This past weekend I attended the opening day of the Brookside Farmers Market. This market features some great vendors with great local products. 
Some of the vendors included Wells Family Farms, Nutressent, Bread of Life Bakery and offered locally raised meat and eggs, homemade soaps, homemade breads, all the greens you can imagine and much more including Green Dirt Farms fresh sheep’s milk cheese, which looks to be a favorite of the day.
Slow Food Kansas City hosted a tent that shared information on their organization and also had a cooking demonstration from Chef Jasper Mirabile of Jasper’s Restaurant. Chef Jasper grilled a rack of lamb from Homespun Hills farm from Baldwin City, KS.
I have a couple of lamb chops in my freezer I have been trying to find a recipe for and this is it! In addition to the lamb, Chef Jasper also made a pasta dish using fresh spring garlic from Blue Door Farms. This pasta dish could not have been any simpler and I cannot wait to make these dishes at home. The lamb recipe is from Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook.
Nana Jo’s Grilled Lamb Chops
3 (1 pound) racks of lamb
4 to 5 mint sprigs
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup mint jelly
2 to 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
brown sugar to taste
Trim any excess fat from racks of lamb and cut away any excess tissue from the long, thin bones. Cut each rack of lamb along each bone into individual chops. Each 1-pound rack should yield about 8 chops.
In medium mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the olive oil, mint jelly, garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, and brown sugar to taste. Reserve some of the mint sauce in a separate bowl for dipping the cooked chops.
Heat the grill. Place the chops on the grill and cook to your desired doneness, periodically brushing the chops with the mint mixture. Serve the chops hot off the grill with reserved mint sauce.
For the pasta, cook according to package direction and set aside. Heat some olive oil in a pan, slice fresh spring garlic and saute. Toss pasta in olive oil until heated and serve.
If you have a great food find in KC you think I am missing, email me.
In Good Taste,
Sharm