Icelandic Lamb Chops

It's Icelandic Lamb Season at Whole Foods!!!! The first time I tried lamb from Iceland was last year and I fell in love. These lambs lack the musky, gamey flavor that some lamb can get and instead are very clean tasting and slightly sweet and are only available in the fall.  I've loved lamb since I was a little girl in Australia where we ate it weekly with my dad's home made mint jelly. So I was thrilled to find some chops while shopping for dinner last night. Sadly the lighting when I took the shots wasn't that great as I couldn't wait to dig in, so the pics don't really do them justice. Served with whipped Yukons and roasted Brussels sprouts, these tasted like heaven.

On a side note, Icelandic lambs graze on unpolluted pure pastures which lends to their terrific flavor. They are pretty cute too... but I try  not to think about that :-(

We decided to prepare them in our rotisserie oven, but they would also taste fabulous seared with salt and pepper in Icelandic Butter (Smjor Brand). The fat content in the butter is pretty high, so it doesn't burn easily and therfore is great to sear the lamb. Throw some fresh rosemary sprigs on top and sear each side about 6 minutes for med-rare. We cooked ours in the rotisserie at 450 degrees for about 18 minutes for medium temp. We threw some chicken on there for the hubs as he isn't a huge lamb fan... more for me!!

  

Roasting perfection

INGREDIENTS

- 3 Icelandic Lamb chops

- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

-1 clove chopped garlic

- fresh sea salt and pepper to taste

-1 tbs olive oil

Marinade for 2 hours, throw in the rotisserie and voila! They are great on a grill also for about 5 minutes each side. Let them rest 5 minutes before eating.

For the Brussels sprouts, I rinsed them, cut in half, tossed in olive oil, sea salt and pepper with a squeeze of lemon juice and some lemon zest and roasted in a 420 degree oven for about 15 minutes. We cooked the Yukons in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes and just smashed them with icelandic butter and salt. 

 Bad lighting!! Aargh! Need to get better lights. Any suggestions?