Recipe of the month - Lamb chops with dried fruits

- Yoav Cohen

Monday, February 9^th, was the Jewish “Tu Bishvat” holiday. One of this holiday’s customs is eating dried fruits (as it was the only way for the Jewish people in exile to enjoy the fruits of Israel).

The recipe below is my personal version of a North African Jewish dish.

Ingredients:

* 8 x Lamb chops
* 5 x Shallots – roughly chopped.
* Olive oil
* 300 gram (or more) of dried fruits – apricots, raisins, prunes, dates, figs or other. Cut into bite size.
* Salt (Preferably sea salt) / Black pepper
* ½ cup sweat white Wine
* 1 teaspoon minced Ginger
* 2 Cinnamon sticks

Preparation:

* Preheat oven to 180^° Celsius. Season chops with salt and pepper
* In a frying pan heat olive oil over high heat and sear well lamb chops from both sides. Set chops aside.
* In the same pan add the shallots and fry them until golden (2-3 minutes).
* Add the dried fruits, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and keep tossing for another 2 minutes.
* Carefully add the wine while scratching the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon and let it reduce.
* In a heat proof dish arrange both the chops and the fruits mixture and cover loosely with aluminum foil.
* Place in the over for an hour.

Serve over Couscous or rice.