grilled lamb chops with smoked paprika and garlic (and a link to lemony chick pea salad)

I got a nice little package of lamb at Trader Joe's and decided that I wanted to do something different than my normal grilled lamb chops with redcurrant glaze.
I really like the flavor and aroma of smoked paprika, so I decided to try a simple rub with garlic and smoked paprika and then cook the chops in the grill.

The chops I used are the small, lollipop type chops.

This recipe fits into the 3-4 ingredient category even though it is not from my 3-4 ingredient cookbook.

Grilled lamb chops with smoked paprika and garlic
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
8-10 small (lollipop) lamb chops
salt and pepper

Combine smoked paprika, garlic and olive oil in a small bowl.

Season chops with salt and pepper.

Rub the chops all over with the paprika-garlic rub and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
Grill on high heat about 3-4 minutes on each side.

Boom. Done. Simple.

These were really good and really tender. It was a nice change from the sweeter redcurrant chops.

I served the lamb with lemony chick pea salad from Food & Wine's Web site and some sauteed mixed greens.

Grilled lamb rib chops with redcurrant glaze

A while back I got this cookbook at Costco.

It was a total impulse buy.

It had a lot good pictures, a wide variety of recipes and, best of all, the title:

"Best Ever Three & Four Ingredient Cookbook."

The cover says it has "400 fuss-free and fast recipes - breakfasts, appetizers, lunches, suppers and desserts using only four ingredients or less."

I quickly got past the fact that it should be "four ingredients or fewer" and bought myself a copy.

As I have said before, I am a cookbook junkie. This was a great find, I was sure.

Then I put it in the cabinet with the rest of the cookbooks and forgot about it.

Until Sunday. I was in the mood to try something new, and I had decided on lamb.

I have never made lamb before, but recently had a great dish at a little place, Bistro 767, not far from my house. They had a yummy appetizer of lamb "lollipops" with cherry glaze and black bean hummus.

It was the perfect combination of salty and sweet and grilled.

So I decided to try this at home.

And to my surprise there was a recipe in this cookbook that sounded pretty similar, minus the black bean hummus.

And with only four ingredients!

By the way, salt and pepper do not count toward the ingredients. They are in the recipe, but I guess since they are sort of stock items, they don't count.

So... My lamb experiment... I modified it a bit from the book. The original recipe called for lamb steaks, but the store did not have those. So I got rib chops, which are more like the little "lollipops" I had at the restaurant.

Grilled lamb rib chops with redcurrant glaze

Serves 4

5 large fresh rosemary sprigs

12 lamb rib chops

(they look small, but three each is plenty with side dishes, etc.)

5 tablespoons redcurrant jelly

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

(red wine vinegar is also listed in the book, but I had raspberry, so that is what I used)

salt and pepper to season/taste

Strip the rosemary leaves from stems and chop into very fine mince.

Season chops with salt and pepper and rub rosemary onto chops.

Preheat grill on high.

Melt redcurrant jelly in small pan over low-medium heat. It should not boil, just melt.

Stir in vinegar.

Reserve about 1/4 of glaze for serving.

Brush one side of chops with glaze and place, glaze side down on grill.

Cook about 3 minutes, brush glaze on uncooked side, then turn.

Cook about 3 minutes more or until to desired doneness.

To serve, place on plates and drizzle with a little of the reserved glaze.

These were not exactly like the restaurant chops. I think they used more salt and pepper.

Since this was the first time I had made lamb, I was cautious about over seasoning it.

It was still very good, still that sweet and salty flavor.

But next time I might go for it a little more, especially with more pepper.

Even though it was not the same, it was still pretty freaking good. An experiment that went quite well.

And I will take a closer look at that cookbook for more ideas.