I buy center cut lamb chops, grown on sweet grass in Montana, at a local meat market when home, but I also get some excellent chops at Costco on California's central coast and occasionally in Missoula, MT., even though they come all the way from New Zealand or Australia. I love them when cut about 1 1/2 inches thick. I use a tablespoon of butter and a table spoon of good olive oil in a thick skillet. Occasionally I'll toss a couple of sprigs of rosemary in the pan while cooking, but garlic salt and lemon pepper will do the trick. You can substitue grape juice or apple juice for the port if you object to the wine.
Lamb Chops:
6 to 8 center cut lamb chops
1 Tblsp butter
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tsp garlic salt
1 Tsp lemon pepper
4 Sprigs of rosemary
Port-Cherry Sauce:
1 Cup good port wine
1 Generous tblsp sugar
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp MSG
1/2 Tsp ground pepper
1 Tsp corn starch
1/4 Cup cold water
1/4 Cup dried cherries
Pour a cup of good port in a sauce pan over medium-high heat, add the cherries, and begin reducing to one half volume. As you cook down add the dry ingredients. Mix the corn starch and water well and add to the port to thicken until it has some consistency. Line the warm plate under the chops.
Drop in a medium hot frying pan, garlic sale and lemon pepper on each side, and cook until they just begin to pull down from the bone and show about an eighth of an inch of bone above the meat line, four to five minutes on each side. That should give you a nice medium rare. Two to three chops each is a nice serving.
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