Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times (28 page)

Rub the lamb all over with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, ¼ cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon peeled minced or grated fresh ginger. Serve with lemon wedges.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 20 MINUTES

THOUGH THIS IS
an unusual preparation, in many ways lamb is the meat most suited to this simple treatment. Like all cutlet preparations, it’s lightning-quick.

1.
Preheat the oven to 200°F. If you’re using rib or loin slices, pound them lightly with the heel of your hand until they are about ½ inch thick. If you’re using leg, put them between 2 sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap and pound with a mallet or rolling pin until they are about ½ inch thick. Put a nonstick or well-seasoned skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil.

2.
When the oil shimmers, dip a piece of lamb in the egg and press both sides into the bread crumbs. Add to the skillet; do not crowd—you will have to cook in batches. When the meat is in the skillet, season it with salt and pepper and sprinkle it with a pinch of cumin if you like.

3.
As the meat browns, flip it and brown the other side; adjust the heat so that each side browns in about 2 minutes; the meat should remain rare. As the pieces finish, put them on an ovenproof platter and keep them warm in the oven. When they are all done, garnish with parsley if you like and serve with lemon wedges.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 1 HOUR, LARGELY UNATTENDED

LAMB CHOPS ARE
among the best meats to grill; although they tend to catch fire, they cook so quickly—three minutes per side is usually more than enough—that there is no time for them to char, and the fire makes the exterior even crisper than it might be otherwise. The cucumbers are best if they’re salted, which removes some of their bitterness and makes them extra-crisp. Start with one or two Kirby (small) cucumbers per person—or half of a medium cucumber or about a third of a long (“English”) cucumber.

1.
Put the cucumber slices in a colander and sprinkle with salt, just a little more than if you were planning to eat them right away. After 15 to 30 minutes, preheat a grill or broiler; put the rack about 4 inches from the heat source.

2.
When the fire is hot, press the cucumbers to extract as much liquid as possible and toss them with the mint and the juice of one of the lemons. Rub the lamb chops with salt, pepper, and cumin and grill for about 3 minutes per side for rare, turning once.

3.
Serve each of the lamb chops on a bed of the cucumber salad. Quarter the remaining lemon and serve it to squeeze over the lamb.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

ASPARAGUS MAY INTRODUCE
spring, but mint screams it. The perennial herb is among the first edible greens out of the ground, and it’s rampant enough to be considered a weed for those who aren’t fond of it. Team it with lamb and you have a model spring dish.

1.
Preheat a grill or broiler to moderately hot; put the rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat source.

2.
Meanwhile, make the chutney: Combine the lime juice, garlic, ginger, chile, yogurt, and sugar in a food processor or blender and puree. Stir in the mint by hand, then add salt and pepper to taste.

3.
When the chutney is ready, grill the chops for 3 to 4 minutes per side, by which time they will be medium-rare, or until they reach the desired degree of doneness. Serve the lamb chops with the chutney.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

IF YOU DON’T
see lamb ribs in your supermarket, the chances are that they’re being tossed. Both demand and profit are evidently so slim that they are not worth processing and putting out in the case. Which is a shame, because next to pork (spare) ribs, lamb ribs are the best down-and-dirty grill item I know. They’re also the cheapest. Where I live, it’s hard to pay more than a dollar a pound for them.

Like spareribs, lamb ribs are the bones of the breast, separated into individual pieces. The supermarket meat department or butcher may give you the entire breast, or he may separate the ribs for you. If he does not, be sure to ask him to at least remove or cut through the breastbone, which will make cutting in between the ribs fast and easy.

Lamb ribs require special treatment while grilling, because they are loaded with fat (this is one of the reasons they taste so good, of course). You can grill them very slowly or (my preference) parboil the ribs just for ten minutes or so, long enough to render enough of the fat so that it doesn’t catch fire the instant you put the ribs on the grill. You’ll still need to be careful during grilling; don’t leave the fire for more than a minute or two. Broiling them makes this somewhat easier, but you still have to keep an eye out; left unattended, they will burn.

Any brushing sauce or spice rub you like is suitable here. My choice is a sweet but pungent amalgam of raw onion, strong mustard, and honey, marmalade, or maple syrup.

1.
Preheat a grill or broiler to moderately hot; put the rack at least 4 inches from the heat source. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; salt it. Put in the lamb and simmer for 10 minutes.

2.
Drain the ribs. Grill or broil them for about 10 minutes, turning once or twice and sprinkling them with a little salt and pepper. Meanwhile, combine the honey, mustard, and onion in a blender and whiz until smooth.

3.
When the ribs begin to brown, brush them with the sauce and continue to cook, watching carefully so they do not catch fire. When they are brown and crisp all over—a matter of no more than 10 or, at the most, 15 minutes—remove from the grill and serve.

VARIATIONS

Once you’ve tracked down a source for lamb ribs, the options for what to do with them are almost endless:

• Rub the parboiled ribs with any spice rub, such as chili or curry powder, before grilling.

• Cook the ribs unadorned, then serve with a light drizzle of ½ cup fresh lemon juice and hot sauce and salt to taste.

• You can make a fast, more typical barbecue sauce like this: Combine 1 cup ketchup with 1 tablespoon each Worcestershire sauce and chili powder; ¼ cup each red wine vinegar and minced onion; 1 garlic clove, minced; and salt and pepper. Combine this mixture in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until warm, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then use as directed.

• Serve them with pesto: Make a light pesto of fresh basil, cilantro, or parsley, blending together about 2 tablespoons of oil to 1 cup of leaves, along with salt, a garlic clove, and enough water to make the mixture creamy. Don’t brush the ribs with this mixture, but pass it at the table.

• Serve them with salsa: See
here
or, for example, combine about ½ cup chopped onion or scallion with 2 large tomatoes, chopped, and a little minced garlic, some cayenne or paprika, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and salt, pepper, and fresh lemon or lime juice to taste. Pass at the table.

• Lamb and cucumber make a natural combination: Make a cucumber salsa by peeling, seeding, and chopping 2 cucumbers, then coarsely chopping them in a blender or food processor with fresh mint and salt to taste. Pass at the table.

• Lamb takes to fruit surprisingly well: Try making a fast mango relish by combining the chopped flesh of 2 mangoes (or peaches) with ½ cup minced onion, the juice of 2 limes, and salt, pepper, and chopped fresh cilantro to taste and passing at the table to accompany the lamb.

PORK CHOPS WITH MISO-RED WINE SAUCE

VIETNAMESE-STYLE PORK CHOPS

ROAST PORK CHOPS WITH FENNEL-ORANGE COMPOTE

SAUSAGE WITH GRAPES

KALE, SAUSAGE, AND MUSHROOM STEW

FORTY-MINUTE CASSOULET

SPARERIBS, KOREAN STYLE

BRAISED PORK WITH TURNIPS

ROAST PORK WITH APPLESAUCE

CRISPY PORK BITS WITH JERK SEASONINGS

THE MINIMALIST’S CHOUCROUTE

SLOW-GRILLED RIBS

CHINESE-STYLE SLOW-COOKED RIBS

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 20 MINUTES

MISO IS A
superb thickener, adding a rich, creamy consistency when whisked into a small amount of liquid. With that in mind, it’s the work of a moment to turn the pan juices remaining after searing a piece of meat into a great sauce. My choice here is pork for meat and red wine for liquid; the combination resulting from these three ingredients completely belies the amount of energy put into the dish.

Red miso (which is in fact brown) adds terrific color to the sauce and has the strongest flavor of all the misos; it’s also the easiest to find. Miso must be handled gently, because high heat practically destroys its flavor; so be sure to keep the heat low when you stir it in.

For the pork, I prefer a bone-in chop, preferably from the rib end of the loin; it’s a little bit fattier than other chops, and these days pork is so lean that the extra fat is a benefit rather than a detriment.

1.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the chops. Sprinkle them with a little bit of salt and a lot of pepper, then brown them on one side for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn and brown the other side until firm and nearly cooked through, another 3 or 4 minutes. Transfer to a warm plate and turn the heat to medium.

2.
Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to loosen any bits of meat that have stuck to the pan, until the wine reduces by about half. Turn the heat to low and add the miso; stir briskly to make a smooth mixture (a wire whisk will help here).

3.
Taste the sauce and add more salt (unlikely) and pepper if necessary. Spoon it over the pork, garnish if you like, and serve.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

THIS DISH HAS
the beguiling, distinctively Southeast Asian aroma of garlic, lots of it, nuoc mam (the Vietnamese fish sauce known more commonly by its Thai name, nam pla), and lime. But there are a couple of “secret” ingredients as well, including the mild acidity of lemongrass and the spiciness of black pepper in large quantities. Traditionally, this dish also contains the burnt sweetness that comes from caramelized sugar, but the intense heat of the grill makes honey a good substitute and a much easier one. So the marinade can be assembled in ten minutes, the grill preheated in another ten, and the pork grilled in ten: a great, intensely flavored, thirty-minute dish.

You can use pork chops for this dish, but so-called country-style ribs (actually the shoulder end of the pork loin) remain moister during grilling. And if you can find these “ribs” with the bone out, so much the better—you’ve essentially got a one-inch-thick pork loin steak that grills beautifully.