On The Lamb
The secret to serious flavor
The garden is starting to shift into high gear, so every day brings new treats and treasures. I grow June-bearing strawberries, so called because they do all their fruiting during this month—which is super handy if you’re looking to harvest a large quantity in a short time so you can make a bunch of jam and then move on to other crops. Today was day three of ripe fruit, and each day will bring more for the next couple of weeks before they start to taper off.
Garlic scapes are also happening, and tons of herbs and other greens, and rhubarb is still going strong. Salads are a given, so for the main dish I focused on these new arrivals, thinking about how to show off their qualities in ways that would work well with this lamb from the freezer. Lamb loves garlic and herbs, and most fruit can make an excellent accompaniment for meat if you handle it right.
I want to talk a bit about the concept of building layers of flavor, and specifically creating flavors that rhyme. The dish in the photo was simple: a lamb chop on some rice. The details, though, made for a deeply satisfying meal where flavors appeared in multiple forms and amplified each other, creating a marvelously vivid experience. None of this was high-wire cooking, either—no fancy techniques or time-consuming prep went into this. Just some thought, and attention to those details.
Here’s what I’ll break down for you today, so you can make a version of this miracle in your very own kitchen:
A super-simple way to dramatically enhance rice of any type
These phenomenal 5-minute pickled strawberries
Outside-the-box spice thinking (a.k.a. what’s that pink dust on the lamb?)
All of which adds up to one of the more exciting and satisfying meals I’ve made in some time—on a weeknight, in about 25 minutes.
