Lamb Chops with Spicy Mango Mint Sauce

Welcome back to Susan Can Cook. This week I decided to prepare lamb chops. Initially I was thinking of that movie - How To Lose A Guy in 10 days - where Ben (aka Matthew McConaughey) cooks up his famous dish Lamb Chops with a cherry glaze for Andie (aka Kate Hudson) - you know, its the ONE dish he knows how to prepare and uses to "wow" and seduce his woman. But, since I don't have a honey to seduce or impress, I figured I'd spice it up another way - oh yeah, with a Spicy Mango Mint sauce -- oh tell me you aren't turned on? Yeeaahh, baby (said in the Austin Powers tone)! So, perhaps this will now be my new "signature" dish to lure the boys -- yeah, come to mama! haha. I am only kidding ?

For those of you in awe, don't be. Its actually quite easy to cook - and you can do it too!!! The lamb chops cooks in about 4 minutes per side (depending on how large it is) and the mango mint sauce took about 10 minutes to prepare (i also did it the day before so I could let it chill).

A mindful note: Cooking lamb chops is easy, but whats difficult is finding the right spices that make this dish so special. If you haven't shopped for spices before, just get ready for the sticker shock. :D Yeah, after living in NYC - i didn't think I would get sticker shock anymore -- but for this dish - i needed about six new spices that I never seen or quite possibly never heard of (i.e. Tumeric, Cardamon, etc) ... and I easily spent $25 just on spices and some of them I already had! can you imagine!! So where can you buy spices on the cheap? I went to a local Indian store and bought it there. I think its probably cheaper than the McCormick spices.

Enjoy and happy eating!


From Bon Appetit - June 2004
Serves 16

Mint-mango sauce

• 2 1-pound ripe mangoes, peeled, seeded
• 2 cups fresh mint leaves
• 4 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 serrano chiles, halved, seeded
  

Lamb chops

• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 16 1-inch-thick lamb loin chops
• Fresh mint sprigs

For mint mango sauce:
Blend all ingredients in processor until smooth. Transfer to small bowl. Season with salt. Cover and chill. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)

For lamb chops:
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Whisk first 8 ingredients in small bowl. Mix oil and garlic in another bowl. Brush chops on both sides with oil mixture, then press chops into spice mixture to coat both sides. Grill chops to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to platter. Garnish with mint sprigs. Serve warm or at room temperature with sauce.

For those without a bbq like me, I used my Iron Clad pan and it worked out just great!