GRILLED LAMB CHOPS WITH BULGAR TABOULE, TOMATO SORBET, SHEEP’S MILK YOGURT SAUCE WITH GARLIC & MINT, POMEGRANATE MOLASSES
The following dish makes a perfect healthy and light summer dinner. All elements of the dish, with the exception of the lamb, are served cold.
Serves 4 (two chops each)
Lamb Chops*
Ingredients:
1. 8 cloves of garlic
2. 1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
3. Crushed Black Pepper
4. 8 Lamb Chops. At Eolo, I use chops from a Rack of Lamb. But any type of chop will do just fine.
Steps:
1. Marinate Chops over night with Garlic, Balsamic and Black Pepper
2. Season to taste with Sea Salt
3. Place on Charcoal Grill until cooked to your desired temperature. They are usually best when cooked to Medium Rare.
*Grilling the lamb chops is the last step of the dish. Make sure that all other ingredients are prepared in advance.
Bulgar Taboulè
(This is an adaptation of taboulè, which differs slightly from a classic taboulè recipe)
Ingredients:
1. 2 cups Medium Bulgar Wheat (Bulgar is available in several granulation sizes)
2. 2 cups Mint Leaves
3. 1 large Shallot
4. 3/4 cup Lemon Juice
5. 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6. 1 cup Parsley, Finely Chopped
7. 1 cup Red and Yellow Peppers, Finely Diced
8. 2 Cups Cucumber, Peeled, Finely Diced
8. 1 cup of Tomatoes, Pulp Removed & Finely Diced (Reminder…NEVER WASTE ANYTHING IN THE KITCHEN! You can save the pulp for the tomato sorbet or throw into a sauce or stock for another dish)
9. Salt to Taste
Steps:
1. Cook Bulgar Wheat by soaking it with 3 cups of boiling water. (Bulgur cooks very quickly and does not require lengthy periods of boiling on the stovetop) Strain after soaking for 1/2 hour and set aside to cool.
2. In a blender, (preferably a VitaPrep) make an emulsified dressing with the Mint, Shallots, Lemon Juice and Olive Oil. (To emulsify properly, puree all ingredients together, with the exception of the oil, which should be poured in slowly at the end while keeping the blender on a low speed)
3. Add Parsley, Peppers, Cucumber and Tomato to the cooled bulgar wheat.
4. Add the mint dressing and salt to taste. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Tomato Sorbet (optional)
(Should be prepared ahead of time)
Ingredients:
1. 3 Vine-Ripened Tomatoes (The riper they are the better)
2. 1/2 cup Finely Chopped Herbs of your choice. I use Mint & Basil.
3. 1 cup of Tomato Juice or pureed San Marzano plum tomatoes
4. 2 tablespoons Sea Salt
5. 1 cup Lemon Juice
6. Lemon Rind from the lemons squeezed for the juice
7. 1 cup Simple Syrup (Half Water & Half Sugar. Heat mixture until sugar dissolves in water)
Steps:
1. Cut Tomatoes into segments and drizzle with Olive Oil and sprinkle with a few pinches of Salt and Sugar. Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350f.
2. Blend the Roasted Tomatoes with the Tomato Juice, Lemon Juice and Salt.
3. Mix the Tomato mixture with the Chopped Herbs.
4. Add Simple Syrup to taste. Remember that this sorbet is meant to pair with a savory dish and should not be too sweet. The sweetness, however, is necessary to make sorbet so that it will be soft enough to scoop.
5. Put mixture in an ice cream machine and spin.
6. Freeze until ready to use.
Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup of Sheep’s Milk Yogurt or other types of strained Greek yogurt
2. 1 tablespoon of Garlic shaved/crushed to a pulp with a microfile
3. 1/2 cup Mint, chopped very fine
4. 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Steps:
1. Mix the yogurt, garlic and mint. Make sure to add the garlic slowly and continue to taste for desired intensity as you go. I tend to love an extra kick of garlic, but always add less than I would like because the garlic flavor will intensify as the sauce sits in the fridge.
2. Add the salt, also to taste.
3. Mix in the olive oil.
Herb Salad (not shown in picture)
Ingredients:
1. 4 cups of Mixed Herbs: Basil, Mint, Dill, Chives, Parsley
2. 1 cup of Oven-dried Cherry Tomatoes (Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half, rubbed with olive oil and roasted for 15 minutes at 35of in the oven)
3. 1/2 cup of Scallions, sliced thinly on a bias
4. Lemon Juice to taste
5. Salt to taste
6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
Steps:
1. Tear the Leafy Herbs into segments, reserving the stems for another use. Cut the Chives into 2 inch segments.
2. Add the Tomatoes & Scallions.
3.Add Lemon Juice and Salt to taste.
3. Drizzle with Olive Oil.
Garnish
Drizzle the grilled chops with Pomegranate Molasses. You can either reduce pomegranate juice to a glaze or purchase a bottle of prepared pomegranate molasses. I like to use it because it adds a little bit of needed bitterness to the dish and helps balance out all of the flavor combinations.
I also like to use the pomegranate molasses to decorate the plate a little. As the saying goes, we first eat with our eyes before our mouths.
Tags: Bulgar, Chef Melissa Muller Daka, Eolo, Herb Salad, Lamb Chops, mint, Mint emulsion, Pomegranate Molasses, Taboule, Tomato Sorbet, Yogurt Sauce
