Lamb Loin Chops with Eggplant Caponata & Parmesan Cannoli
After sitting through three painful hours of football on Sunday, I needed something to cheer me up. I dusted the snow off of my grill and went out to refill my propane tank. You know you have a grilling problem when the man at UHaul says, “Damnnnn kid that tank’s got some mileage on it!”. On the way home I stopped off at the Butcher Shop in the South End and picked up some beautiful, two inch thick lamb loin chops; basically a lamb T-bone steak.
I threw the chops into a marinade of olive oil, garlic, fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, and lemon juice and let them hang out for a few hours while I mentally transitioned from football to basketball season.
In the meantime, my girlfriend and I started experimenting with the shredded Parmesan-Reggiano we had in the fridge, attempting to make cannoli shells out of the cheese. I sprinkled a handful onto a silicone mat (you can get these in any cooking store, they’re called Silpats) and spread it out into a flat circle.
I baked them slowly until they were pliable but not too crispy and rolled them around the handle of my whisk; this was actually a lot easier than I had expected it to be.
I piped the cannoli shells with a mixture of lowfat ricotta cheese and chopped green olives for a slightly salty tang. On the side I made a caponata which is another Sicilian sweet and sour dish.
Caponata in its simplest form is an eggplant based side dish that is sauteed with white wine vinegar. I added bell peppers, onions, capers, and some honey to balance out the sour vinegar taste.
Caponata is really easy to make and is great on top of fish or bruschetta. After all of the components were in the works, I bundled up and ventured out onto the deck to fire up the grill. The lamb chops were flaring up and browning a little bit too quickly so I had to stand them up vertically on the bone to let them finish.
Just about when borderline frostbite kicked in, the lamb was medium rare and I sprinted inside to warm up. Instead of the mint jelly that is classically served with lamb chops, I whipped up a fresh mint vinaigrette to drizzle on the plate and freshen the dish up.
I brought out a bottle of the 1999 E. Guigal Hermitage from the Rhone Valley, France and decanted it to let it breath for a bit. Rhone Valley wines, especially Hermitage (which in this case is 100% Syrah) are perfect for lamb or game dishes because they’re muscular and fruity.
This bottle had some age to it which mellowed it out just a tad but the red fruit and black currant flavors were still prominent. The wine was slightly violet in color and had underlying flavors of licorice and tar that intermingled with the fresh fruit.
It was full bodied and had great acidity; the 24 months in French Oak gives it solid structure and a super rich mouth feel. This wine could have been cellared for another 10 years. It was a perfect match for this hearty winter dish but it couldn’t bring the Patriots season back unfortunately.
