Lamb Chops with Fresh Herbs and Garlic & Black Bean Pinapple Cilantro Chutney

Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. — J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

After a weekend spent in upstate New York with my parents, my focus this week has been on grilling. And what a treat these lamb chops were! They were the star of the show. I rarely allow myself the luxury of red meat, let alone good lamb, but Mom being Mom, found the good stuff. Firing up the grill after preparing all of the vegetables, these lambchops and steaks were ready for the flame. Coated with a marinade of fresh and dried herbs and fresh and dried garlic, these lamb chops were spectacular.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of lamb chops
• 4 spring garlic stalks, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 handful rosemary

Directions:

Stab the meat all over with a sharp knife.  Make a paste with the garlic, oil, salt and the herbs.  Rub the herb paste into the meat and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Grill the lambchops, off flame, top down at 400 F for 30 mins.

In the meantime, cook pring garlic/stalks on the stove over a low flame until soft. Sprinkle them over meat when finished.

Serve with a nice red wine.

Because my dad is on a heart healthy diet, these juicy lambchops require him to exercise his restraint. Earlier in the day we went to the farmers market and picked up ingredients for a salad to start and a relish that Mom puts over grilled swordfish, a close second to the meat.

We picked up the spring garlic for the meat.

And the veggies for the salad.

And when we got home Mom put this together, which makes a flavorful topping for a thick and mild white fish like swordfish over the grill.

Ingredients:

• 1 handful cilantro chopped
• 1 cup black beans
• 1 cup of cut up pineapple, fresh or canned
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1 corn on the cob, boiled and kernels removed
• 1 tablespoon cumin (imperative! It ties the whole thing together)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt to taste

After this special dinner together we watched the sun set on the porch as the deer grazed in the grass. I wondered how long my parents will hold onto the beautiful property and house where I grew up. They put it on the market and so far have not found any takers. I was born in Warwick and spent my whole life there until college. My formative years were spent in that house playing with my brothers and my sister and our neighbors. I know that Warwick will always be there. It is I who have moved and I who have changed. And it’s never more apparent how much I’ve changed until I come back home and allow my old town to bear witness to it. Then I can measure where I am up against where I want to be or should be and could be. But ultimately the landscape makes me relax and I just end up appreciating where I am in the moment and knowing that everything I need is already there and that time will unfold as it should.

And the blazing sun sets on another day and I finally have a moment to watch it.

The day gives way to the night and of all the places I’ve been, this still remains the most beautiful.