Garlic Balsamic Grilled Lamb Chops

Garlic Balsamic Grilled Lamb Chops

With the grilling season starting up again, I thought I'd share one of my favorite simple marinades that pairs perfectly with beautiful, juicy grilled lamb chops. My family is slowly coming around to eating more lamb, which is one of my absolute favorite things to grill. This simple marinade is one of the reasons we are enjoying more lamb nowadays. A couple of hours marinading is enough to infuse great flavor into these chops.

It also works very well with boneless leg of lamb, which I marinate for a a few hours before tying the lamb back into shape with butcher string before open roasting it in the oven. I sometimes add rosemary to the marinade when cooking it this way: it's a really delicious way to enjoy roast lamb.

I've served the chops here with some family favorite Lemon Herb Roast Potatoes and Lemon Mint Tzatziki. We also had a small Greek salad on the side to complete an exceptionally delicious meal.

Garlic Balsamic Lamb Chops

Recipe by Barry C. Parsons

Garlic Balsamic Lamb Chops - a very simple marinade that pairs very well with the flavor of grilled lamb. Serve with Lemon Herb Roast Potatoes, Lemon Mint Tzatziki and a Greek side salad for an exceptionally delicious meal.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 2 hours including marinating time
Yield: Serves 4 

Ingredients

• 2 pounds lamb chops
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dry thyme
• 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar balsamic vinegar

Cooking Directions

1. Whisk all of the marinade ingredients together.
2. Pour over the lamb chops in a large Ziploc bag.
3. Marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours.
4. Take the chops out of the fridge for a half hour or so before grilling to bring them closer to room temperature. This will make it easier to cook to the proper internal temperature without over cooking the outside of the meat.
5. Grill over medium high heat or under the broiler. I use a meat thermometer to test the internal temperature of the chops, taking them to 145 degrees F for medium rare. Well done is 170 degrees F, so don't ever go over that internal temperature.
6. Let the chops rest under a loose tent of aluminum foil for 5 minutes before serving. 

Garlic Balsamic Grilled Lamb Chops

Souvlaki Steak with Lemon Chive Tzatziki

Souvlaki Steak

I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Everyone in our family loves chicken or pork souvlaki and I love it with lamb too. It is a meal that is in regular rotation at our house especially with homemade flatbreads and lemon mint tzatziki. We usually serve a Greek salad with it so that it can all be tucked inside those flatbreads as delicious wraps.

I used the same marinade on a couple of prime rib steaks yesterday and grilled them to medium well before thinly slicing them and adding them to some very satisfying wraps. I substituted fresh chives for the mint in the tzatziki this time but fresh oregano, thyme or rosemary could also be used if you prefer.

The marinade was actually quite tasty on the steak all on its own, so, even if you don't want to make flatbreads or tzatziki for this dish, the marinade is still worth trying at your next back yard barbecue.

Serves 4 to 6

2 pounds grilling steak, prime rib or strip loin are good choices

Souvlaki Marinade

• 6 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 rounded tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves minced garlic

Mix all of the ingredients together and pour over the steak in a Ziploc bag. Toss the steak around well in the marinade to coat on all sides. Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. Cook on a preheated grill at medium high heat for about 4 minutes before turning over and grilling for an additional 4 minutes on the opposite side or until the steak is cooked to your desired doneness.

Serve with a Greek Salad, flatbread and tzatziki.
 

Lemon Chive Tzatziki

• 3 cups Greek yogurt, drained.

Draining the yogurt removes much of the liquid and produces an end product about the consistency of thick sour cream. To drain the yogurt, line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth (or in a pinch, several large coffee filters) Pour the yogurt into the colander and place it in a large bowl or in the sink for an hour or two. this should produce about 2 cups of thick yogurt.

• 6 inch piece of English cucumber

Peel the piece of cucumber and remove the seeds and pulp at the center with a teaspoon, then dice the outside flesh of the cucumber into small cubes of  1/8 inch or less.

Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of kosher salt over the diced cucumber and toss together well. Let this rest for about a half hour , stirring occasionally. This process removes some of the liquid from the cucumber so that it will not water down the consistency of your finished tzatziki. Drain all of the liquid off the diced cucumber before adding it to the drained yogurt along with

• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• pinch salt and pepper to season

Mix well, cover and store in the fridge for at least a half hour before serving.

Rosemary Dijon Grilled Pork Chops or Chicken

Rosemary Dijon Grilled Pork Chops or Chicken

Well, it may be a raining, drizzly miserable day right now in St. John's but we did manage to get some sun earlier in the week to have our first meal of the season off the back yard grill. We enjoyed these delicious pork chops which use a very simple marinade suitable for either chicken or pork. The Dijon and fragrant rosemary go very well together and I think are very complimentary to the pork chops. The touch of honey is meant to balance the tart mustard but it also helps create great grill marks and add caramelized flavor to the chops as well. It is a quick marinade and really doesn't need much more than 20 or 30 minutes before grilling.

Makes enough marinade for 4 to 6, 3/4 inch thick pork loin chops.

Marinade

• 3 tbsp whole grain Dijon Mustard
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 clove finely minced garlic

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together and pour over the pork chops in a glass dish or Ziploc bag. Turn the chops occasionally in the marinade.

Marinate for 20-30 minutes, covered at room temperature. You don't want cold chops to hit a hot grill or they are more likely to dry out.

Grill on a medium high temperature grill until fully cooked. I like the brush any remaining marinade over the pork chops as they grill. The internal temperature of the cooked pork chops should be 150 to 160 degrees F on a meat thermometer. (or 165-175 degrees F for chicken pieces)

Rosemary Dijon Grilled Pork Chops or Chicken

Beer and Bacon Jam

Good morning from Washington D.C.! Rock Recipes is on the road. The house sitters/cat butlers are settled in back at home and our family is on a road trip in the Southeast United States for the next couple of weeks! Don't worry, we have plenty of new recipes lined up while we are away and may even include a few updates on what we are eating along the way as we gather a little southern hospitality recipe inspiration for when we return. Be sure to join us on our Facebook Page for more road trip updates. 

I saw a version of today's recipe on one of the roadside diner shows a couple of years back but I can't remember which one. I remember that recipe being more complicated than this one but I wanted a stove top recipe that may take a little time but is well worth the effort.

This "jam" is a wonderfully flavourful condiment that has many flavour components. Sweet, smoky, slightly salty with and quite earthy, this delicious concoction is terrific on pork chops as pictured but is also very good on grilled steaks, burgers and chicken too. Try it at your next weekend barbeque and I know everyone will want the recipe for this unusual, conversation starting "jam".

Makes about 2 cups.

1/2 pound smoked bacon

Cut the bacon into 1/4 inch pieces and fry slowly over medium low to medium heat until all the fat has been rendered out and the bacon is crispy, resembling bacon bits. Drain off all the fat and add:

3 tbsp butter
6 large finely diced red onions
6 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Cook over medium low heat for about 20 minutes until the onions have reduced considerably and caramelized. Add:

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
8 ounces dark stout beer (or one cup brewed coffee works very well)
1/2 tsp dry thyme

Simmer and reduce this mixture for several minutes until it reaches a jam-like consistency. Serve warm.

This jam will last for several days in sealed container/s in the fridge or for much longer if you choose to make a large batch and follow proper canning/bottling procedures.

Honey Orange Cardamom Glazed Pork Chops

Honey Orange Cardamom Glazed Pork Chops

• 6 center loin pork chops
• ½ cup honey
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp finely chopped orange zest
• ½ tsp ground cardamom
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper

Mix together the orange juice, zest, garlic, cardamom salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of the honey to make a marinade. Pour over the pork chops and marinate for 30-60 minutes but no longer. Remove the chops from the marinade. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and add the remaining honey. Simmer slowly to reduce the volume of the marinade by about half until it begins to thicken slightly and resemble a glaze. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Grill the pork chops over medium high heat until almost completely cooked, turning once. In the final few minutes of grilling brush the chops with the prepared glaze several times, turning the chops and brushing on additional glaze several times.