Spring is coming and with it longer evenings, piercing sunlight and a whole new line-up of ingredients ready to showcase their 2024 collection. I’m dreaming of crisp, hazy blue mornings, where you can puff your breath away towards the sky. Of daffodils and the first shoots of wild garlic in the hedgerows. Soon the grass will need cutting and hurling and football will be up and running.
Okay, I think I need to relax. It’s January 13th. As you look up from the page, it’s probably grey, wet and miserable outside.
But herein lies the great joy of food: you can escape the here and now by cooking yourself away. This leads me to this week’s recipes. Both are designed as midweek meals, requiring a handful of ingredients, packed with flavour and the promise of warmer weather ahead.
First up; lamb chops, served simply with a Middle Eastern inspired baba ganoush – basically a punchy aubergine dip. When I was younger, my father would rarely be tasked with making dinner. His talents were many, but the kitchen wasn’t his strongest suit (he’s improving in retirement). Faced with the daunting task of cooking for two kids, he always had two options: a full Irish breakfast or grilled lamb chops.
Lamb chops are a cost-effective, quick and delicious dinner
If he played the chops card, they would be placed on a rack, the tray beneath covered in tinfoil, and grilled for 10-12 minutes on both sides until evenly grey. Often the signal for dinner being ready was when the fat would smoke on the tinfoil tray and set off the fire alarm. Boiled potatoes and mushy peas were the classic garnish, a mint jelly served tableside. We would all dine at the table, with the open grill as a backdrop, the alarm now silent and the tea towel draped over Dad’s shoulders, like a boxer fresh from 12 rounds.
Needless to say, this didn’t ignite my passion for lamb chops in my formative years, but I have returned to them of late. They are a cost-effective, quick and delicious dinner. Here, I have marinated them in an easy herb oil, which caramelises on the pan and adds lots of colour. Once rested and light pink throughout, they are a joy to eat, particularly with a bone to pick at. The baba ganoush is my favourite way to cook aubergine, which can be bland at the best of times. Used here as a dip for the chops, it’s also great with any grilled meat, or with tortilla chips or crisps.
The second recipe is a 10-minute, bang it together kind of dish. I make it when I have bits of greenery in the fridge to use up, but don’t want to make salad. It’s basically a warm pesto sauce folded through spaghetti, with Parmesan chunks emulsifying the sauce together in the blender. The fried breadcrumbs are key to mopping up the excess sauce at the end and are a welcome addition to many pasta dishes. This is a handy one to add to your repertoire.
I’ll save Dad’s lamb chop dish for another time.
