I Had a Little Lamb: Chops with Ras el-hanout & Mango Salsa

I grew up on a farm and even though my dad was a school teacher, we kept a few animals. Mostly sheep, as they are fairly low maintenance.

The sheep were named and loved by us kids. The matriarch of the herd was a ewe named Endora. There's a reason real farmers don't name the food that they are eventually going to eat. One night Dame Judi served mutton stew and we all cried when we realized who it was.

After those days, I was not a big fan of lamb. I never cooked it myself, never ordered it in restaurants. And then I met The Spouse. He is a big fan of big meat. We started serving leg of lamb at our annual Carnevale dinner and while I can't say it moved lamb into my top 10 list, it did get me over the hump. (Oh, the things that man can do with rosemary and garlic).

This year at Carnevale we mixed things up with rack of lamb, cooked with ras-el-hanout and served with an utterly spectacular shiraz-honey sauce. The other night I put lamb on the menu and at the last minute decided to keep things simple and use some of the ras-el-hanout as a rub for the chops and just grill them.

Ras-el-hanout can be purchased in ethnic shops or you can make your own. There are myriad recipes for the stuff but I put together a combination that uses some of the most common and accessible ingredients:

Ras el-hanout

2 cinnamon sticks, broken into several pieces
1 T. cloves
1 T. coriander seeds
1 T. fenugreek
1 T. fennel seeds
1 T. mustard seeds
1 ¾ oz. dried rose petals (or substitute 1 T. dried rose hips, just make sure the roses are pesticide free)

Place all the ingredients in a metal frying pan and place over gentle heat. Cook until the seeds begin to pop in the pan. Toss as they start to pop and cook for a couple more minutes, taking care not to let them burn.

Remove from pan and grind the mixture in a spice grinder while still warm.

Store in an airtight container.

Lamb Chops

With this gorgeous rub on hand a plate of delicious lamb chops is the work of seconds. Simply pat the chops dry, lightly salt & pepper them and then rub both sides of each chop with the ras-el-hanout. Grill the chops until done. Voila!

I served them on a bed of spinach with mangos. A little bite of mango with the lamb was just heaven. Maybe next time I'll go so far as to make the mango into salsa. That would be superfantastic as well.

Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangos, diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
3 T. fresh cilantro
juice of 1 lime
dash of salt
dash of red chili flakes

The quickest way to prepare the mango is to slice in half, lengthwise, on either side of the pit. Cross-hatch the fruit with a sharp knife and scoop out of the peel.

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Can be served immediately or allowed to sit in the fridge for a few hours until you are ready to use it.