mary had a little lamb

on fridays, i get the luxury of having a little extra time to make dinner. it's been relatively warm out these days, so kevin and i thought it would be a nice change of pace to grill something up. one of our favorite grilled dishes is lamb chops.

i like to serve it with some homemade lavender sea salt on the side for dipping. if any of you think this sounds strange, trust me: lavender and lamb paired together is, in a word, *amazing*. asparagus has just started to come into season (so sweet!) and i had some handy, so along with some couscous, we had ourselves a menu.

one of the nice things about this particular dinner is that kevin and i make it together as a team. he's extremely and uncannily talented when it comes to the BBQ (everything he grills always comes out perfectly). i myself have very little experience in this area except when it comes to ribs and pulled pork (a blog post for sometime this summer), so i stay out of it and let kevin work his magic.

i got the lamb chops from marin sun farms. they were excellent: tender, flavorful, and not at all gamey. we didn't seem to need to change the way we grilled these, even though they're pasture raised. seriously, guys...i'm really starting to think it's a myth that you have to adjust your recipes / cooking for grass-fed meats. they definitely *TASTE* different (i.e., better: there's a lot more flavor), but i haven't yet messed anything up by sticking to my recipes and methods. key takeaway: why don't you give pastured meats a try? they taste much better than even "free-range" meats [yes, really, i'm not just being delusional], and you don't have to change the way you cook.

this meal only takes about 45 minutes from prep to table, but has a "wow" factor associated with it. probably because it's so freaking tasty. seriously, the lavender salt makes this dish memorable. recipe below. try serving this for a dinner party; your guests will be impressed. enjoy!


Grilled Lamb Chops with Roasted Asparagus and Rosemary Couscous

Lamb Chops
12 frenched lamb chops, each about 1" thick, well trimmed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Lavender Salt
1 tsp dried lavender (I like the organic lavender from Lavender Farm)
2 tbsp fleur de sel

Roasted Asparagus
2 lbs asparagus, ends trimmed
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Rosemary Couscous
3/4 cup quick-cooking couscous
1 cup chicken stock
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 deg. Preheat grill to medium heat. Crush lavender (to crush, just rub between your fingers) and then mix with sea salt; set aside. Sprinkle salt and pepper over lamb chops, drizzle and then rub olive oil into meat; let stand for half an hour.

Place asparagus in single layer on baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, then generously drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat well and rearrange into single layer. When there's 5 minutes left on tenderizing the lamb, place asparagus in oven. They should take about 8-15 minutes total (depends on thickness); test for tenderness with fork.

Begin grilling lamb chops right after you put asparagus into oven. They should take about 10 minutes total (turning once) for medium.

Place chicken stock, olive oil, and rosemary into small saucepan and bring to boil. Stir in couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes, discard rosemary, then fluff couscous with fork. Salt to taste, if necessary. Keep covered until ready to serve.

Evenly divide lamb chops, roasted asparagus, and couscous among 4 plates. Serve the lavender salt on the side. Serves 4.