Lamb Chops with Port Cherries

I love lamb. Growing up, I only ever ate it in restaurants or on the odd occasion my mother let me use her kitchen- she refused to cook (or condone the cooking/consumption of) "Bambi".


This delicious recipe is very cheap if you have the basic ingredients on hand, and takes only 15 minutes which makes it perfect for a weeknight meal (or a student craving some gourmet action). It is all cooked in one pan, which makes cleanup a breeze.

Lamb chops
Olive oil
Black pepper
Sea salt
Butter
Port
Dried Cherries
Shallots
Flour

(I ate mine with spinach, which I sauteed in the same pan while my lamb cooked)


Season the lamb with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. In a skillet with olive oil, cook the meat on medium-high heat. I prefer my meat medium-rare, which takes about 5 minutes. Go ahead and add your vegetables to the pan while the lamb finishes.



As soon as the lamb is cooked, remove it (and any vegetable) from the pan and allow the meat to rest. To the same skillet, add a couple tablespoons of butter, dried cherries, shallots, a pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper.


Once the butter melts, dust the cherries with flour (I used roughly 1/2 tsp, but I was making a single serving) and stir to incorporate. Once the cherries are coated, pour in enough port to just cover the cherries and simmer until the cherries soften, about 4 minutes.



Serve and enjoy! I prefer to prepare each lamb-cherry bite separately to achieve the perfect ratio of cherry and port to lamb, so I serve the two side-by-side. If you are feeling adventurous, you can add the seared lamb to the simmering cherries in the last minutes of cooking to further incorporate the sauce.