Sunday Family Dinner Celebrates the May Babies!

June 8, 2016 The Culinary Chronicles4 Comments

Last weekend, Sunday Family Dinner celebrated the May babies in our immediate family — Dad and I!

It was a casual menu for the evening with an iteration of surf and turf — my fav! We didn’t choose any dishes that required long periods of cooking and we managed to do a lot of the mise work earlier on in the day.

So when it came time for the actual “cooking”, it was pretty easy peasey. Which freed up my time to make/sip pre-dinner cocktails and snap a few photos.

And can we talk about how GINORMOUS these strawberries were???

I also wrangled Lucas into staying still for a moment to snap a pic with his fur-cousin. He looks so handsome with his fresh hair cut….what a cutie-patootie. And I intend to call him that until he’s at least 50 years old.

Me? Oh…I’ll still be 21 at that time.

Extra bonus points for those of you who caught the red SOLO cups target pyramid in the background.

It was a target…..

…..for their NERF gun competition.

And let’s talk about this pic below. I told them to give me a fierce, rugged look.

Lucas nailed it….Nina, um….not as much.

Bella hadn’t seen her Gramps in quite some time so she wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t forget what she looked like.

Grampa–do you see me?!? PET ME!!! Give me treats!!! And by treats, I mean–STEAK!!! HELLOOO–I’m right down here!!! Look at me, look at me!!!

She’s not needy at all….

Remember when I mentioned cocktails?

Yea…we had a few of them. And how could we help ourselves? They were so pretty in pink!

I called them Minty Blood Orange Sparklers. It started off with me making a batch of fresh mint simple syrup. After it cooled, I added a splash or two over crushed ice and threw in some vodka, fresh lime juice, Blood Orange flavored Italian Soda and some mint leaves.

Fruity, minty, citrusy, summery……

And the kiddos got MOCKtails—all of the ingredients mentioned above minus the vodka.

Speaking of kiddos, we put Maya to work this month. She helped her mom prep our appetizers for the evening — Grilled Flatbread with Ribeye Steak, Tomatoes, Burrata and Italian Salsa Verde.

Here she is whipping up the salsa verde in the mini food processor.

Her salsa verde had fresh cilantro, parsley, jalapeno, garlic lime juice, oil and S&P. Usually we add some capers and anchovies to the party too but we opted to nix them this time around –so it was kind of akin to a chimichurri sauce.

But who cares—it was fantastic!

And yes, there’s another one of those Yogurtland spoons…..we love prepping with them!

Beef time!

We tasked our B.I.L., Curtis, with grilling up the steaks for the flatbread.

Hello Beautifuls…..

And VOILA! The finished product!

Seester T lightly oiled the grates and threw some pizza dough that Maya and Nini had rolled out over them. After it had cooked through, she topped it all with the sliced steaks, ripe Roma tomatoes, burrata and salsa verde. It was lovely! Tons of flavor and would be a great summer meal on its own with a chilled glass of vino.

You could also sub out skirt steak for the ribeye and fresh mozz instead of burrata. But for me, I’m obsessed with burrata and love how creamy and luscious it is.

Earlier when I mentioned that dinner was easy peasy, I failed to say it was because we tasked the two older kiddos with the actual cooking of our main entrees – Paella! Paella seemed like an ideal way to get the “surf” component into our meal with lots of shrimp, clams and scallops all in one pot. Plus the chicken and chorizo added the “turf”.

YUM!

Nina and Nini our pros at making Paella and since we had to make a bunch to feed the crowd, we decided that each gal would make their own pot as a competition! They each got a Le Creuset dutch oven to use and all the same ingredients.

And then they were off!

This is Nina’s finished product….look at all of those colors!

And here is Nini’s….I could dive right on in!

They both were picture perfect right? And I was hard pressed to tell which niece made which pot.

Wondering who won in the end?

Maya did…….with this picture.

Okay, okay…. it was a tie.

Both were delicious and had lovely crispy socarrat. It would have been impossible to choose one from the other. My nieces are so talented and it’s rather comforting to know that they can cook for us as we get along in years.

Oh!

And during dinner, we enjoyed a lovely Caymus Vineyards 40th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon – THANKS Curtis!

Then it was time for BIRTHDAY CAKE!!

Normally I’m a chocolate gal but sometimes a light and fruity cake is just divine! So this month I asked Seestrah N to fix up a white cake with fresh berries and fluffy frosting. She came up with this behemoth of a layered cake with ginormous strawberries and frosting made of whipped mascarpone cheese and heavy cream.

Isn’t it lovely????

By the time we finished with presents, desserts and dishes….Dad was ready to head home. But we convinced them to stay for just a big longer…..

to PLAY BINGO!!!!!!!

Yup BINGO! Seester had gotten a BINGO set as a white elephant present and it was high time we cracked it open.

And the winners got lottery scratchers!

Here’s the birthday boy scratching away after winning a round of BINGO. Initially he said they’d only stay for one game…..but that one game turned into five 🙂

And wouldn’t you know it, neither of the birthday babies won the final blackout round — that went to my B.I.L. Rick!

Talk about happy camper! BINGO winner gets a BINGO scratcher!

All in all, it was a great Fam Din –which incidentally was the 4 year anniversary of our Sunday Family Dinners! Isn’t it rather wonderful that our siblings’ tradition has carried on?

Can’t wait for next month – and neither can the pups ❤

This Month’s Family Dinner Menu

Cocktails: Minty Blood Orange Sparklers and Vino
Appetizers: Grilled Flatbread with Ribeye Steak, Tomatoes, Burrata and Salsa Verde
Entrees: Paella
Dessert: Mile-High Fresh Strawberry and Cream Layered Cake

Sunday Family Dinner

Sunday Family Dinner – Summah’ Grilling and Chillin’

July 27, 2015November 19, 2015 The Culinary Chronicles7 Comments

Sunday Family Dinners in the summer are all about dining al fresco. Long days, warm and beautiful weather…it’s perfect.

I love summer family dinners where the pace is a little bit slower and we really get the chance to catch up with what’s new with each other.

A big topic of conversation at June’s fam din?

Backyard decor… obvi.

Seester just got a new set of fantastic patio furniture. And after lounging in the new chairs for a bit, I realized that something was missing. They need a brick pizza oven—STAT! A brilliant idea!

It got quickly vetoed.

Party poopers.

Our inspiration for dinner was not so much a “theme” but started off with an idea that the main dish should feature all kinds of skewers. Because who doesn’t love meat on a stick?

Plus, if there’s grilling involved, the boys get a hand in things.

And because y’all know us so well, you know that there were cocktails. In fact, we had a few different types that night (it’s how we roll), but Seester came up with this one after watching an episode of Tiffani Thiessen’s cooking show.

It consisted of an iced fruit tea, ginger simple syrup, lime juice, mint, tequila and fresh fruit.

Light and refreshing.

Kelly Kapowski apparently knows cocktails.

To munch on before dinner, my niece Nina fried up a batch of Crispy Andouille Hush Puppies. I loved the salty, smokey flavor the andouille gave to the hush puppies. To serve with them, I whipped up a quick sauce from random things I found in the fridge and luckily, it turned out great. Though–I kind of blew it and didn’t jot down what it consisted of but it had things like sour cream, mayo, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, fresh dill, garlic and pixie dust.

The last ingredient is not optional.

The recipe for the hush puppies can be found at here.

Then we put the boys to work! Fire up the grill, Dudes!

We did three types of skewers:

Jerk Spiced Shrimp
Buttermilk Chicken Tandoori with a Raita Dipping Sauce
Steak Skewers with Scallion Dipping Sauce

Why three different skewers? Why not?!

Plus, we generally have a hard time just choosing one thing.

To serve with the skewers, I whipped up a quick Watermelon, Feta and Arugula Salad which is a great accompaniment to any BBQ. It’s fresh, light, and essentially guilt free.

Though, I rarely experience guilt with food.

Carpe diem!

We also made a bunch of Elotes – Mexican style street corn. Super simple to make and you can find out how from a previous post here.

And lastly–dessert!

Now, most of us admitted that we underestimated this dessert. Don’t get me wrong–eldest seester can definitely bake but we didn’t really have a good point of reference for an icebox pie. But after one bite, we knew what fools we had been.

The texture was incredibly creamy and smooth which resulted in somewhat of an ice cream pie texture. She also tweaked the originally recipe that can be found here by:

Substituting mango schnapps with mango extract (she also used the extract in the whipped cream);
Used ataulfo mangoes as they generally yield a much sweeter and aromatic fruit;
Used about 1 cup of mango puree versus the listed 3/4 cup;
Used graham instead of saltine crackers for the crust and doubled the amount.

And after all the food was eaten and the dishes were washed–there was nothing else to do but get in some jacuzzi time!

Now if that’s not a fitting Summer Fam Din, I don’t know what is.

Stay tuned for the wrap up of July’s Family Dinner with all 5 Nguyễn siblings!

This Month’s Family Dinner Menu

Cocktails: Spiked Ginger Iced Tea
Appetizers: Crispy Andouille Hush Puppies
Entrees: Jerk Spiced Shrimp, Buttermilk Chicken Tandoori with Raita Sauce, Steak Skewers with Scallion Sauce, Elotes, Watermelon-Feta-Arugula Salad
Dessert: Mango-Lemon Buttermilk Icebox Pie

Elote {Grilled Mexican Style Street Corn} + 4th of July Menu Ideas

July 3, 2015August 3, 2015 The Culinary Chronicles4 Comments

Y’all got your BBQ grills all scrubbed down?

Coolers ready to be filled with frosty,cold beverages?

Menus all set?

Because it’s time to celebrate ‘MURICA!!!

And since your grills will be nice and warmed up, I’ve got a perfect little number that will round out all of your BBQ bites…. ELOTES!!!

Elotes are a Mexican style grilled street corn that are slathered with butter, mayo (yup–MAYO!), a few spices and topped with cotija cheese. A quick squeeze of fresh lime juice and it’s perfection!

When I was living in LA for grad school, we used to have these nifty little trucks and carts that would cruise by our apartment. Produce trucks, paletas (popsicle) carts, fresh made tamales carts and we even had an elote man who would ring a bell on his cart signaling all of us to come running out for a delish and quick snack.

Usually the corn ears are grilled for 10-15 minutes but I take a shortcut method by wrapping them in damp paper towels and heating them in the microwave for a few minutes. A quick char on the grill and they’re ready! But if you’re an anti-microwave person, just soak the ears of corn in water (husks on, silks removed) for about 15-20 minutes before grilling them. This prevents the husks from burning and creates a little steam bath for them.

Either method, you definitely have to make them for your Fourth of July spread…..trust me.

Speaking of which…in case your menus aren’t set yet–here are some other fantastic ideas:

While your peeps are mingling around, have a big dish of this Cilantro & Jalapeño Hummus for them to snack on. It’s fantastic with veggie sticks, chips, bread or even smothered on some BBQ proteins.

Or how about some Oven-Roasted Tomato Salsa?

What picnic is complete without deviled eggs? And these Sriracha Deviled Eggs fit that bill perfectly!

Now on to the grilling!

Chimichurri Ribeye Steaks can be a show stopping stand alone main dish or sliced thinly to be placed inside crunchy, toasted ciabatta bread.

Not feeling beef? Grab your goodies that you set aside for margaritas to make a big batch of Tequila Chili-Lime Chicken!

Or if you want to go with burger route, try these Double Jalapeno-Bacon Cheeseburgers with Poblano Aioli.

And if there are burgers, there must be BUNS! The Perfect Brioche Buns are….well…perfect for the job.

Don’t feel like slaving away over the grill? Then bust out the slow cooker to make these Kalua Pig sliders and bring the islands to your Independence Day.

Got two slow cookers? FANTASTIC! Then use the other one to make these BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches–you won’t believe how easy they are. Not to mention that it’s one of my go-to recipes to feed a crowd.

Need an alternative to potato salad or pasta salad? Try out this light but flavor packed Stone Fruit and Prosciutto Salad.

And because you know me, you know there must be cocktails.

Kick start your Fourth of July with a big batch of Bloody Marys. On second thought, make a double batch….you may need a hair of the dog on the Fifth of July 🙂

Palomas, margaritas’ cousin, are another great cocktail to make in a big batch. Just pour the grapefruit soda (or soda water) over each glass before serving.

Nothing screams summer like watermelon! Add an Asian twist on your cocktails with these light and fruity Watermelon Soju-tinis.

Planning to have any guests with a sweet tooth?

Fix up this wonderfully creamy and decadent Peanut Butter Cream Pie.

Or how about this beautiful Fresh Strawberry Tart?

Or if you’re feeling a little tropical, some Mango Gelato.

However you decide to celebrate and whatever you decide to serve, have an AWESOME FOURTH OF JULY, Friends!!

Just be sure to grill up some Elotes!!!

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Elotes {Grilled Mexican Style Street Corn}
Serves 4

Ingredients:

¼ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cumin powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
4 ears of corn, husk on
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons melted butter
sea salt
½ -3/4 teaspoon chili powder
½ cup grated cotija cheese or parmesan cheese
¼ cup chopped cilantro
4 lime wedges
In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, garlic powder, cumin powder and black pepper. Set aside.

Peel the husks of the corn back but do not remove them. Pull and discard the silk from each ear and fold the husks back over the cobb. Wrap each ear loosely with a damp paper towel. Microwave the corn on medium-high heat for 5 minutes.

Carefully remove the paper towels from each ear of corn. Pull the husks down to the base of each cobb. Using either kitchen twine or a piece of the husk, tie the husks together into a bundle to form a handle. Brush the olive oil over the corn kernels.

Place the corn on the grill over medium heat. Grill the corn for about 5 minutes, rotating every 1-2 minutes, until surface becomes slightly charred. Remove the corn to a large platter. Brush the melted butter over the corn and then spread a layer of the mayonnaise mixture on top. Sprinkle each ear with sea salt, chili powder, cotija cheese and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges to be squeezed over the corn.

Enjoy!

Beef

Chimichurri Skirt Steaks for ‘Murica!

July 3, 2014January 27, 2015 The Culinary Chronicles1 Comment

Okay gang…it is that last minute push to scrub down those grills….. stockpile on hotdogs, hamburgers, coleslaw, ribs and bust out your RED WHITE and BLUE…..

Because tomorrow the country will be celebrating ‘MURICA!

But if you’re looking to grill up something different to please your crowd, try throwing some flavorful skirt steak smothered with THE BEST chimichurri sauce. It’s super easy to make and is dang delicious with some lightly grilled tortillas.

And with that folks, enjoy the fireworks, some BBQ goodness, and have a fantastic 4th of July!!!

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Chimichurri Skirt Steak

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh cilantro
½ small white onion
4 large garlic cloves
1 jalapeno pepper
zest of 1 lime
½ cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon honey or agave
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¾ tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ cup olive oil
2 pounds skirt steak
vegetable oil
1 cup chimichurri sauce

In a food processor or blender, add the first 14 ingredients. Pulse several times until the fresh aromatics have broken down. Place the skirt steak into a gallon size resealable bag. Pour the marinade over the steak and massage it through. Be sure to get most of the air out of the bag before sealing it. Put the steak in the refrigerator and marinate 4-6 hours.

An hour before you start cooking the skirt steak, pull it from the refrigerator to take the chill off of it. Heat your grill to medium-high. Brush the grates of your grill with the vegetable oil. Cook the steaks for about 1-2 minutes on each side –depending on the thickness of your steaks. Remove to a platter and cover with foil for 10 minutes.

Once rested, slice the steak thinly across the grain of the meat. Spoon the chimichurri sauce over the steak and serve with warmed tortillas, if desired.

Poultry

Tequila Chili-Lime Chicken

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 The Culinary Chronicles13 Comments

So here’s the thing.

I’ve never claimed to have a blog about figure-friendly, low-calorie recipes. I mean, c’mon now. I believe in BUTTER….BACON…and BOOZE!

My kitchen’s Holy Trinity.

But even this gal has to be a bit health-conscious sometimes. Eating (or drinking) lots of fresh veggies, getting in some regular workouts and finagling lean proteins into the menu as often as possible.

Now I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t naturally gravitate towards chicken breasts–especially boneless/skinless chicken breast. And don’t even get my brother started on his feelings on chicken. But the proof is in the puddin‘ — chicken breast is one of the leanest proteins you can put in your tummy.

And since we all know that it can so easily dry out and taste like sandpaper, here are my two no-brainer tips to combating the chicken blues.

First, you’ve got to pump the chicken with as much flavor as possible. We’re talking a boom-pow marinade and let the chicken soak in it as long as possible. And if you want to get crazy– brine it!

Second, smother it with goodness! Yup, it’s condiments time – and you know how much I love condiments! Things like pico de gallos, salsas, marinaras, and chimichurris are fantastic over grilled chicken.

My Tequila Chili-Lime Chicken is a standard way I like to marinate my chicken breasts overnight before throwing them on the grill. The tequila and limes help to break down the chicken and as long as you’re not going rogue on the grill, it stays nice and juicy. It’s also a great method for chicken wings—just put a bit of the marinade aside and when you start cooking, baste the wings with it.

Over a salad, inside quesadillas/burritos, in sammies or as a stand alone, my Tequila Chili-Lime Chicken has helped me {in a delicious way} with my skinless-chicken breast aversion.

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Tequila Chili-Lime Chicken
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 large bunch fresh cilantro
1 small white onion
4 large garlic cloves
1-2 jalapeno peppers (depending on heat preference)
zest of 1 lime
½ cup fresh lime juice
½ cup tequila
1 tablespoon honey or agave
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¾ tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ cup olive oil
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts*
vegetable oil
lime wedges

In a food processor or blender, add the first 15 ingredients. Pulse several times until the fresh aromatics have broken down. Place the chicken breasts into a gallon size resealable bag. Pour the marinade over the chicken and massage it through. Be sure to get most of the air out of the bag before sealing it. Put the chicken in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.

An hour before you start cooking the chicken, pull it from the refrigerator to take the chill off of it. Heat your grill to medium-high. Brush the grates of your grill with the vegetable oil. Place the chicken breast on the grill and cook for about 5-6 minutes on the first side before flipping. Cook for an additional 4-5 minutes on the 2^nd side until cooked through and the internal temperature reaches approximately 165 degrees F. Remove the chicken from the grill and loosely tent with aluminum foil. Allow it to rest for about 5 minutes.

Serve warm with fresh lime wedges and your choice of condiments.

*Bone-in chicken breast can also be used but adjust the cooking times as needed.

Drinks · Sunday Family Dinner

Summer Grilling Family Dinner + Fresh Peach Bellinis

August 6, 2013November 19, 2015 The Culinary Chronicles7 Comments

We’ve got a fair amount of July Babies in our family. Though, let’s be honest…with a family as large as ours, there are a lot of babies year round. Big Seester N, Big Seester P, brother-in-law, niece, several cousins, an auntie, an uncle….and that just includes the family in the states!

For July’s Sunday Family Dinner, we celebrated 2 of our July babies—Big Seester N and my brother-in-law R. As for theme? We kept the menu quite straight forward but pretty dang delicious.

Summer Grillin’

And of course, since we were celebrating, there had to be a bit of decadence. In the form of lobsters. Lots of lobsters.

N was totally freaking out Lucasaurus with them.

Seester T staffed the grill for a good portion of our meal which totally amused her hubs, the birthday boy.

Now what’s a Sunday Family Dinner without cocktails? Surely not one of ours!

This month we toasted with Fresh Peach Bellinis. Granted they weren’t grilled but they definitely were a nod to summer using wonderfully sweet, white peaches. After adding a few spoonfuls of fresh white peach puree and a squeeze of lime to champagne flutes, I topped off each glass with bubbly Prosecco.

Simply perfect.

And of course, we had to take our mandatory-monthly Seesters pic while holding our cocktails.

Our menu included:

Grilled Rosemary Flatbread.

Grilled Pacific Oysters……..

A few Grilled Ginormous Prawns…….

Rosemary Garlic Lamb Rib Chops……….

and Grilled Lobsters with Cilantro-Chile Butter…….

Did I mention that our kiddos have quite the refined palates?

And I think they’re uber adorable.

For dessert? Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée that my niece, Nina, made. Although technically not made on the grill, she did torch the tops to brûlée it.

Totally counts. 🙂

The kiddos also made this adorable sign for the birthday babies—I loved that they used their nicknames!

Not only was the dinner scrumptious but it was fairly low maintenance with at least 80% of the “cooking” done on the grill. The cherry on top? It made clean up a breeze!

And for those who cannot travel to Venice to try the original Bellini at Harry’s Bar, give my version a spin. My Seester said it’s pretty darn close to the real thing 🙂

CHEERS to another memorable Sunday Family Dinner!

This Month’s Family Dinner Menu

Cocktails: Peach Bellini
Appetizers: Rosemary Grilled Flatbread, Grilled Oysters, Grilled Prawns
Entrees: Rosemary-Garlic Lamb Rib Chops, Grilled Lobsters with Cilantro-Chile Butter
Dessert: Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

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Fresh Peach Bellinis
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 ripe white peaches, pitted and quartered
1/4 cup water
1-2 tablespoons sugar, optional
4 lime wedges
chilled Prosecco or other sparkling wine

Add the peaches and water into a blender. Depending on the sweetness of the peaches, add sugar as needed. Puree until smooth. Optional: Strain the peach puree through a fine-meshed strainer.

Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the peach puree into each glass. Squeeze the juice of a lime wedge into each glass and slowly top with the chilled Prosecco. Gently stir each glass before serving. Cheers!

Note: The Bellinis shown here are garnished with yellow peaches, however, the cocktails were made with the traditional white peach.

Lamb · Sunday Family Dinner

Rosemary-Garlic Lamb Rib Chops

February 21, 2013January 27, 2015 The Culinary Chronicles5 Comments

I’ve been rather bad about reporting on our Family Dinners over the past few months. And not because our menus weren’t delish but somehow amongst the endless events, time slipped by.

December’s dinner menu featured Mexican-inspired fare. We had a variety of fresh salsas, chicharrón, ceviche, salmon-dill tacos, rice, and beans. I whipped up some mango margaritas and my beer braised carnitas. And although it may not have been Latin, our sis, P, made a ridiculously amazing chocolate bread pudding. The icing on the cake? It was our adorable nephew, Leonidas’ 1st birthday!

For January, we let my seester, T, and our niece pick the theme as they’re Jan-Babies. So we were off to the islands for mouthwatering, ono grindz! Our spread included mai tais and my take on hamachi-ponzu shooters. Our eldest seester created a wonderfully light yet fulfilling banana leaf-wrapped monk fish with a curry sauce. And for dessert? Big seester made molten lava chocolate cakes and paired them with my toasted coconut ice cream and guava ice cream.

With island music playing throughout dinner, it was almost—almost like we were in Hawai’i. <le sigh….>

For this month, we revisited Italia. Big seester got me a ravioli mold for Christmas and we were eager to give them a try. For our entrées, we had raviolis three ways: butternut squash with brown butter sage sauce, spicy sausage with a marinara sauce, and lump crab with a pesto sauce. They were quite the success considering it was our first time making raviolis. And because I learned from October’s Family Dinner, I invested in a hand crank pasta machine. Best…idea…ever.

Since I knew it was going to take us some time to get the raviolis to the dinner table, I wanted to make a heartier-than-usual appetizer. We’re a big fan of lamb chops so I turned to my trusted recipe using a ton of rosemary and garlic. By slicing the racks into rib chops while giving them ample time to marinate, the lamb is able to seep in a ton of great flavor. And because my fam loves condiments, I made a quick and herbaceous gremolata to pair with the lamb to help brighten the gamey flavor.

We also found that a light sprinkle of sea salt over the rib chops not only added the perfect seasoning but it also added some great texture. My fam gobbled these appetizers up in no time flat but they can also be served as a mouthwatering entrée.

Can’t wait until next month’s Fam-Din!

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Rosemary-Garlic Lamb Rib Chops
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Lamb
½ cup chopped rosemary
2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
16 lamb rib chops, Frenched and trimmed (approximately 2 Frenched racks)
kosher salt and black pepper

Gremolata
1 cup chopped Italian parsley
¼ cup fresh basil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper

Optional
sea salt

In a small bowl, mix together the rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, red chili flakes and olive oil. Place the lamb rib chops in a large shallow dish or gallon sized resealable bags. Season the lamb well with kosher salt and black pepper. Pour the herb mixture over the lamb and turn the chops around to coat well. Cover and refrigerate for 6-8 hours (I like mine to marinate overnight).

Prepare gremolata by adding parsley, basil, garlic, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes into a food processor. Pulse to combine. On low, stream in the olive oil until you reach a smooth consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove the lamb 15 minutes before cooking. Preheat grill to medium high. Grill the chops on each side for 2-3 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees F for rare or 135-140 degrees F for medium. Allow the lamb to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve the lamb rib chops with a sprinkle of sea salt over the top (optional) and gremolata.