the lamb and grill 1 minute per side. Place on a sheet pan and cover with the rest of the marinade. Roast in the oven until an instant-read thermometer reaches 125 degrees for rare, 130 degrees for medium rare.
- Step 3
Cool for 5 minutes, then slice off individual chops and serve with sea salt for dipping. (S.R.O. uses tiny lamb chops, which fit into scallion ''sleeves.'' The racks generally sold by your butcher will be too big for this touch.)
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Wordsworth from Wadsworth
Save yourself calculation time and fuss: invest in a digital thermometer through that huge internet company in Seattle.
Find the correct temp for rare or medium or how you like it. When the thermometer sounds, pull the meat out!
I bought one, and it has saved prime cuts and made choice cuts near perfect. With the price of good meat nowadays, no home cook should be without one.
john
why do so very many lamb recipes call for rosemary. It seems to me that rosemary masks the delicate flavor of the lamb rather than complimenting it.. All that lamb needs is salt, pepper and garlic.
Andrea
Really need to indicate an estimated cooking time. I ended up over cooking the chops.
other side of the river
Since the recipe doesn't give timeframes and lots of people want them: 2" chops, seared 2 mins/side in a cast iron pan that then went into the oven at 350F. 4 mins, thermometer went to about 130F. Lovely medium rare.
Beryl Evey
The best tasting lamb is from local sheep farmers. Locate one and buy 1/2 or whole lamb cut and wrapped. Perfect for the freezer. A little more pricey but sooo good.
Brill Felton
My chops were much thicker, so I seared for five minutes, flipped and roasted in the oven for nine minutes or so. They were perfectly medium at 145º.
Wordsworth from Wadsworth
We have a rosemary bush out back, and I previously just made up this same thing unwittingly. I sear the outside of the lamb rack real well on the gas grill, and then finish in the oven with a digital thermometer. A nice sized rack from Costco makes this a good entre for a dinner party of 4 people. Potatoes au gratin with gruyere; a hearty red - man, that's living.
Lynne
If you travel New Zealand you'll find older lamb--mutton. Now there's some flavor!
Alexander
When I was a kid, as soon as my dad traveled for business my mother broke out the lamb chops. Dad couldn't stand the aroma. My issue today is that I can't find lamb that tastes like, well, lamb. It all tastes like they have bred the gaminess out of it. Someone steer me in the right direction please to find that real lamb taste.
Harry Lockwood
No kitchen should be without a good insertion thermometer; depending upon recommended cooking times is risky. I suggest a ChefAlarm from ThermoWorks.
(Usual disclaimer: I have no financial interest in that company.)
Rosemary
This was so simple and fast to prepare! The only difference I made was that I used cast iron skillet for both the grill and oven steps. This actually allowed my husband to save the oil which he plans to use for a pasta dish. My lamb took a little under 20 minutes to reach 125F. This is definitely appropriate for a week night meal.
Eileen
I cooked to 125 as suggested. It was a problem knowing how long to cook; even a ballpark time would have been helpful. Thought the meat was extremely rare at that temp.
tyger
The NZ lambs do
n't seem to have those gaminess, but lambs which are bred in US do.
Ricardo
Perfect recipe, did a dry rub with rosemary, garlic, salt & pepper, forgot the olive oil. While concerning for carbon footprints, the New Zealand lamb ribs from TJ’s were superb, something has got to go in those outbound flights from NZ!
why so much oil.
The ratio of 1 cup of olive oil to 1 rack of lamb is absurd. Just rub rack with olive oil,salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary.
Lora
Does anyone know why New Zealand Lamb is specified? Why not locally raised lamb?
Cherie
I made this exactly as recommended and it was DIVINE! Perfect for my Easter dinner. Bon appetite!
John Howard
I've made rack of lamb many times using a similar technique--browning in a skillet followed by baking. But, I use just a little olive oil, omit the herbs and prepare a blackberry-Balsamic reduction as the rack bakes in the oven. I deglaze the skillet with 1/4 cup blackberry-Balsamic vinegar (or a well-aged Balsamic) and the juice squeezed from a cup of fresh or frozen blackberries. Reduce until slightly thickened, add salt and sugar to taste, and dress the carved chops.
chris
Can I sear the rack beforehand and just put it in the oven when we’re ready to eat. I’m trying to get as much as possible done before guests arrive.
Carroll
An 8 rib rack of baby lamb is not a dinner for 4; it is dinner for 2, maybe 3, if one of you doesn't mind having just 2 chops. These lamb chops are very small...tiny. They are indeed lollipops.
LarryAt27N
1. Rack of lamb from Trader Joe's comes in a double-shrink-wrapped package. Take off the outer store wrap and drop the rack as is into your sous vide water oven set to 128 F for medium rare-ish. 2. Remove the perfectly cooked lamb a couple hours later, season, and finish it quickly on the grill, under a broiler, on a very hot skillet, or -- as I do -- in the air fryer to get a nice color. This will not result in overcooking the meat. 3. Let it sit a bit, then slice off the chops & serve.
Poplar
We do not French our chops. This is the best part, at least, in company in which it does not matter whether you use your hands.
G Frank
Fresh tarragon on lamb is superior to rosemary.
Creed
Rosemary is fine but what’s the fascination with garlic? While garlic can give food a certain depth it’s way too overused.
Jo
I grill my lamb chops. I use touch to determine doneness, but we like our lamb on the rare side. I use a garlic paste and salt and pepper, but the rosemary called for in this recipe makes me what to try some rosemary on mine the next time.
Kelly
Do as Cordon Bleu says. Add some pounded anchovies to that rosemary. You won’t be sorry. Anchovies are a lamb’s best friend.
Teresa Bono-Maher
Put some mint and lemon juice in your marinade mix. It adds great flavor!
Bob
So use whatever spices/marinade that you wish (a few crumbles of kosher salt on each side of chop is good for me). I cut them into lollipops and then give them 2-3 minutes a side on the grill, let them rest a few minutes and yum!
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