Lamb Chop with Zucchini Ragout & Minted Burghul

Today we’re making Lamb Chop with Zucchini Ragout & Minted Burghul. This low GI recipe gives you the contrast of soft tender lamb chops, with firm burghul interspersed with bursts of fresh mint.

Burghul is known by a few different names including Bulgur (its Turkish name) or cracked wheat and is popular in lots of West Asian dishes. You can find Burghul in most health food stores and large supermarkets. Cooked burghul has a GI of around 48 (low), making it a lower-GI alternative to Cous Cous. If you allow the burghul to remain a little crunchy, it will be lower GI again.

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 8 lamb chops
• olive oil – 1 tablespoon
• 8 small zucchinis
• a punnet of cherry tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 cup stock
• 1 cup wine
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 cup red lentils dry

Method:

• Sprinkle paprika, salt and spread crushed garlic over lamb chops
• Cook on a very hot grill with olive oil or a frypan till browned on all sides
• Add onion and continue to cook till brown.
• Remove chops into a casserole pot
• Pour half a cup of the red wine over the onion/ garlic mix on the grill to deglaze
• Add onion and wine to the casserole pot
• Add chopped zucchini, tomato, stock, wine, water and the lentils
• Stir roughly
• Cover and cook at 180 degrees for 40 minutes
• Place a completely metal strainer or steaming dish over the cooked ragout and fill with 1 cup burghul
• Pour some of the pot liquid over and stir (about a cup)
• Cover with the casserole lid and return to the oven
• The juices which steam up and the liquid will give the burghul the flavour of the stew.
• It will be cooked after about 5-10 minutes. It’s nice with a mild chewiness to it
• Remove from the oven, and put the cooked burghul into a bowl
• Stir in the mint leaves and parsley, squeeze half a lemon over it and serve with chops piled on top!

Credit, this recipe is inspired by the original written by Libby.