Serves 4
Two racks lamb loin chops, Frenched (about 2-1/4 lb)
Marinade
4 T olive oil
2 T fish sauce
4 T shiso (Japanese basil) minced
Gastrique
1/2 medium onion, chopped
olive oil
Juice and zest of 1-1/2 navel oranges (reserve some zest for garnish)
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1-2 small dried red chiles
fish sauce to taste
1/3 C sugar
2 T balsamic vinegar
Mix the marinade ingredients and place in a plastic
bag with the lamb racks. Marinate
for 1 – 4 hours, turning every half hour.
To make gastrique, sauté onions in a small
amount of olive oil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until translucent,
about 8 minutes. Increase heat to high, add the turmeric
and stir vigorously for 30 seconds, ’til the color deepens. Reduce
heat to medium, add orange juice, zest, coriander, cumin, chiles, sugar
and vinegar and simmer for 15 minutes. Purée
and add fish sauce to taste (don’t be timid
with the fish sauce: the idea is to counteract the sweetness of the
orange juice and bring out the curry flavors, so a
significant amount of fish sauce is needed). Depending on your preference, you
may want to add some hot sauce or ground cayenne if you
like more heat — I’m fairly conservative in that direction.
Grill or broil, 4″ from heat, the lamb
chops, 4 minutes on one side, two on the other, for rare meat. Immediately
turn the racks a few times in the gastrique to coat, then cut into individual
chops and spoon additional gastrique over them. Garnish with
reserved zest and shiso sprigs