I also wanted to make some sweet potato stacks (I admit, I fell for one of those Reels on Facebook). So I served those with the lamb and just a handful of green beans left from this week's dinners.
I pulled three of my cookbooks off the shelves (I'm trying not to use the Internet!) The Chef and the Slow Cooker, The Italian Slow Cooker and Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Fast and Slow and chose the simple one by Michele Scicolone. It really was for lamb shanks (as shanks usually take the slow cook method), but I knew this would work well with the thick chops from the freezer.
Rinse and fully dry the chops. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sear them on all sides in a skillet or Dutch oven in rosemary olive oil.
Chop one or two medium carrots, one medium onion, one or two celery ribs and 4 garlic cloves. Place them in the slow cooker with a a sprig or two of rosemary on top. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of an infused balsamic, such as Neapolitan (or even maple, chocolate or one of the dark fruity ones.) Place the seared chops on top of the vegetables.
Mix together one cup of beef broth, one cup of dry red wine, 2 T. tomato paste (I used 1 tablespoon each of tubed tomato and vegetable pastes). Pour on top of the lamp and vegetables. Turn to high (8 hours).
Rinse and drain four cups of white beans (I used both Northern and Cannellini beans.) Set them aside.
Make the gremolata by chopping 1/4 cup fresh parsley and mincing two garlic cloves. Add 1 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest.
When done cooking, remove the shanks to a serving platter. Mix the beans with the sauce. (The recipe actually calls for skimming the fat from the sauce. If using shanks, this would be necessary. It wasn't with the chops.) Put half the gremolata in the sauce and garnish the dish with the other. Serve.
Serve with Herbed Sweet Potato Stacks.
Of course, serve with a rich red wine. This one was Barrel Heist Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon from Lodi, California.
