Roast Panko-Mustard-Crusted Lamb With Rosemary Potatoes

My friend Jacqueline recently returned from a trip to Portland, Oregon, where she visited our Brooklyn-expat friends J.J. and NeNe and their new bay-bay. Baby is really cute, super happy for them, yadda yadda yadda…point being, Jackie brought me back some rosemary from their backyard and some nice seedy mustard from Kruger’s Farm Market, and I wanted to do justice to these lovely ingredients. And what goes with rosemary and mustard like lamb? Duh.

For two, I got two round-bone lamb chops, about .60-.65 lb. each. This preparation would also be great with a rack of lamb for a dinner party, but I would recommend Googling the cooking time for its weight, and searing all sides of the meat in a pan before you do the mustard schmear/crumbing.

On a cutting board, pile 5 or 6 cloves of garlic, the needles from one stick of fresh rosemary, and a sprinkling of coarse kosher or sea salt (about 1 tsp). Chop this until it is very fine.

Tip: To remove sprigs of rosemary quickly from the stick, hold the top of the stick between the thumb and forefinger of one hand; directly below that, encircle it tightly between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand. Pull the stick up with the first hand and the leaves should all fall off.

Halve 4 new (a.k.a. red) potatoes and then quarter the halves. Toss the potato wedges in a couple tablespoons olive oil, half the garlic-rosemary mixture, and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange them on a foil-lined roasting pan, ideally with the skin side down to prevent them sticking. Put the pan in the oven.

Dredge the lamb chops (both sides) in a mix of 1 TBSP olive oil, 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1 tsp. ground black pepper, and 1 TBSP Dijon or grainy mustard.

Add the remaining half of the garlic-rosemary mix to another couple tablespoons of mustard, and schmear this mixture on the top half of each lamb chop. (If you were doing this with a rack of lamb, you’d want to schmear the fatty side, and again, you might want to sear the meat on all sides in a pan on the stovetop, then let it cool slightly, before this step.)

Sprinkle panko bread crumbs over each chop until the surface is completely covered. Press down gently with your palm to ensure the crumbs stick to the mustard mix, which should act as a kind of glue binding the crumbs to the meat.

After they’ve been cooking for 15 minutes, toss the potatoes, push them to the sides of the pan, and add the lamb chops to the pan (you may want to slide a spatula under them so all the panko doesn’t fall off).

Return the pan to the oven. After 15 minutes, turn down the heat to 375° and toss the potatoes again. Cook about 15 more minutes, tossing the potatoes once or twice more. (So, your lamb cooks about 30 minutes total, the potatoes 45. They should be crispy outside and squishy inside, and the panko should be nicely browned.)

That’s it! I served this with steamed green beans, a cucumber-and-feta salad, and a nice $4.95 bottle of Merlot-Malbec blend. I also had some leftover mushroom gravy that I heated up, but The Rob said the meat was so good it didn’t need gravy—which, regular readers may recall, is unprecedented; hence I deemed the dish blog-worthy. Gentle reader, please do try it (BTW, this cut of lamb was like $5.99 a pound) and let me know if you concur!