Lamb and lemon
To get dinner on the table in the dead of winter, we need the humor -- and ease -- of Peg Bracken.
If you're my age (40-ish) or younger and you don't know who that is, take a look on your mother's cookbook shelf. There's a good chance Bracken's famous I Hate to Cook Book is still there.
This recipe is in a version of the cookbook, from a chapter called "The Daily Anticlimax," otherwise known as the weeknight family dinner. The real joke is that this recipe, like others of Bracken's, is quite tasty and really couldn't be easier. Besides olive oil, the title tells you everything you'll need.
The only hitch for my kids was the unfortunate coincidence of the Lunar New Year this week...
My son had learned that day that he was born in the year of the Sheep, so he refused to eat much of this dinner on principle. My daughter basically sided with him, though she was born in the year of the Snake.
Lamb and Lemon
Serves 4
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
eight 1-inch thick loin or rib lamb chops
Lemon slices for garnish, optional
Heat the broiler. Mix together olive oil, lemon juice and lemon rind and brush over lamb chops. Broil about 4 inches from the heat, 7 to 10 minutes on the first side, depending on how pink you like your lamb. Brush them occasionally as they broil and after you turn them over. Give them about 6 minutes on the second side. Garnish with lemon slices.
From "The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book," by Peg Bracken
Per serving: 414 calories, 40 grams protein, 27 grams fat, 7 grams saturated fat, 1 gram carbohydrate, 0 grams fiber, 128 milligrams cholesterol, 113 milligrams sodium. Analysis by registered dietitian Jodie Shield.
(Photo by me)
