Sue's Recipes and Other Stories

Lamb Scottadito with Herby Grains (6)

Ingredients

18 best end lamb cutletswell scraped (get your butcher to do it)
3tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemonplus lemon wedges to serve
1½tbsp chopped oregano leaves
4tsp chilli flakes (or more or lessdepending on how hot you want it)
For the fregola:
400g fregola
4tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1½tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp olive oil
4 shallotsfinely chopped
150g cherry tomatoesquartered or chopped
Leaves from 1 small bunch of basiltorn, or 3 tbsps roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
tbsp Leaves from 1 small bunch of basiltorn, or 3roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

Put the cutlets into a large, shallow, non-reactive bowl. Add the regular olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and chilli flakes. Turn everything over with your hands, cover, put in the fridge and leave to marinate for a couple of hours. Turn the meat over every so often if you can.
Cook the fregola in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain and immediately add the extra virgin oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Fork this through.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of regular olive oil in a small frying pan and cook the shallots until they are soft but not golden. Add to the fregola with the tomatoes and herbs.
Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Lift the lamb out of the marinade, shaking off the excess liquid (there shouldn’t be much). Season the meat well. When the pan is really hot, cook the chops on each side until well coloured.
Press the meaty part of the chops down on the griddle with the back of a wooden spoon as you are cooking. They should still be pink in the middle, so about 1½ mins on each side is enough. Insert a sharp knife into one of them to see how well the meat is done.
Put the cutlets on a platter with the lemon wedges and serve immediately with the fregola. Make sure you supply napkins.