Lamb chops (lollipops) with baharat and harissa cream

Long long ago when I first married the Brit he deemed all lamb 'too fatty' and declared it not dinner material.

this statement from the man who came from fields and fields of glorious gorgeous sheep, the very land where I fell in love with both the man, and the cuteness that is baby lamb season. Country of mint sauce and mutton. How, I begged, could you not love lamb?

I have spent many hours over the years breaking down lamb legs, removing all the fell, the layer that lies between the skin and the fat that has that lanolin smell and taste, dissecting the leg into little pieces to remove every trace of fat.  I cooked it in spicy Indian curries and added it ground to burgers and meatloaf and slowly, slowly  he realised that eating lamb did not equal eating fat.

Still, when it came to the Cadillac that is rack of lamb he still grimaced and made faces. A couple times a year I would buy a rack and roast it for myself slathered in mustard and a lemony, parsley, persillade.  And smack my lips as I gnawed on the bones. 

I know, carnivore. 

My Mom and I both agree that the bone on a prime rib often tastes better than the meat itself. 

We're bone cleaners.

Finally one night years later when he was finally brave enough to eat most of the things I passed his way I made a batch of Baharat the gorgeous spice mix from the Eastern Mediterranean filled with earthy tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg, oregano and black pepper, bay leaf, cumin and clove.  I cut the rack into little lamb lollipops, cleaned as much surface fat off of his as I could without making the meat fall off the bone.

Then I rubbed it with the baharat and grilled each chop individually to his medium/well taste and my rare/medium rare taste and served it with some spicy hot harissa paste from Tunisia and damn if I hadn't finally won the battle!  Now it has become our date night dinner since a nice rack of lamb can set you back quite a few pennies.

Tonight we'll have it with some Brussels sprouts that I cleaned and blanched.  They will be crisped in some guanciale and shallots and we'll have some leftover boiled potatoes that I will sauté until the edges are all crispy.  A perfect dinner for a fall night.

Comments

[breadchick]

I'm with you and your mom, bone cleaner here. I love the idea of a bouquet of lambchop lollies! Especially if fixed like you describe here.

[Jen]

Looks delicious and perfect for fall :)

[kitchen hand]

I'm a bone-cleaner from way back. As children, my brother and I used to fight over the roast lamb bone. Note: especially good cold next day.

[Snoopylloyd]

Your recipes are normally a bit rich for my taste but I find myself navigating toward your blog at least once a week. Great stuff!

[Brian]

I've never tried rack of lamb, but you got me with the Harissa paste and baharat spice. Wow!

Can you suggest a good source for the Harissa?

[Blue Witch]

Do you have anything for vegetarians except a few sprouts? ;)

The Nice Ladies' Meeting last week was a cookery demonstration of allegedly new and different FOTCR™ ideas. Every single one had either meat or wheat in it. I wasn't impressed as I don't now eat either. Plus, I found the recipes just standard. Nothing exciting at all.