Grilled Lamb Chops Demonstrated by Domingos Noronha of Fogo de Chao
Brazil is known for many things other than producing Victoria Secret supermodels. It has elaborate festivals, beautiful beaches,and here at City of Ate we thank the country for introducing us to churrascarias, the Brazilian steakhouse. We're all about the food if you haven't noticed.
If you're not familiar with this type of steakhouse, then let us catch you up to speed. It's called a churrascaria because they use the churrasco-style of cooking meats, which roughly means barbecue in Portuguese. They place the meat on a skewer, and then let it sit over hot coals to cook. Simple.
For today's AFI, we thought since grilling is entering high season, commencing with Memorial Day, we would have executive chef Domingos Noronha of the Brazil-based Fogo de Chao demonstrate their grilled lamb chops for our readers. Most of us, of course, don't have a kitchen that's equipped with an open flame to practice the churrasco-style, so Fogo has modified the recipe so you can use a regular grill.
Ingredients:
8 rib lamb chops
2 cups white wine
2 tablespoons lemon pepper
Juice of one lemon
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
1 cup mint leaves
Vegetable oil spray
Mint jelly and mint leaves for garnish
Step 1: Trim lamb of excess fat and slide onto skewer.
Step 2: Pour the white wine, lemon pepper, lemon juice, salt, and mint leaves in a blender to make marinade.
Step 3: Pour the mixture onto the lamb chops and let marinate for 5-10 minutes.
Step 4: Spray grill with vegetable oil. Remove lamb chops from marinade and place on preheated grill. Grill chops without moving them for 4 minutes for medium rare. Baste chops with marinade and turn over to grill for another 4 minutes on other side. Season with salt and garnish with additional mint leaves and mint jelly.