My Little Lamb Chops

The inspiration for this whole blog thing was the fact that we loved food so much that we started taking pictures of it... this started on our Honeymoon, we took pictures of everything we ate (future post?).   So I am going back to the photo library for one of my most random, yet favorite meals...

Reed picking our tree...

It was just this Xmas season, Jo, Reed and I were planning our day which revolved around decorating our tree.  We planned on having some cheese and crackers as a snack while we decorated the tree and then after Reed went to bed we wanted to cook an awesome meal together.  Jo simply asked me what I wanted for dinner, I paused and out of nowhere said "Lamb Chops."   Don't really know why or how I came up with the idea but a quick search online and moments later we were at ShopRite grabbing a rack of lamb, some pesto and other ingredients for our first ever lamb dinner.

 This was a very simple recipe... just season the rack with salt and pepper then throw it on a very hot grill pan with some EVOO to seal in the juices (about 3 mins per side).   Then throw it into the oven for around 20 mins. 

Meanwhile Jo was working on the mint basil pesto...  pretty much your standard basil pesto (pine nuts/olive oil/basil/parm cheese) but with mint mixed in which is supposed to go well with lamb.

Jo also was working on some veggies for the side... roasted some carrots, sweet potatoes, red onion and parsnips.  They were seasoned perfectly with salt, pepper, olive oil and some fresh rosemary!

Back to the lamb, cooked it for about 22 minutes or so and then let it rest... had fun trying to cut it into individual chops but when we finally got a chance to eat it we were blown away.   An awesome surprise, especially for our first time working with lamb.  It was so tender and moist and almost melted in our mouth, the pesto and vegetables were perfect.   Couldn't have asked for a better meal!

Hoping to make this a few times each year.... just so good and so simple!  Oh and I learned later on that you can almost get 2 racks at Sam's for the price of 1 at ShopRite...