Lamb Chops With Green Tomatoes
Honey, anchovies and basil flavor Melissa Clark’s lamb chops with diced green tomatoes.
Video by Jenny Woodward on Publish Date October 17, 2014. Photo by Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times.
To some tomato lovers, green tomatoes are the underachievers of the nightshade world. Never reaching their mature potential, they are not sweet, and they are not juicy. And if a ripe, sweet, juicy tomato is what you want, biting into a green one could just make you sad. That may be why most people fry green tomatoes: Fried anything never disappoints.
But comparing a green tomato to a ripe one is unfair. Green tomatoes have their own subtle charms that don’t need to be submerged in hot oil to be enjoyed. Eaten raw and thinly sliced into a salad, they are herbal and crisp. Pickled with salt and vinegar, they are tart enough to make you squint, with a more interesting flavor than the usual cucumber. Simmered with sugar and lemons, they candy into an intense marmalade. And when sautéed in olive oil, they break down into a rich, tangy, chutney-like sauce.
In this recipe, I pair sautéed green tomatoes with lamb shoulder chops. If you like lamb but have never had a lamb shoulder chop, you should. Although slightly less tender than the usual loin or rib chops, they’re also a lot less expensive, making them ideal for weeknights. They also have a deeper, gamier flavor, in a very good way.
The key with shoulder chops is to cook them either fast and furiously or low and slow, searing them quickly and serving them rare or medium-rare, or braising them until they fall apart. Anything in between leaves them chewy.
If this makes you nervous, you could also try this recipe with more forgiving (but pricey) lamb loin or rib chops, or even pork chops or rib steaks. The green tomatoes will happily take to any protein with a strong personality.
In any case, I like to briefly brown the meat, then cook the tomatoes in the flavorful drippings, adding just a touch of honey to balance the acidity and some anchovies for complexity. The whole thing goes quickly, cooking from start to finish in under 30 minutes.
You’ll want to serve this with something — anything — to sop up all the good sauce on the plate. Polenta, rice or hunks of good bread will work.
And if you’re still craving a sweet, juicy tomato, consider a salad of ripe ones on the side. But in this case, it’s the green ones that will shine.
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