Easter!

Turkish Lamb Chops with Sumac, Tahini and Dill & Garlic and Herb Naan

 

Spring has finally arrived and with it longer days, warmer temperatures, green grass, blooming flowers and our personal favorite, the start of BBQ season. It’s also the beginning of the Easter holiday and for this year’s celebration we decided to make lamb. Wanting to stray away from a traditional recipe, we started our search and came across Turkish Lamb Chops with Sumac, Tahini and Dill on the Epicurious website. The pictures alone sold us on this dish and knew that it would make for a memorable and fun meal for our family and friends.

This dish has a middle eastern flare and Naan, a middle eastern flatbread baked in a tandoori, is one of our favorites. The thought of the lamb and naan sounded great to us and we quickly found a recipe for Garlic-Herb Naan also on Epicurious. The recipe calls for the bread to be cooked right on the grill. Since the grill was dusted off and ready for the Spring, why not give it a shot.

While making our shopping list, we had a feeling we would need to visit a specialty store to find some of the spices for the lamb. The rest of the ingredients are available and instead of heading to the butcher for the lamb chops we knew Costco would be our best bet. Unable to find the Tahini, Aleppo pepper, and Sumac at our local grocery and specialty stores, we started searching for a middle eastern spice market. Wouldn’t you know it, there was one just five minutes from the house. What a find! We should have started here. The market had everything we needed and was reasonably priced.

Eddy and I had a great time exploring the store and learning about the different ingredients. As we were checking out, a young lady came out from the back of the store with a fresh batch of samosas. We couldn’t resist the and bought a few for us and our audience to snack on.  Not including the samosas, the price tag for all the lamb ingredients totaled to about $40 and the Naan just under $15.

The naan recipe needed to be made the day before allowing the dough time to rise. It also gives you the liberty of choosing the leafy herbs to incorporate in the dough.  We decided to go with mint and parsley, thinking it would complement the lamb nicely. As instructed, we mixed up all the ingredients and placed the dough in the refrigerator. We were both intrigued about the dough’s ability to rise in the cold but went ahead and left in there until morning. The next day the dough had risen beautifully. We left it in the refrigerator while we prepped the seasonings for the lamb.

 

 

 

 

 

All the spices were measured out and placed in a pan for toasting. The aroma of the roasting spices filled the air with a heavenly scent.  Removing the spices from the pan and allowing them to cool just before we coated the delectable chops.  Allowing the chops to marinate a bit in the spices and allow the flavors to penetrate the meat.  Setting our focus back on the dough, we gently punched it down and rolled into four-inch balls and covered them with a floured towel.

 

 

 

 

 

While the dough rested, and lamb chops marinated we started our fire and began to work on the tahini sauce. If you’ve never used it before, Tahini can be an intimidating ingredient.  When you first open the container, the sesame paste may have separated and will require a little elbow grease to blend them back together. We used a butter knife and mixed in the container. It may have been easier to use a food processor and blending it until smooth, but the knife worked just fine. As we began making the sauce, it became noticeable that the sauce became very thick. Not a big deal, we added a couple more tablespoons of water until we reached the consistency that we were looking for. Tasting the sauce you may not be a big fan of the flavor at first but don’t worry just set it to the side for plating. It will taste different when paired with the lamb, so give it a try.

Checking in on the grill, we found that it was hot and ready for the chops. As we placed them on the grill, a regular audience came out from the word works again. The smell of the lamb and spices hit the air and had them circling like hawks looking for prey. They will have to wait until the chops cook for five minutes on each side. The chops were removed from the grill and set to rest. It was hard to resist digging right in for all of us and a few hands were swatted away as they pretended to sneak a peek.

 

 

 

 

 

A first for us, it was time to grill the naan. Since we weren’t sure if the grill would be too hot, the grill was reconfigured for indirect heat on one side. The dough was stretched out and placed on the oiled grill.  Don’t worry about stretching it out perfectly, it adds character.  Every time we laid a piece dough on the grill it would either tear or fold onto itself anyway. There was plenty of time to flip over any folds and pinch any tears together. Again, adding “character”. We were more concerned about the dough sticking to the grill and burning. On our first attempt, we hovered over it and checked it frequently. It charred a little bit, but with this crowd it would do fine. It took a couple of tries to get it right and we even placed some over the indirect heat, which took a little longer and didn’t have the same color. A quick trip to the hot side of the grill solved the color issue. This approach worked better for us allowing us to control the temperature and the finish of each piece of bread.

With our audience champing at the bit, we brought the freshly grilled Naan over to our resting lamb chops. To no surprise, one of the chops is missing and everyone had a guilty smirk on the faces. Plating the lamb and adding a dash of dill and sumac.  A healthy smear of the tahini sauce and the naan made its way to the plate before serving. The flavors of the fennel, coriander and cumin entwined with the lamb created a party in your mouth. The tahini sauce added a nutty flavor to the party. The sprinkle of sumac gave a slight tartness to the dish. If you were unable to find it don’t worry about it the dish is still a delight.  It is more than worthy of serving for this Easter holiday or whenever you have a craving for lamb. We highly recommend both recipes.

Ratings:

Turkish Lamb Chops

 

Garlic-Herb Naan

 

If you would like to try the Turkish Lamb with Sumac, Tahini and Dill recipe click here or if you would like to try the Garlic and Herb Naan recipe click here and check out the Epicurious website while you are there.