Yum. You know how I love miniature food. Don’t ask me why, but I do. Most of the time, I’d rather nibble on a bunch of different things than have one big meal. These sliders combine all the traditional seasonings that go so well with lamb—rosemary, mint, garlic—in one tiny burger that’s packed with flavor.

Freshly fried sliders, waiting for their buns

I know they’re on almost every bar menu these days, but just in case you don’t know, a slider is just a little thing. (In fact, they’re so popular, that there was a selection of slider buns in the bread aisle at my local grocery store.) Here’s a slider bun, next to a teaspoon, for comparison.

I used fresh mint from my front garden.

My front garden is basically a giant mint patch (can you say, “mint julep?”). I was super excited to see that my rose bush—the only other thing up there—finally decided to push out its first flower of the season!

This recipe has a fair amount of rosemary and mint in it—without being overpowering. For garlic lovers, by all means, toss in another clove if you like.

One green onion gives the sliders the right amount of subtle onion flavor.

Finish the sliders with a few thin slices of creamy, salty feta for a fresh tang.

Feta cheese

Lamb Sliders with Rosemary & Mint

1 lb. ground lamb
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp. fresh mint, minced
1 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 green onion, minced
olive oil

slider buns (or a long loaf of crusty French bread cut into small wedges)
feta

Makes 6-8 sliders, depending on how big you make your patties

Make the lamb mixture

Grab your ground lamb.

Put it in a large bowl. Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste.

Toss in the minced rosemary and mint.

Add the mashed garlic.

Toss in the chopped green onion.

With your hands, gently mix the meat to incorporate the herbs and garlic.

You’re aiming for a fairly homogeneous mixture, like this:

Form the slider patties

Gather the meat mixture into a large ball, then smoosh it down, so it looks like one giant hamburger patty.

With a large knife, cut it into 6-8 wedges, like this (this will help you keep all the sliders about the same size):

Grab one of the wedges.

Roll it into a ball.

Then smoosh it flat into a patty.

Make them as thick or thin as you like. (Remember, they’re going to shrink a little when cooked.)

Do this with the rest of the meat, until all your patties are formed.

Cook the lamb sliders

Now, you can grill these, too. Or you can fry them on the stove. Totally up to you.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a large, non-stick pan. Set it on the stove over medium-high heat for a few minutes to heat up. When the pan is hot, add the sliders. You want them to start to sizzle right away.

Keep the sliders relatively spaced out, so each browns nicely. (If they’re too close together, they’ll steam, more than brown.)

Cook for a few minutes. When they’ve developed a nice, brown crust underneath, flip them over.

Cook them on this side for another few minutes. Your final cooking time will depend on how thick your sliders are.

If you’re a food thermometer type, you’re shooting for an internal temperature of about 160 degrees.

Bon appetit!

Depending on how fatty your ground lamb is, you may want to drain your sliders for a minute or two before plating.

When you’re ready, pop each on a bun.

Top with thin slices of feta.

Serve and enjoy!

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These are like little lamb T-bone steaks. They’re on the more expensive side, but I snatch them up when I find them on sale. Our butcher has been breaking down a lot of lamb lately, so I got these for a steal.

Like the lamb rib chops I made recently, these cook quickly, which means they’re a great thing to whip up for a more-elegant-than-usual weeknight dinner.

Cook them fast over high heat. (A quick sear on each side will do.) An easy pan sauce with butter, cognac, and a handful of fresh, chopped herbs rounds out this really simple—but memorable—dish.

Fresh, chopped oregano, tarragon, and parsley

What is a lamb loin chop?

Like I said, these little guys look like miniature T-bone steaks, with a bone running across the top and down the center. They’re thick, tender, and have a slightly stronger flavor than lamb rib chops. You might find them labeled Lamb Kidney Chops.

They’re small, so you want to count on two per person if you’re serving them for dinner.

A note on timing

I cooked my lamb loin chops for maybe 3-4 minutes per side, which gave me a medium rare-ish chop. Your final cooking time will depend on how you like your meat done, as well as the thickness of your chops.

Lamb Loin Chops with Fresh Herbs & Cognac Butter Sauce

3-4 Lamb loin chops
kosher salt
1 Tbls. olive oil
2 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped
2 tsp. fresh tarragon, chopped
2 tsp. fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbls. butter
1/4 cup cognac
freshly cracked black pepper

Serves 2 for dinner or 3-4 as an appetizer.

Grab your lamb loin chops.

Season generously with kosher salt.

Put the olive oil in a non-stick pan. Heat it for a minute or two over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot (it will shimmer a little), drop the lamb loin chops into the pan.

They should start to sizzle right away. Cook them like this, undisturbed, for 3-4 minutes. If the pan starts to smoke, drop the heat a little.

After 3-4 minutes, they should have a nice brown crust on the bottom. Flip them over. Cook them for another 3-4 minutes on this side.

After they’ve cooked for 3-4 minutes on this side, drop the heat to medium. Add the cold butter to the pan.

Pour in the cognac. (Be careful…there will be a big poof of steam and the cognac will immediately start to boil dramatically.)

Drop in the chopped herbs. Grind on a little fresh black pepper.

Stir to combine everything. As you stir, the butter will finish melting. Flip the chops over once or twice to coat them in the pan sauce.

Cook for a minute or two like this.

When the meat is done to your liking, transfer the chops to a serving platter and drizzle with pan sauce. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

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Lamb rib chops—often called lollipop chops when the bone is frenched—are an oh-so-sweet appetizer that’s simple to make and impressive to present. They’re easy to eat, and much more elegant than a big, meaty rib.

The rib chops develop a handsome brown crust from being seared with rosemary and garlic—both classic flavors for lamb.

A sprinkle of fresh, minced mint at the very end gives them an extra burst of bright, fresh flavor.

So what is a lamb rib chop, anyway?

Lamb rib meat is super tender and very flavorful. Basically, a lamb rib chop is what you’d get if you cut a rack of lamb up into chops.

Because they’re so tender—and petite—they only need to cook for a few minutes on each side, making them an ideal fast-and-fabulous party food. They’re best broiled, grilled, or pan-seared.

The thing I love most about them? Lamb rib chops basically come with a built-in handle.

This is more technique than exact recipe. It’s easy to scale up or down, depending on the crowd you’re feeding. This time, I only had a few chops.

This article demonstrates how to french a lamb rib chop, then how to pan sear them. For thicker, extra-fancy chops, buy a rack of lamb and carve it into double chops (two bones per chop) yourself.

Lamb Lollipop Chops: To french or not to french

Frenching the bone like this is a *wee* bit wasteful, depending on how much meat you cut away. (There’s usually not too much meat near the end of the bone.)

Frenching is also totally optional, and depends largely on how you want to present and serve them.

Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Lollipop Chops

Lamb rib chops
Kosher salt
Olive oil
Fresh rosemary, minced
Fresh garlic, mashed
Freshly cracked black pepper
Fresh mint, minced, for garnish

Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Lollipops: How to french a lamb rib chop

Grab your lamb rib chops. Give them a quick rinse under cold water. Pat them dry.

For my lamb lollipops, I like to leave about 2 inches of rib bone totally bare. You sometimes see these cut down so that only the large round of meat is left on the bone. I prefer to leave a little more meat on my bone. It’s less wasteful and still makes for a lovely presentation.

With a very sharp knife, cut through the fat and meat down to the bone on all sides, like this:

Next, flip the chop over, so the underside of the rib is facing up. Slice the meat away on each side, getting as close to the bone as you can.

Next, flip the rib back over. Run your knife under the meat on top of the bone, slicing it off.

At this point the bone should be fairly bare. With the edge of your knife, scrape off the remaining meat and fat.

Finally, flip the chop over again, so the bottom of the rib is facing up. There’s a thin skin clinging to the back of the bone. Scrape that off, too.

Go over the bone and scrape off any larger bits that you’ve missed. When you’re finished, your bone should look about like this:

Any little bits (like this) left clinging to the bone will pretty much cook off.

You’ll wind up with a little pile of scraps. Toss it in a baggie in the fridge and save for when you’d like to add a little lamb-y flavor to dishes.

Or, if you have a very (very, very) well behaved dog, fry those scraps up for a treat that will likely make him lose his mind.

Repeat with the rest of your ribs.

I did have one rib in my package that was missing a large piece of bone. It went into the pan with the others. It may have been missing its handle, but it was just as tasty.

Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Lollipops: Marinate the lamb rib chops

Once you’ve frenched the lamb rib chops, it’s time to season them. Sprinkle them with kosher salt to taste.

Drizzle them with olive oil. Rub the oil on all sides.

Sprinkle with minced rosemary.

Smear each rib with garlic.

Add freshly cracked pepper to taste.

If you like, marinate the ribs like this overnight in the fridge. Otherwise, they’re ready to cook.

Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Lollipops: Pan sear the lamb rib chops

Drizzle a little olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. Set it on the stove over medium-high heat for a minute or two to heat up.

When the pan is nice and hot, drop in your chops.

Sear them like this for a few minutes, until they’ve developed a nice brown crust on the bottom. (The time will vary from maybe 3-6 minutes per side, depending on how rare you like your lamb.) If the pan starts to smoke, lower the heat a bit.

When they have a nice crust, flip them over.

Sear them on this side for about the same amount of time as you cooked the other side, so the chops cook evenly.

When they have a nice brown crust on the bottom, yank them out of the pan. Let them rest for maybe 5 minutes to help them stay juicy.

Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Lollipops: How do you know when your lamb is cooked?

Good question. The truth is, lamb rib chops are little things, so they’re actually easy to overcook. If you’re a food thermometer kind of person, medium rare is 145 degrees, and medium is 160 degrees.

Otherwise, use your eyes and your sense of touch. Your chops should have a good brown crust on each side. The meat, when pressed should be firm, and shouldn’t feel at all squishy. When in doubt, cut a little nick into one and take a peek. The meat should be pink-ish and opaque, not translucent.

Garlic & Rosemary Lamb Lollipops: Serve and enjoy!

Garnish with a little freshly chopped mint.

Enjoy!

Enjoy!

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Their blogroll includes some of the savviest and intrepid bakers I’ve ever encountered. Definitely check out their amazing—and lengthy—list of food blogs.

This month’s theme is pizza. And the recipe for dough couldn’t be better. It’s chewy and flavorful. The bottom crust gets gloriously crisp from baking on the back of a sheet pan in a super-hot oven. The recipe makes enough for 6 medium to smallish pizzas. I made two last night.

The first is a white pizza that’s topped with ground lamb (and the flavorful fat from frying it), a blend of six Italian cheeses (mozzerella, provolone, Parmesan, asiago, fontina, and romano), Aleppo chili flakes, and fresh thyme leaves. If you don’t have Aleppo chili on hand, you can use any hot, flaked chili pepper.

The second is a more traditional red pizza, with ground tomatoes, baby spinach leaves, grated Parmesan, and freshly cracked black pepper.

I’m excited to play with the rest of the dough, which can sit in the fridge for a few days happily developing flavor.

Six-Cheese Thin-Crust Pizza with Lamb and Fresh Thyme

Spinach Parmesan Thin-Crust Pizza

This is a long post, but here it is: step-by-step photos on how to make your own thin-crust pizza. The technique for the dough is first, followed by the specific instructions for these two pizzas.

Daring Bakers’ October Challenge, Thin-Crust Pizza: A note on the recipe
The recipe for the dough was taken from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread, by Peter Reinhart. It’s a two-day dough, so start it the day before you want to make your pizza. The dough needs to rest in the fridge overnight.

Basic Pizza Dough

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches in diameter)

4 1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold
1 Tb sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting
Spray oil

Six-Cheese Thin-Crust Pizza with Lamb and Fresh Thyme

1 ball of pizza dough
ground lamb + some of the oil that results from frying it
powdered garlic
dried rosemary
shredded Italian cheese mix with mozzerella, provolone, Parmesan, asiago, fontina, and romano
Aleppo chili flakes
salt

Spinach Parmesan Thin-Crust Pizza

1 ball pizza dough
ground, peeled tomatoes
baby spinach leaves
grated Parmesan cheese
freshly cracked black pepper
olive oil

Daring Bakers’ October Challenge, Thin-Crust Pizza. Day one: Make the dough, then let it rest overnight

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Spray the paper lightly with oil. Set it aside.

Fit your mixer with the standard paddle attachment. Put the yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Toss in the flour.

Stir the dry ingredients to mix well. I like to do this with a wooden spoon to be sure I get everything on the very bottom of the bowl.

With the mixer running on low, drizzle in the olive oil.

When all the oil has been added, the dough will have formed little balls, like this:

Sprinkle in the sugar, with the mixer running on low.

Drizzle in the cold water, with the mixer running on low. As you add the water, the dough will form little balls, then come together in a sticky ball.

When you’ve added all the water, your dough should look about like this:

At this point, switch from the paddle attachment to the dough hook.

Knead for 5-7 minutes on medium speed, til the dough is smooth and even. When you remove the hook, it should look about like this:

Lightly flour a board or your counter and turn the dough out of the bowl. At this point, it should be creamy and tacky, but not super sticky.

With your hands, form the dough into a fairly uniform ball. Using a dough scraper, cut the dough ball into 6 pieces that are about the same size. (Or fewer pieces if you want larger pizzas.)

Sprinkle the dough with a little flour. Roll each piece into a ball.

Put the dough balls onto your prepared sheet pan.

Mist them liberally with spray oil. Wrap the pan up with plastic wrap. Stick the pan in the fridge overnight (or for up to three days) to let the dough rest.

Daring Bakers’ October Challenge, Thin-Crust Pizza. Day two: Make your pizza

When you’re ready to make your pizza, dust your counter or a board with flour. Remove the desired number of dough balls from the fridge 2 hours before you’re ready to cook. Put them on the counter and dust them with flour.

Gently press each ball into a flat round that’s about half an inch thick and 5 inches in diameter.

Sprinkle with flour and mist with spray oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them rest for 2 hours.

Daring Bakers’ October Challenge, Thin-Crust Pizza: A quick note about baking and preheating your oven

About 20 minutes before you’re ready to bake your pizza, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Grab a sheet pan and flip it upside down. Sprinkle it generously with cornmeal. Set it aside.

(You can also use a baking stone if you have one. If you do, preheat your oven 45 minutes beforehand, and stick the stone in the oven in the lower third.)

Daring Bakers’ October Challenge, Thin-Crust Pizza: Toss, top, and bake your pizza

After 2 hours, your dough balls will have poofed up a bit and should look about like this:

Loosen one dough round from the board with a dough scraper.

Flour your hands. Lay the dough across the back of your hands.

Gently spread your hands apart, stretching the dough.

Do this over and over, rotating the dough as you go. If you’re feeling brave, give it a full toss or two.

If this is giving you trouble, you can also roll the dough out with a rolling pin. When it’s reached the thinness you want, lay the dough on top of the cornmeal on the sheet pan.

Daring Bakers’ October Challenge, Thin-Crust Pizza: A note on toppings

I’ve included the topping instructions for both the pizzas I made below.

Use whatever toppings you like at this point. Sprinkle sparingly, though. The thinner your pizza is, the smaller the amount of toppings you want, so your crust doesn’t get soggy or overwhelmed.

Six-Cheese Thin-Crust Pizza with Lamb and Fresh Thyme

I made the lamb pizza first, so at this point, I stopped to fry up the lamb. You could also do this in advance, of course.

Break up some ground lamb in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic powder and dried rosemary to taste.

Fry ’til it’s nicely browned. Reserve some of the lamb fat. You’ll be using it to flavor your pizza. Your lamb should look about like this:

Add a tablespoon or so of the fat from the lamb to your pizza dough.

With your hands, spread it around so it covers the whole piece of dough. Sprinkle on the ground lamb.

Then sprinkle on some cheese in a thin, even layer.

Add fresh thyme leaves and Aleppo chili flakes to taste.

Your pizza should look about like this when it’s ready to go in the oven:

Pop the pizza into your preheated oven, and bake at 500 degrees for 5-8 minutes. Take it out when the crust is nicely brown and the toppings are done to your liking.

When it’s done, slide it onto a cutting board. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Daring Bakers’ October Challenge, Thin-Crust Pizza: Spinach Parmesan Thin-Crust Pizza

For this pizza, follow the instructions above for prepping your dough.

When you’re ready to top your pizza, add a few large soup spoons of ground, peeled tomatoes to the center of your dough.

With your hands, spread the tomatoes out so they cover the entire piece of dough, like this:

Add some whole baby spinach leaves on top of the tomatoes. If you’re patient and have the inclination, you can make a pretty pattern with them.

When you’ve added the spinach, sprinkle generously with grated Parmesan cheese. Your pizza should look about like this:

Crack some black pepper over the pizza. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Bake in a 500 degree oven for 5-8 minutes. Take it out when the crust is nicely brown and the toppings are done to your liking.

Slide off the pan onto a board. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

***
Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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It’s got a lovely balance of sweet and savory flavors from the combination of apple cider, cinnamon, chicken stock, browned meat, and a smidge of apricot preserves.

A warm bowl of it with a cup of strong tea really hits the spot on a chilly autumn night. It also makes amazing picnic sandwiches when stuffed into crusty rolls along with some thin apple slices, cheddar cheese, and crisp lettuce. (Pack a few and go pumpkin picking!)

A note on ingredients
You can make this with the mixture of lamb and pork listed in the recipe, or—if you’re not crazy about lamb—you can use all pork. I like it with lamb, as it adds deep, earthy notes to the finished stew.

For the apricot preserves, I tend to use Hero Apricot Preserves from Switzerland. If you can’t find this brand, use any good preserve that doesn’t contain a lot of additives.

You add just a little bit at the end, for a nice finishing touch of jammy sweetness.

Sweet Pork Ciderhouse Stew

1 1/2 lbs. lamb stew meat
2 lbs. boneless country-style pork ribs
spray oil
4 Tbls. water
kosher salt
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups apple cider
3 cloves garlic, mashed
3 bay leaves
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
10 baby carrots, cut in half
3 ribs celery, diced
1 large sweet onion, diced
5 white potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 heaping Tbls. good apricot preserves
1 Tbls. fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup parsley, minced

Brown the meat
Cut the pork ribs up into stew-sized chunks.

Coat a large nonstick frying pan and a large, heavy-bottomed stew pot with spray oil.

Put the pork in your frying pan and the lamb in your stew pot. Sprinkle with kosher salt to taste. Saute on both meats on medium-high heat to brown.

As the meat cooks, flip the pieces over to get all sides.

Deglaze your pans
When the meat has developed a nice brown crust on most sides, add about 2 tablespoons of water to each pan to deglaze it. Scrape the bottom of each pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge all the yummy brown bits. Add the pork to the lamb in the stewpot.

Add the liquids
Add the chicken stock to the pot.

Then add the cider.

Stir to combine well. Give the bottom of the pot a few more scrapes with your spoon to make sure it’s totally deglazed.

Toss in the garlic, bay leaves, and cinnamon. Don’t worry about how strong the cinnamon smells. As the stew cooks, it’ll mellow and blend with the rest of the flavors.

Cover and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Add the veggies
After about an hour, your stew should look about like this:

Add the carrots, onion, and celery.

Give the stew a good stir to combine.

Cover the pot again and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Your stew will look about like this:

Finish it up
Add in the potatoes and the apricot preserves. Stir to combine well.

Cover and simmer for another 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.

When the potatoes are done, uncover the pot. If you want a more liquid-y stew, leave the meat chunks as they are. If you want very little liquid, shred the meat with the back of your spoon and stir it to mix. It should be so tender that it just falls apart on you.

Add the thyme and the parsley. Stir to combine.

Serve and enjoy!

***
Copyright 2008 The Hungry Mouse™/Jessica B. Konopa. All rights reserved.

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