Ah lamb. I love lamb. Tragically, I don’t get to eat nearly enough of it but a recent knee injury has resulted in a couple of my evenings being freed from the iron grip of training. So instead of beans on toast twice a week, I’ve got more time to do something a bit more substantial.
As on those nights when I’m away we do our own thing for tea anyway I don’t feel like I’m being especially unsociable by using last night’s opportunity to cook a couple of lamb chops.
I don’t want to open a bottle of red wine (or even buy one!) just to make a sauce for one person I thought I’d try a more gravy based approach. Some beef stock formed the base (lamb or any brown stock would do as well) to deglaze the pan after the chops are cooked, then I threw in some rosemary and other herbs to give it a bit of depth and because rosemary is awesome with lamb.
The one elementary mistake I made with the sauce was forgetting that I was using a stock cube – which contains salt. This was then reduced – to concentrate the flavour. During that process I seasoned the sauce. Oops. Anyone got any good tips for fixing an over-salting error? Leave a comment if you do!
Despite the salt content, the gravy turned out great, a nice change from my usual wine derived sauces. As for the chops – they were crisp on the outside, juicy inside, tasted superb and were over far too soon.
Serves 1
2 lamb chops
Vegetable oil
Butter
200ml beef stock
Rosemary
Thyme
Parsley
Heat a pan, add some oil and a knob of butter, season then fry the chops for 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Baste the chops with the oil/juices from the pan while they’re frying to keep them moist and ensure any fat turns nice and crispy.
Place the chops somewhere warm to rest.
Add the stock to the pan and scrape all the bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula.
While the stock is reducing add in the rosemary and thyme to the sauce.
Taste the stock and season if necessary.
Thicken the sauce with a knob of butter and then pour in the resting juices from the chops, stir it for a minute more then serve the chops with the sauce and some creamy mash (add a clove of garlic in with the tatties when boiling them for the mash, it works great with the lamb).
Mince and Skirlie 
I love lamb too. It was always my favourite meat. My Mum used to make me lamb chops for lunch when I came back from school as a treat for my birthdays. Your chops look very tempting.