Grilled lamb chops, caramelised onion, butter bean and feta bake

Serves: 4
Course: Main Course
Cooking Time: 0 hr 45 mins
Ingredients
  • 50ml olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
  • 1 red onion, peeled and sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
  • 1tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tin (400g) butter beans, drained and rinsed
  • 12 baby plum tomatoes, halved
  • 12 stoned black olives, roughly chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • 8 lamb chops
  • 200g feta cheese
  • A jar of mint jelly

1 Put the olive oil, onion, garlic and oregano into a pan and cook slowly for 15 minutes until the onion is soft and translucent.

2 Add the butter beans, tomatoes and olives and continue to cook gently for a further 10 minutes, until the tomatoes start to break up just a little and release their juices.

3 Season and set aside until needed.

4 Heat a ribbed grill or large frying pan, drizzle the chops with a little olive oil, season and rub the salt and pepper into the meat.

5 When the pan is gently smoking, cook the chops for three minutes on each side and a minute on the fatty side of the chops. This is a bit of a balancing act but will pay dividends when you eat the crispy lamb fat. You may have to cook the chops in batches. Alternatively you could cook them all in one go under a hot grill.

6 Leave the chops rest for five minutes under foil somewhere warm.

7 To serve, heat the butter bean mixture and pour any resting juices from the lamb into it. Crumble in the feta, turn gently, then divide on to warm plates. Place the chops on top and eat with as much mint jelly as you like.

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn

Paul Flynn is a chef, restaurateur and contributor to The Irish Times. He and his wife, Máire, run the Tannery restaurant and cookery school in Dungarvan, Co Waterford