Grilled Lamb Loin Chops

Grilled Lamb Loin Chops with Fried Zucchini & Garlic Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce

I love lamb and growing up my mom used lamb loin chops more often than regular lamb chops. She grilled them, pan fried them and even used them when making dolma (stuffed-grape leaves) by cooking them in the same pot as the dolma for added flavor. I decided to grill the lamb loin chops this time. They're amazingly tender and if you buy good lamb, it is not "gamey" and should not have a really strong flavor. In the Middle East we use "shawarma seasoning" a lot when grilling. It is a wonderful blend of different spices, including all spice, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, cardamon. You can make your own or you can buy it pre-made at any International, Middle Eastern or Halal Market.

Grilled Lamb Loin Chops:
4-6 lamb loin chops
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (more or less depending on your love of garlic)
shawarma seasoning
pepper paste (or any fresh chopped pepper or pepper flakes) optional if you don't like spicy, just omit the pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Lay your lamb loin chops on a platter and start by drizzling the olive oil to both sides of the chops and rub the oil all over the chops. Sprinkle both sides of the chops with salt and pepper, then spread the pepper paste on one side of the chops.

Top with the garlic and shawarma and let sit out and marinate and come to room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, fire up your grill on high. When you're ready to grill the chops, lower your temperature to medium and grill the chops on each side for about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of your chops and how well you like your lamb done. I served my chops with a garlic yogurt-cucumber sauce (kind of like Tzatziki sauce, but a bit chunkier), rice and fried zucchini.

Avesta Garlic Yogurt-Cucumber Sauce:
1 cup greek style yogurt (if you can't find greek style plain yogurt, you can substitute with regular plain yogurt that's been strained)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped english cucumber
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
salt to taste

Combine all the ingrediets in a bowl, chill until ready to serve.

To fry my zucchini, I used a cheese plane/slicer to cut very thin strips of zucchini because I wanted them to be crispy.

I used vegetable oil to fry them and immediately sprinkled them with sea salt when they were done frying.

These were delicious!