Lamb Chops with Tomato and Mint Salsa recipe

This is a wonderful summer dish, where the gentle bleat of lamb chops is accentuated by a sharp tomato salsa. Do make sure to render the fat as you're cooking the cutlets. It gives them a crunchy char and is almost the best bit. And although peeling the tomatoes may seem like a bore, it takes mere moments and saves those irritating rolls of skin being stuck between your teeth.

Ingredients

Serves 2

6 lamb cutlets a little olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the tomato and mint salsa

4 plum tomatoes

2 shallots

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, preferably Chardonnay vinegar

2 tablespoons of olive oil

8 mint leaves, very finely chopped

10 flat-leaf parsley leaves, very finely chopped

How to Cook

STEP 1

First make the salsa. Score the end of each tomato with a sharp knife (this makes it easier to remove the skin). Put the tomatoes in a bowl of boiling water and leave for about 20 seconds, then drain and place in cold water. Drain again and peel off the skins. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and scoop out and discard the seeds. Cut the flesh into neat 5mm dice.

STEP 2

Dice the shallots as finely as you can and transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle over the vinegar and a pinch of salt and mix well. Add the tomatoes, oil and herbs, toss lightly together, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

STEP 3

Rub the cutlets with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large, heavy-based frying pan and add the cutlets. Leave until they are golden underneath, then turn and cook the other side.

STEP 4

When they are cooked to your liking, remove from the heat and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Serve with the tomato and mint salsa.