Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops

Around 2am in the morning, I was in the middle of watching an Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations marathon when the scene in Naples (season 7, episode 11) transitioned from a marching band to the sound of "... slow simmering of meat in red sauce." It was like music to my ears. I wanted to eat some of the pasta tossed with the ragù and braised meats.

The next day, I found a package of lamb shoulder chops in the fridge. Mom told me that I was making dinner that night. After researching on Google for ideas, I began to get frustrated because nothing appealed to me. My mind kept wandering back to the clip of the ragù though. Done. That's what I'll try to make. I knew I wanted to slow cook the lamb and serve it separately from the pasta.


I began with dicing up onions, carrots, and garlic for the sauce. Then the lamb chops were seared with a little flour and vegetable oil. They were set aside while the sauce/braising liquid was made. Onions, and carrots were sautéed first, then the garlic was added in with some broth. A can of plain tomato sauce was poured into the pan. The sauce simmered on the stove top for a few minutes. Then the sauce and seared lamb chops were layered in a baking pan. It was put into the toaster oven at about 360F for about 3½ hours.


Richard had actually made a loaf of bread in the new bread maker. Not sure what happened with the giant air bubble at the top.




The bread was airy and moist. A little too moist though. But that didn't stop all of us from eating half of the loaf of bread before starting dinner. I guess it was the complimentary bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar you get at some restaurants.


I asked Richard to make a bean salad. Unfortunately the yellow beans, despite being rinsed a few times,  still tasted strongly of the can. It ruined the, otherwise good, bean salad.




Just like they did in the Naples episode, the pieces of braised meat was plated up and set aside. Most of the oil floating on top of the sauce was scooped out. The penne pasta finished cooking in the remaining sauce. At this point, I was getting excited at how dinner turned out.


Here was Mom's dinner plate with cognac to drink.


The lamb meat was really tender. Some of the cartilage was still a bit crunchy though. I really should've baked the lamb longer. The pasta tasted great in the sauce. It tasted even better the next day when I took it to work for lunch.


One plate of food was good for dinner. I needed a bonus round though. Just a couple extra bites.

The braised lamb shoulder chops turned out quite well. If there are tough cuts of meat on sale at the grocery stores, whether it's more lamb shoulder or even beef, I'll try to make this again cause it was a big hit with the family.


Future Tweaks:

• Cook the lamb shoulder chops for longer (over 5 hours)
• Add more tomato sauce
• Carefully go through the sauce to get rid of shards of bones
• Season the pasta more aggressively once the sauce is mixed in
• Make more bread
• Make a double batch for more leftovers