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That sounds really good! I definitely prefer lamb over mutton (shudder), but have never tried cooking any on my own.Well... here ya go!!!
I really love grilled lamb chops, but my local grocery store hasn't been selling them since about the time the scamdemic started last year. So I tried some lamb shoulder chops. Marinated 'em and threw 'em on the grill the same way I do the straight chops. They are NOT the same. No, not at all. But tonight, I tried something a little different...
I had a package of these shoulder chops in the freezer, so a few days ago I took 'em down to the reefer to thaw, and tonight I rubbed them with olive oil and fresh garlic cloves, then pan-seared them. Then I put them in a covered dish and baked them at 350F for a half-hour. During that time, I finely chopped up some more fresh garlic cloves, crushed some rosemary sprigs, and tossed in a 1/2 cup of orange juice. At the half-hour mark, I poured this braising "sauce" over the chops, turned them over in it a few times so they got coated really good, and covered them again and continued baking for another 20 minutes. Then, I took off the cover, turned the heat way up to like 550F, and braised those suckers while turning them a time or two, spooning more sauce over them with each turn, and watching 'em like a hawk so they wouldn't burn.
While all of this oven-ing was going on during that first half-hour of baking, I took the juice from the searing and made a brown gravy, added some sliced baby criminy 'shrooms, a "healthy dash" of red wine, and let that simmer. Made some baby red mashed 'taters and steamed up a package of mixed veggies, and put together a mixed baby spring greens artisan salad and relish plate. Timed it all perfectly to come out at precisely when the chops were done...
It all came together swimmingly. Those chops were fabulous! The OJ in the braising sauce surprised me with a pleasantly sweet taste to the meat, much like what you would expect a mint jelly to do (of which I did not have any). So the OJ was a real home run right there! Here's the finished product...
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Glad to see and hear from you, Sobo.
By the way, where's the pistol? This is still a firearms forum after all.