Foodjianese |
Food is not my life but it makes me feel alive. I was born in Fujian, in southeast China, and somehow got dragged onto a plane to New York at the turn of my teenage years. (Thanks mom!) I inhaled 3 plates of roast pork and cabbage on rice after sneaking my way out of summer tutoring school (I'm Asian) during lunchtime to gorge on Indian Mee Goreng and Indian pancakes when I was in junior high, so there is no doubt that I LOVE to eat. Cooking, on the other hand, is a recent obsession. I generally do not rely on recipes except for baking because I feel constrained by the scientific preciseness of most recipes. I like to improvise. The lingering taste of a sweet and spicy lamb tagine from a recent restaurant meal prompts me to turn on my stove. The smell of sweet cardamom and rose water gracefully peeking their way out of an Indian bakery seduces me to invite them to my kitchen. Ok, enough about me, let's cook, eat, and share, which is what food is all about. |
I used to be intimidated by meat. The process of handling meat, cleaning the pink wet cutting board, preparing the marinade was a nuisance to me. For as recent as a few months ago, I only cooked with vegetable. Vegetables were easy. There are no dripping juices. You just have to cut them and sautee, roast, grill, etc. But thanks to the cooking class at the French Culinary Institute , I now have a pretty intimate affair with meat…
I loooove lamb. But once in a while, the gamey taste of lamb distracts me. So I chose to use fish sauce and ginger to marinade the lamb chops. Using ginger as a flavor suppressor/ enhancer in lamb seems pretty common, but fish sauce? To be honest, I did not have a logical reason for adding the fish sauce. I had it in my pantry and just thought to myself, “Why not?”
And, why YES! The lamb chops turned out delicious! The fish sauce minimized the gamey taste of lamb which deters some people from enjoying the wonderful meat. Try it for yourself:
INGREDIENTS
Lamb chops
Marinade
Ginger (Grated)
Garlic (Crushed)
Fish Sauce
Lime Juice
Honey
Cilantro (Sprigs)
DIRECTIONS
1. Mix fish sauce, lime juice and honey with a spoon.
2. Rub garlic and ginger on the lamb chops. Yes, with your hands. It’ll be tastier. :)
3. Add lambchops in the #1 marinade. Add cilantro sprigs. (You can roughly chop the cilantro and rub on the lamb chops if you want a stronger cilantro taste).
4. Cover with saran wrap and place in fridge for 24 hours.
5. Set oven at 375F degrees.
6. Pat dry the lamb chops with paper towels.
7. Quickly grill ALL sides of the lamb chops in a well-greased pan (preferably cast iron), over high heat.
8. Put the lamb chops in pan into the heated oven unless the pot is charred or not oven-safe. 15 minutes for medium rare.
Note: You can use the leftover marinade to cook rice!
I did not specify the amount for the ingredients because I do not keep track of them when I am cooking and I did not intend to share the recipe to the general public. However, I will be more diligent about recording ingredient amounts in the future. In the meantime, keep in mind these simple guidelines: 1. use less of dominant flavors in relation to weaker flavors unless there’s a specific flavor that you want to emphasize, 2. use common sense. Challenge your senses. They’re waiting…
