My dear friends Irmin and Francois let me crash by their apartment for a couple weeks while I was in between apartments. I also stayed with them in Nairobi. I am blessed to have international friends who always open their homes to me. As a thank you one night, I had cooked for them and wanted something to represent the essence of my Jamaican heritage while catering to French palates. I had some leftover guava jam which I paired with delightful French Dijon mustard which I happily slathered on some lamb chops. I serve 3 lamb chops per person.
Ingredients
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 tbsps Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp Jamaican hot pepper sauce (thank God as I never had access to scotchies)
- ½ tsp sweet paprika
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 12 lamb chops
- ½ jar Jamaican guava jam, melted with a little water
- Guavas (if you can get your hands on them) washed and cut up
Method
- Make a paste with garlic, ginger, mustard, hot sauce, and paprika, set aside.
- Generously season lamb chops with salt and pepper
- Brush paste over lamb chops.
- Melt guava jam with a little water in a small saucepan until it is runny.
- Prepare oven to grill setting and place a lightly greased heavy oven proof frying pan over medium high heat and pan fry lamb chops 2 minutes per side.
- Coat lamb chops with melted guava jam, make sure each piece is generously slathered and place in the oven under the broiler until the jam begins to caramelize, a minute or 2.
- Serve piled on a platter with pieces of guava fruit (optional) and dig in with your fingers, make sure wet wipes are on standby, it is finger licking good.
Jacqui ‘JuicyChef’ Sinclair, founder of Nyam & Trod, is a British Jamaican award-winning chef, writer, and food culturist. She is a co-founder of Kingston Kitchen, an annual food event supporting food artisans. Jacqui has been an advocate of the Meatless Monday Global movement in Jamaica since 2011. Jacqui’s work has been featured in such publications as the Huffington Post, the Jamaica Observer, Saveur, The Jewish Post and numerous blogs. She has appeared on the Travel Channel’s ‘Bizarre Foods’ with Andrew Zimmern and Food & Wine’s Jamaica episode with Kwame Onwuachi.