Red Wine Balsamic Marinaded Lamb Chops. This marinade includes red wine, balsamic vinegar, honey and wholegrain mustard. Not only does it add amazing flavour to the meat, but it makes it super succulent. Serve with veggies and polenta.
Ingredients:
Marinade
1 Tbsp Wholegrain Mustard
2 Tbsp Honey
½ Cup Balsamic Vinegar
½ Cup Red Wine
2 Tbsp Olive Oil (+1 Tbsp for cooking)
4 Lamb Chops (approx. 600g)
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Dried mixed herbs
Tomato Sauce
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 Clove of garlic Crushed
1 Can of chopped tomatoes (400g)
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Dried mixed herbs
¾ tsp Sugar Optional
Polenta
20 grams Butter
2 Sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
500 ml Boiling water
100 ml Milk
½ Cup Polenta
1 tsp Powdered Vegetable Stock
1 tsp Salt
Pepper to taste Optional
¼ Cup Finely grated Parmesan
Method
Marinade
To prepare the marinade, add the mustard, honey, balsamic vinegar and red wine to a bowl or jug and mix through
Drizzle the olive oil in a baking dish. Add the lamb chops, season with salt, pepper and mixed herbs, then flip over and repeat. Pour the marinade over the meat, cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Place in the fridge for 2 to 6 hours, or preferably overnight. Try to flip the meat a couple of times during the marinading process to ensure both sides get even marinading
Lamb Chops
For the lamb chops, place a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and bring to medium high heat. Place the lamb chops in the pan. Unless very thick, they only need 2 – 4 minutes per side and one minute on the fat if you want to crisp it up (I use a splatter guard over my pan to avoid any splatter as you do not want to disturb the meat while cooking)
Remove from the pan and let it rest for at least 5 minutes
Optional: This dish does have a tomato sauce, however as an optional sauce, you can remove any additional oil/fat from the pan, leaving any crusty bits, then pour the marinade into the pan and reduce over medium heat for around 5 minutes. Strain to remove any bits and use as a sauce for the meat
Tomato Sauce
Add the olive oil and garlic to a small saucepan and bring to medium heat. Just until the garlic softens a little. Do not brown or burn. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, then season with salt, pepper and herbs (I like to add a little sugar to tomato based sauces to balance the acidity)
Cook to sauce gently around 10 minutes or on low heat for the same time as the lamb and polenta. Once cooked serve as is or blitz smooth with a hand-held immersion blender
Polenta
Note: If using instant polenta, please follow the package instructions as the cooking time will be much less
In a saucepan, add the butter and herbs and bring to medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the water and milk to the pot and stir in the polenta, stock and salt
Let boil, stirring frequently, until polenta thickens enough that it starts to spit. Lower heat immediately to prevent spitting and continue to cook, stirring frequently with a spoon or silicone spatula and scraping bottom to prevent scorching, until polenta becomes thick and pulls away from side of saucepan, around 20 minutes
Finally taste to check seasoning and stir through the grated parmesan
Recipe by Vanessa Vermaak @ My homemade Kitchen
