Lamb Chops with Rice and Spinach Recipe
If you are like my mom and sister and don’t care for lamb, you can do this same thing but use chicken thighs or chicken breast or pork chops, it is really flexible and you can make it suit your family like I do for mine. Mustard is the ‘glue’ that holds a flavor packed bread crumb topping on these chops, tasty, crunchy and very pretty when it comes out of the oven.
Recipe featured on Rachael Ray in Tuscany.
Ingredients
For The Lamb Chops:
- 1 Frenched rack of lamb, 12 bones total, cut into 3 bone portions of chops
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil spray
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
- 2 cups panko or homemade breadcrumbs dressed with 4 T melted butter
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme
- 1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoon granulated garlic
For the Garlicky Spinach with Lemon:
- 3 tablespoons EVOO
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 lbs spinach, cleaned and stemmed
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped or very thinly sliced
- Salt and pepper
- Grated nutmeg
Directions
For The Lamb Chops:
Preheat the oven to 425 F (215 C).
Melt the butter in a small saute pan. Stir in breadcrumbs to coat and set aside to let cool slightly.
Heat cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
Season rack of lamb portions with salt and pepper. Coat the hot cast iron skillet with oil spray in a thin even coating. Add lamb and brown, remove from heat and let cool.
Mix egg and Dijon together in a small bowl and slather onto chops.
Combine zest, herbs and garlic with breadcrumbs and pack onto the lamb.
Transfer to the oven and bake until the breadcrumb topping is browned and lamb’s internal temperature reads 125-135 F, about 15 minutes.
Let rest and transfer to a serving platter.
For the Garlicky Spinach with Lemon:
Heat a skillet over medium high and add a bit of olive oil to start, add the lemon cut side down and caramelize it and then remove from the pan. Add the spinach and raise heat a bit and toss with tongs. Add in garlic and toss spinach until wilted but still tender-crisp. Season with salt and pepper and a bit of grated nutmeg to taste. When ready to serve, douse with the juice of the charred lemon and transfer to the serving bowl.
