Garlic and rosemary lamb chops

I know this is very similar to another post I made recently, but I don’t care. This version is massive improvement.

Last time I just threw some rosemary at thyme at the gravy after pan-frying the chops and hoped I’d get a superb meal at the end of it. That tactic almost worked but there was definitely room for improvement. This time I decided I needed more firepower. The small arms fire of rosemary and thyme are all very good but they need some heavy weapons backing them up. I reached for garlic, anchovies and a roasting tin.

Chops normally aren’t a good candidate for roasting but if you do it with a high heat and a lot of oil for a short time then it can give good results. I decided in my head that if I just lobbed the garlic into the frying pan it would burn quickly and not deliver the kind of flavour I was looking for. Instead the plan was to give everything 20 minutes or so in the oven to let the lamb properly absorb the flavour from the rosemary, anchovies and garlic.

This dish tastes of win! Lamb has such big flavour to begin with its frankly ridiculous to amplify that by throwing more big flavour bombs at it. The result is amazing. Succulent lamb with deep flavour enhanced by the anchovies. The rosemary and garlic come through without taking over completely and the gravy is immense.

Serves 1

2 lamb chops
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 sprig of rosemary
Thyme
2 anchovy fillets
200ml beef stock
Olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
Put a heavy roasting tin on the hob, season the chops and brown them in some olive oil.
Take the tin off the heat and add a good glug of oil.
Sprinkle the sliced garlic over the chops along with the leaves from the rosemary.
Place an anchovy fillet on each bit of lamb and place the tray in the oven.
Roast for 20 mins.
Remove the tin from the oven and place the chops on a warm plate to rest, leave the anchovies in the tin.
Drain the excess oil from the roasting tin and place it back on the hob over high heat.
Deglaze with the stock and scrape up all the bits from the bottom.
Add the thyme then reduce the stock and keep stirring so anchovies melt into the sauce.
Once the sauce has reduced to a thick gravy check the seasoning and then sieve it into a jug.
Serve the chops with the gravy, chips and peas.