You’ve seen her on TV and in GLAMOUR. Now, Siba Mtongana shares one of her favourite hearty winter recipes with us – pesto-stuffed lamb rib chops with courgette pasta. Her top tip when preparing this dish? Leave about 5 cm of rib bone bare when frenching the chops, which leaves the round of meat with a thin strip of fat on either side.
SIBA’S PESTO-STUFFED LAMB CHOPS
Preparation time: 15 min; Cooking time: 12 min
Ingredients
- 12 lamb rib chops, frenched
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 20 ml pesto
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 15 ml olive oil
For the stuffing:
- 60 ml basil pesto
- 15 ml pine nuts, toasted and roughly chopped
- Pinch of salt
For the pasta:
- 15 ml olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 800g courgettes, cut into pasta spirals
- 6 sprigs of thyme leaves
- 50g pine nuts, toasted, to serve
- 15 ml basil leaves, to serve
Method
- Cut a slit on the fat side of each chop to insert the stuffing.
- Mix the garlic, pesto, and salt and pepper together then rub on both sides of each chop. Set aside.
- Mix the basil pesto, pine nuts and salt together to make the stuffing. Add a teaspoonful of stuffing into the slit of each chop.
- Heat a large nonstick pan and add the olive oil. Once the oil is sizzling hot, place the chops into the pan and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until medium rare.
- Remove the chops from the pan, cover with foil and set aside.
For the pasta:
- In a separate pan, heat the oil and sauté the garlic.
- Add the courgette spirals and cook for 3 minutes or until just cooked.
- Strip the thyme leaves from their stems and stir into the pan. Season to taste.
- Serve the pasta alongside the lamb chops, and top with toasted pine nuts and basil leaves.
Love food as much as we do? Then check out more delicious recipes in our Eat, Drink, Travel section.
