There’s something about lamb that makes the lovely Adrien and every member of her family purr like kittens (assuming kittens came to America on the Mayflower). We both had a tough week and I wanted to make her something she’d enjoy. But I’m trying to inch the meals more toward Jack Lalanne than Caligula these days, at least so far as cholesterol and red meat are concerned. So what to do? I opted to split the main-course-protein-unit over lamb and scallops. We’d both get some redness, but not too much, a little something breaded from the sea, but not too much.
I popped by the Union Square Green Market for accompaniment. All that caught my eye were some gnarly spuds that appear to have been modeled after the severed digits of an Eastern European alcoholic long before the light of mani-pedis and Bacitracin crept through the iron curtain. So I bought them.
The veggies will take the longest, so let’s start there.
–Little potatoes
–Broccoli
–Small Shallots
–Fresh Dill
If some of the potatoes seem too big (relative to the size of the other potatoes), slice them in half the long way. Put them on a large baking sheet.
Cut off the coarse bottoms of the broccoli stalks. If you’re making a vegetable stock (for some other meal), toss these in. Do not let your spouse convince you to freeze the stalks. If you need to sneak them into the garbage, so be it.
Then, cut the broccoli up into florets or generally small pieces.
Add to the potatoes and set aside. Then, peel and trim the shallots, but make sure to keep them whole and together.
Mix it all together on the baking sheet and season liberally with Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning. You do not need to add salt.
Drizzle liberally with olive or vegetable oil. If you use extra virgin olive oil (“EVOOâ€), only put the oven up to 400 – 425. If you put it higher with the EVOO, your apartment will get smoky in a bad way and the smoke detector will go off at the worst moment and really kill your buzz. If you use vegetable oil, you’ll be fine. In my opinion, burnt olive oil is not more desirable than plain old oil.
I make the point because you want to give this dish as much heat as you can. The potatoes should be browned, the shallots blistered and the broccoli destroyed. It will take about 55 minutes. Take it out and scrape your victims off the bottom of the baking sheet 3 or 4 times in the 55 minutes. After it’s out, toss a handful of chopped dill in and stir.
While that’s cooking, let’s get the scallops and the lamb prepped. For the scallops, we’re going to make our own breadcrumbs. Don’t freak; as long as you’re not Sling Blade, you’ll own this. Take 2 slices of good multigrain bread -optimally the kind with seeds, nuts and twigs- and toast them. Chop the toast and then try to pulverize it with your hands. It should be crumbs with chunks.
Then rinse scallops and paper-towel them dry. Beat an egg in a bowl and put in a good pinch of salt.
Dip the (dry) scallops in egg, then dredge in breadcrumbs. I recommend a counter setup like this: scallops >> bowl /w beaten egg >> plate with breadcrumbs >> empty plate for breaded scallops. For the amount of scallops shown, 1 egg and 2 pieces of bread should be fine. When done, they should look like this:
Ok, set those aside for a few minutes. We’re going to do the lamb and then cook these in the remaining yummy lamb fat. I got 2 lamb chops, which are quite thick and comprised of two rib bones each. Be prepared to spend $20 – $30 for the 2 chops. Get natural/organic/grass-fed if you can.
I split them so that each one has one rib bone… turning them magically into lamb “pops†as Adrien says. You can do this yourself at home, but it can be a pain in the butt. Ask the butcher to do it if you’re squeamish. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
If you’ve got a cast iron skillet, this is where you bust your move. Another pan could be fine, but I find that cast iron gives a better brown than Teflon. Regardless, get the pan on the stovetop and get it piping hot. Then, put your pops in FAT SIDE DOWN. This renders and crisps the fat. Some spouses derive great pleasure from gnawing on the browned/fatty/boney bits. This step will make that extra-nice for them.
Give them 2-ish minutes in that position. Use tongs to then move them from side to side. Adrien has taught me many things in life, but the most important one is not to overcook her meat. These little guys are so small and so thin that you really want to work with a high heat for a short time (certainly less than 3 minutes per side). Then, take them off the heat to rest under the shiny side of tin foil for at least 10 minutes. Aside from letting the meat rest, this will disperse the heat through the meat yielding a pleasantly pink interior.
While the lamb is resting, drop the scallops in the already hot hot fat and let nature take its course. Again, less than 3 minutes per side is adequate.
The scallops are rustic and nutty. The lamb is rich and a little gamey, the veggies (don’t forget to toss with the dill) are herbaceous and a texture parade: firm brown potatoes, soft, destroyed broccoli, silky blistered shallots. I served this with some fresh ricotta and a onion flat breads to cool the meal down a bit. Bon appetite.