Mushroom Stuffed Lamb Chop
Serves 4
This recipe was adapted from my wife's cookbook, Boulevard: The Cookbook. In her book she also has a variation using broccoli rabe and cream cheese.
Ingredients:
- 2 Teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- ½ pound mushrooms (cremini)
- Sliced salt and freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup soft bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup shredded Comte` or Gruyere cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- 3 Teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
- 3 Teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary, divided
- ½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- (4) 2-inch thick lamb chops (ask the butcher to leave the tail flaps on the chops)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil Kitchen twine
- Heat butter in a 12- inch heavy non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir and fry for 2 minutes then stir in garlic. Continue to fry until the mushrooms are soft. Transfer mushrooms and any liquid to a food processor and pulse several times to corsely chop. Add bread crumbs, cheese and 2 teaspoons of the thyme, 1 teaspoon rosemary and parsley. Pulse several more times to combine and mix well. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in half the chicken stock. The stuffing should be moist but not wet. Add more stock if needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate stuffing covered for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Using a sharp boning knife cut between the meat and the bone to separate the meat from the both sides of the T-bone, but leave the meat attached at the base of the bone. firmly press about 2 tablespoons of stuffing onto each side of the T-bone and then reform the chop. Tie each chop by wrapping it in kitchen twine around the perimeter of each chop. Use 2 loops of twine.
- Heat olive oil in a large oven proof skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle each chop all over with salt, pepper and remaining thyme and rosemary all. Lay in the chop and brown for 2-3 minutes. Flip and brown other side for 2-3 minutes. Remove chops, pour off fat and arrange each chop so that they stand vertical using the flat side of the T-bone to stabilize them and the meat itself is not contacting the pan. Insert pan into the oven and roast for 15 minutes until the internal temp. is 125 F (for medium rare). Remove chops, cover loosely with foil and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Bruce Aidells is America's "go-to guy" for all issues involving meat and meat cookery. He is called upon for information and insights for most national newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and many more. Aidells, who founded Aidells Sausage Company in 1983, also has a reputation as an innovator in the gourmet sausage industry. While he left the sausage company in 2002 to continue to pursue his food-writing career, he is still considered a renowned expert on charcuterie and salumi.
Since 1982, Aidells has written 11 cookbooks. Four have received cookbook award nominations. His first book, with Denis Kelly, Hot Links and Country Flavors, received the IACP Julia Child award for best single subject cookbook in 1991. The Complete Meat Cookbook was nominated for a James Beard Award in 1999 and Bruce Aidells's Complete Pork Book received another Beard nomination in 2005. His other titles include Flying Sausages and Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Cookbook. In addition, Aidells contributed to The Joy of Cooking, 1997 Edition, writing the meat, poultry and stuffing chapters. Aidells recipes have appeared in over 30 cookbooks as a guest contributor and he wrote the key meat tips for The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook.
Aidells has often appeared as a guest on TV and for the last 3 years has had a regular cooking segment on The View From The Bay on KGO-TV, the ABC-owned station in San Francisco.
Aidells has appeared on NBC Today, Martha Stewart Living Al Roker on the Road, The FoodTV Network and many other cooking shows.
Aidells is a frequent guest not only on local Bay Area radio but many national shows including Fresh Air with Teri Gross, The Splendid Table and Everyday Cooking with Martha Stewart.
Aidells is a contributing editor at Bon Appetit Magazine and Eating Well Magazine as well as a regular contributor to Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, Gourmet, Cooking Pleasures, Real Food and Cooking Light Magazines.
Bruce Aidells is married to Nancy Oakes, Executive Chef and Co-Owner of San Francisco's top rated restaurant, Boulevard Restaurant. Aidells and Oakes live in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Sonoma Wine Country.
