When I have bits of yogurt sitting around sometimes I remember it makes a really good marinade. Yogurt also tenderizes the meat and is great with shoulder lamb chops. Add a steamed artichoke and you’ve got one of my favorite dinners. Serves 4:
Yogurt Marinated Lamb Chops
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1½ cups plain Greek yogurt
- ½ lemon, juiced
- Salt and pepper
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¾ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 8 rib lamb chops (about 1″ thick), or 4 shoulder chops
Peel the garlic cloves, then finely grate with a microplane into a medium bowl.
Add the yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper to bowl with garlic and whisk to combine. Transfer ½ cup yogurt mixture to a small bowl; set aside for serving.
Whisk cumin, coriander, turmeric, and allspice into remaining yogurt mixture; pour into a Ziploc bag or leave in bowl. Add the lamb chops to yogurt mix and make sure they’re covered well with the marinade. Let chops sit at room temperature 30 minutes or cover and chill up to 12 hours.
When you’re ready to cook, heat the broiler.
Line a small baking sheet with aluminum foil. Remove the chops from the marinade and put on the baking sheet. Cook for about 6 minutes a side until they’ve started to brown and give a little if you press the center (medium rare), depending on the strength of your broiler.
Serve lamb chops with reserved yogurt mixture alongside and enjoy!
My Verdict:
I need to remember how good this is and use it more often. Added bonus is that it tenderizes the meat. This works on other meats too, like chicken. You can play around with it, adding rosemary, mustard, whatever you like—it’s all good.
Since I’ve been using up my homemade yogurt, it’s made with 2% milk and has worked fine. Whole milk yogurt will just be a little richer.
If you don’t want to use a broiler, grilling it outside or on a grill pan would be good too.
