Martin 888
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances ‘19 and ‘22, Camino Portuguese ‘23
I've been wanting to find a way to re-create Chuletitas de Cordero, the ubiquitous and delicious lamb chop dish found across Northern Spain. My absolute favourite food along the Camino. I think I've finally cracked it so I thought I would share a few details here to hopefully inspire others to try.
The key is finding the raw material. Most western supermarkets and butchers just don't seem to sell the thin rib chops that feature in this dish so I have tried various things to figure out the right cut. You need to buy a large rack of lamb, as it comes from the animal and certainly not 'frenched'. Ask them to sell you one 'un-butchered' and do it yourself. With a sharp knife, cut along the line of the ribs but instead of just turning your rack into simple rib chops.....cut much thinner and create two slices for each rib, one will contain a rib bone and a second will not.
As always in Spain their dishes tend to be meat focused with very little vegetable and these fabulous chops are most often pared with a few home made fries and roasted peppers.....I repeated that here.
Fries are easy....I used russet potatoes and sunflower oil.
Together with red and orange bell peppers, I added a couple of jalapeño chillis and a couple of hot red chillis. Roasted at 410F (convection) for about 20 mins in olive oil with several cloves of garlic and a sprinkling of Herbs de Provence.
I seasoned my chops with fresh ground black pepper and Maldon sea salt and brushed them with oil. Turning several times I cooked them on a rack over a baking sheet in the oven with the peppers....turn your extractor fan on full as it creates lots of smoke as the fat renders (all worth it).
That's about it.....I can promise you it is the most authentic reproduction of the food we're all longing for along the Way in a post covid world (vegetarians excepted of course).
Enjoy!
The key is finding the raw material. Most western supermarkets and butchers just don't seem to sell the thin rib chops that feature in this dish so I have tried various things to figure out the right cut. You need to buy a large rack of lamb, as it comes from the animal and certainly not 'frenched'. Ask them to sell you one 'un-butchered' and do it yourself. With a sharp knife, cut along the line of the ribs but instead of just turning your rack into simple rib chops.....cut much thinner and create two slices for each rib, one will contain a rib bone and a second will not.
As always in Spain their dishes tend to be meat focused with very little vegetable and these fabulous chops are most often pared with a few home made fries and roasted peppers.....I repeated that here.
Fries are easy....I used russet potatoes and sunflower oil.
Together with red and orange bell peppers, I added a couple of jalapeño chillis and a couple of hot red chillis. Roasted at 410F (convection) for about 20 mins in olive oil with several cloves of garlic and a sprinkling of Herbs de Provence.
I seasoned my chops with fresh ground black pepper and Maldon sea salt and brushed them with oil. Turning several times I cooked them on a rack over a baking sheet in the oven with the peppers....turn your extractor fan on full as it creates lots of smoke as the fat renders (all worth it).
That's about it.....I can promise you it is the most authentic reproduction of the food we're all longing for along the Way in a post covid world (vegetarians excepted of course).
Enjoy!