Since 1926, the Agricultural Review has been a free newspaper published by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. For many years, The Tar Heel Kitchen was a featured column written by the department’s marketing home economist.
These recipes tended to be seasonal with just a handful of ingredients. We thought these recipes needed to be shared in a new format. The Tar Heel Kitchen post will unearth a few of these timeless recipes each month. This week recipe is from April 1995 and features grilled lamb chops.
Lamb is not something that inexperienced cooks tends pick out at the grocery stores. Barbara “Babs” Wilkinson, NCDA&CS home economist, offers this advice for cooking lamb. “It is recommended to keep the oven temperature around 325 degrees,” said Wilkinson. “Another common problem found when cooking lamb is that it is overcooked. For best flavor, cook lamb to 140 degrees for rare, 150 degree for medium and 160 degrees for well done.”
Grilled Lamb Chops
- 4 (1-inch thick) lamb rib chops
- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- dash of pepper
- dash of paprika
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Trim excess fat from chops. Combine softened butter, parsley, salt, pepper and paprika, mixing until smooth and creamy. Stir in lemon juice. Spread butter mixture evenly on both sides of chops. Place chops on grill over medium coals. Grill chops 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.
While your lamb is cooking, put some fresh local asparagus on the grill. It’s what’s in season at the farmers market and grocery store. To find a farm near you that sells lamb, visit www.ncfarmfresh.com.