For the second meal in my 15 Healthy Dinners series, I was stuck with a bit of a quandry: how do I get my meat-and-potatoes loving husband to eat salad for dinner? He sees salad as a side dish at best.
The answer? Top it with a meat lollipop that looks straight out of the Flintstones.
Putting together the salad is simple enough – you need romaine lettuce, fresh mint, cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, some pitted kalamata olives, and feta cheese. Throw em all in a bowl to your desired quantity, and toss with a good quality greek salad dressing. I like Girard’s Greek Feta Vinaigrette Dressing.
But the lamb, the crowing beauty of this dish, takes just a little bit more work. First, know what to ask for at the butcher – you want lamb chops, individually cut and frenched. “Frenched” means the bottom part of meat is taken off, given you the handy-dandy lollipop stick appearance. (Frenching also lets your lamb cook evenly.)
Once at home, heat a saute pan with just enough olive oil to coat the bottom while you rub room-temperature butter on each chop. (Yes – we’re using butter and olive oil. Trust me. You’re not using much of either, so it’s not going to kill your diet.) Sprinkle minced garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper on each chop then place the first side down in the pan. Let cook for about 3.5 minutes on each side, and when you go to flip them, douse the entire pan with some Worcestershire sauce to deglaze it.
After 7 total minutes of cooking, remove from pan and let them sit for at least five minutes before serving on top of your dressed salad. And there you have it – a fairly failproof way to get your husband to eat a salad.
What are your 2015 eating resolutions? Let me know in the comments.
