Hi ladies! “Allow me to (re)introduce myself. They call me” Hutch, or The Hungry Hutch if you want to get formal. I’m a chef, writer, lover-of-all-things-food, and CurlyNikki’s newest guest food blogger. Now your first question might be, “What is he doing here?” No, I do not have long locks and share in your trials/tribulations/triumphs/struggles/successes related to being a natural woman in a sometimes over processed world, but I do know a thing or two about food (and it doesn’t hurt to be good friends with Nikki’s sister Syl).
Here’s a brief synopsis of my food story: I’ve loved food and all that is involved with a good meal (friends, family, laughter, love, and all that jazz) for as long as I can remember. In fact, I think it’s those meals of my childhood that made me fall in love with food and drink (I love a good cocktail too). I sidetracked my gustatory passion by studying engineering and finance before working on Wall Street for a few years. Shortly into my professional career I realized that my finance job was for the birds—so I went to culinary school, quit my job, and started my food journey. Now I cook at one of NYC’s hottest restaurants, share recipes and musings on my blog, and perform an assortment of random odd jobs to keep myself occupied. I hope you like what you see and come back often for more recipes!
Now onto the food: Sautéed Lamb Chops with Roasted Green Beans.
This dish is stupidly simple, wickedly delicious, and rather impressive. (I mean… just look at it.) It’s merely a handful of quality items done right. You’ll notice in the ingredient list that I have two types of oil listed. Why? You NEVER want to use olive oil for high heat sautéing because it will burn and impart an unpleasant taste to your dish. Therefore, we’re going to use a neutral oil (i.e. vegetable oil) to sear the meat and use the olive oil for roasting the green beans in the oven. You may think I’m a little crazy by roasting green beans, but roasting is by far my absolute favorite method of preparing just about any vegetable. Trust me on this one. Feel free to bulk up the meal a little by adding some roasted potatoes or brown rice.
Ingredients:
• Olive oil
• Fresh green beans, stems removed
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• Lamb chops
• Neutral oil (i.e. canola, corn, vegetable, etc.)
Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 450˚F.
2. In a roasting pan, drizzle the green beans with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder; toss to coat; place in oven and cook for about 15 minutes so that the beans still have some crunch, but have started to brown slightly.
3. Place a skillet over medium-high flame and add a couple tablespoons of neutral oil. (NOTE: When sautéing most meats you want to get your skillet SUPER hot—probably hotter than you think you should actually. You want to get your pan to the point where the oil starts to shimmer and you can just barely begin to see a few whiffs of smoke rising from the skillet; this will allow you to get a great sear, which is the hallmark of a well cooked piece of meat.)
4. Season both sides of the chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder; place in skillet and cook until you get a good sear on the first side; flip over, turn down heat, and cook until desired doneness.
5. Get your grub on!
