As most of you know, I’m currently enrolled at a local university in culinary school.  This block has been pretty intense… I haven’t had a chance to write much about it because it seems like I am always running, running to get everything done.  AND honestly, it takes a little more time.  But, I ended up with a couple of extra days off this weekend so I figured it was about time 🙂

I’ve been in the Savory Kitchen with Chef Todd… he’s the guy on the end with the tall hat.

We made this Lamb Chop with Mushroom Spaetzle dish and I brought some home to share with all of you!

Spaetzle is a german dumpling that’s fun to make and then it can be sautéed with herbs and butter or we whipped up a mushroom sauce to finish it off.

We julienned some carrots and tied them together with a little piece of leek leaf to give it an extra touch of class, then add in the broccolini AND wha-la~ delicioso!

Yield: 4

Lamb Chop with Mushroom Spaetzle

Print

We made this Lamb Chop with Mushroom Spaetzle dish and I brought some home to share with all of you!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 1-2 lamb chops per person in a rack
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• 1 tablespoon diced mixed herbs
• Spaetzle:
• 12 eggs
• 1 quart water
• 3 pounds flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 8 ounce butter
• fresh parsley as needed, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring saute pan to high heat with a small amount of oil.
3. Sear lamb rack on all sides until browned.
4. Place in oven for 15 minutes.
5. In additional saute pan, hot with small amount of oil, saute garlic just until lightly browned- do not burn.
6. Remove lamb, press garlic just below chops on meat and then place herbs on garlic.
7. Cook an additional 10 minutes or until inserted thermometer reads 120-125 degrees.
8. Remove and rest in pan for 5 minutes more.
9. Carry over cooking will finish lamb at 130-135 degrees- which is medium rare.
10. Spaetzle:
11. Whisk the eggs to blend.
12. Add water, flour, salt, and nutmeg.
13. Mix until well blended; do not over mix.
14. Place batter in colander suspended over a large pot of boiling water.
15. Work the batter through the colandar's holes using a plastic scraper or rubber spatula.
16. The batter should drop into the boiling water.
17. Cook the dumplings in boiling water for 3-4 minutes.
18. Remove with a skimmer, drain.
19. To serve: saute the dumplings lightly in butter and garnish with parsley.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 2524Total Fat: 110gSaturated Fat: 57gTrans Fat: 5gUnsaturated Fat: 45gCholesterol: 876mgSodium: 1824mgCarbohydrates: 262gFiber: 9gSugar: 2gProtein: 116g

Being back in the savory kitchen has been a lot of fun- it’s the next level of cooking after Chef John’s class that I started with last fall.  Chef Todd has taught us about a lot of different proteins, how to butcher, prepare, and cook chicken, lamb, veal, and beef.

This is a picture of Chef Todd butchering a primal cut of beef…

Here are a just a few of the many plates we’ve prepared so far…

This is a photo of Chicken Chasseur with Celery Root Puree, Glazed Carrots, Sautéed Spinach with Crispy Fried Onions…

This is a picture of Veal Piccata with Lemon Caper Cream Sauce…

We had a Culinary Olympics which included making a dish completely out of leftover from the walk in; this is what our team put together…

Swiss Steak with Barley Pilaf and Glazed Turned Squash– we won first place in this heat of the Olympics 🙂

We’ve also learned to make several different kinds of pasta…

Here’s a pic of me pressing out some pasta…

Over the course of the block we have been working on our Kcomp plates.  This is quite an ordeal… each person had to choose a protein, plan a menu plate around that protein, and then size and cost it out for two plates.  We had 6 practices over the past 4 weeks to get ready for it.

I chose lamb as my protein and this was my menu…

Oven Roasted Lamb Rack with Mushroom Port Pan Sauce, Celery Root Puree, Crispy Mushroom and Lamb Stuffed Potato Croquette with Mushroom/Lamb Stuffed Mushroom Cap, Mushroom Ratatouille Style Vegetable Stew, Broccolini with Butter and Herbs

Basically, all your ingredients have to be scaled to the exact grams needed so, when you step into your station it’s ready to be fabricated and cooked.   We’re only allowed 60 minutes to cook and then 10 minutes more to plate and present it to the judges.

This was my cart as I was weighing ingredients and getting all my equipment together…

The goal is to get a GOLD- which means you’ve cooked every item exactly perfect and it’s in to the judges on time!  It’s pretty intense, actually.

Out of the 11 in our class we placed 5 bronze, 3 silver, and 1 gold medal AND I was super happy to receive the GOLD for my plate 🙂  Whoo-hoo!!

It was so ingrained into my head that that night I had dreams (or nightmares) about each step and exactly how I had to execute them all to complete it on time!

I was SO happy to have it all come together and fall into place… practice the day before was horrible for me so, ya just never know if it’s all going to work in your favor. Overall, it was a great experience, a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun too.

Whew… that was a long post!

I hope you might be inspired to give this Lamb Chop with Mushroom Spaetzel a try… it’s so delicious plus it’s always fun to try something new too.

Spring-time and Easter are the perfect time of year to serve a decadent rack of lamb!

Happy Monday and Happy Cooking!

xoxo~ Ruthie