Roast Thick Lamb Chops with Roast Carrots and Parsnips

• 2 lamb shoulder chops, cut 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 inches thick (3 pounds total)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons or more coarse sea salt or kosher salt
• 3/4 pound carrots, peeled, trimmed, and sliced into even 3-inch chunks
• 3/4 pound parsnips, peeled, trimmed, and sliced into even 3-inch chunks
• 1 celery stalk, peeled, slit lengthwise, and cut into 3-inch lengths
• 4 plump garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 medium leek, about 8 ounces, trimmed for roasting (see below)
• 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered in wedges, attached at root end
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary needles
• 2 tablespoons (packed) fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons dried porcini, chopped or broken into small bits
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 cups Turkey Broth (page 80), Simple Vegetable Broth (page 288), or water
• A large, heavy-duty roasting pan, 12 by 18 inches preferred
• Aluminum foil

1. Place a rack in the bottom third of the oven and, if possible, another rack in the top third, with enough space on both for the filled roasting pan.
2. Preheat the oven to 425.
3. Trim most of the fat from the chops, leaving only a very thin layer on the outside surfaces.
4. To divide each chop into two pieces, lay it on a flat, cut side so you can see the divisions of the muscles.
5. On one side are muscles attached to rib and backbones; on the opposite are the muscles around the thin shoulder-blade bone.
6. It is easy to see where to separate them, because thick ribs tend to break apart naturally between these musclescooperatively, in the middle.
7. Pull with your fingers to separate the pieces; slice apart the small section of meat that may hold them together.
8. Sprinkle the meat pieces on all sides with salt, and pat it on, using 1/2 teaspoon in all.
9. Put all the cut vegetables, the herbs, porcini, and peppercorns in the pan.
10. Drizzle about 1/4 cup of the olive oil and the remaining teaspoon of salt over and toss and tumble everything together with your hands, distributing the seasonings and oiling all the pieces.
11. Put the lamb pieces in with the vegetables, turn them in the pan, and rub them to coat with more olive oil.
12. Arrange them several inches apart from each other, with vegetables all around, so they will cook and caramelize evenly.
13. Pour the wine and a cup of broth (or water) into the pan; if necessary, add more broth or water to bring the liquid to 1/2-inch depth.
14. Cover the pan with one or more long sheets of aluminum foil, arching the foil if necessary to keep it from touching the meat and vegetables.
15. Crimp the foil around the rim of the pan, and press it tightly against the sides all around, sealing the lamb and vegetables in a tent.
16. Roast for 45 minutes, undisturbed, on the lower rack.
17. Remove the pan, and carefully take off the foil; the pan juices should be bubbling away around the meat and vegetables.
18. With tongs, turn over each piece of lamb as well as the vegetables.
19. Place the pan on the upper oven rack, and roast for about 10 minutes, then turn the lamb pieces over.
20. Roast 10 more minutes and turn again (tumbling the vegetables over too).
21. Roast another 10 minutes, until the lamb is crusty brown all over and has shrunk back from the bones.
22. Remove from the oven, and transfer the lamb pieces to a bowl or platterletting the juices drip back into the pan for a moment.
23. Keep in a warm place, loosely covered with the foil sheet.
24. Set a sieve over a saucepan, and carefully pour the juices out of the roasting pan, leaving the vegetables intact in the pan.
25. Its fine if the small seasonings go into the sieve, but you dont want the vegetables to break.
26. Pick out the bay leaves and discard.
27. Spread the vegetables out in the panthey will still be moistand put them in the oven, on the high rack, to caramelize.
28. Meanwhile, start the sauce: press the juices from any seasonings or solids in the sieve.
29. Skim the fat off the surface of the juices, and set the saucepan over high heat.
30. Bring the juices to a boil, and reduce them by about half, to a slightly syrupy consistency: you should have about 3/4 cup.
31. After 5 minutes or so, check the roasting vegetables: turn them in the pan, and rotate the pan on the rack.
32. Roast until the chunks have crisped on the sides and caramelized on the edges, checking and turning them frequently.
33. If they havent colored nicely in 10 minutes, raise the oven temperature; if they appear dry, drizzle a bit of the sauce or olive oil over them.
34. While the vegetables are roasting, warm a serving platter (or plates).
35. If you want, cut out the blade bone, which protrudes from the meatjust lift the cooked meat off it and remove the bone.
36. Cut the meat off the rib pieces too, or leave them intact (for those who like gnawing bones).
37. To serve family-style, heap the hot vegetables and meat on the serving platter and drizzle some of the sauce over.
38. Or arrange a portion of vegetables in the center of a warm dinner plate, lay one of the lamb pieces on top, and moisten with sauce.
39. Pass the remaining sauce at the table.
40. The vegetables roasted alongside the meat are ideal and delicious as an accompaniment.
41. Some hot polenta (page 215) would be a good addition too.
42. The way I roast, aromatic vegetables fill the pan to lend flavor to the meat during their hours together in the oven.
43. Later, the vegetables are usually mashed and sieved to extract their juices, flavor, and rich pulp for the sauce.
44. I sometimes hate to lose these sweet vegetablesif youve tasted a carrot or onion wedge thats roasted with turkey or pork shoulder, you know what I mean.
45. So I suggest you split the goods and use some to make sauce and save the rest as contorno, as I do in this recipe.
46. You can do the same in any of the roasting recipes in this chapter.
47. Follow these guidelines (and see the preceding lamb recipe for details):
48. Increase the amount of sturdy root vegetables (or add them), such as carrots, parsnips, whole shallots, and rutabagas, as well as celery.
49. Cut 3- or 4-inch-long wedges, evenly thick, at least 1/2 inch, or thicker if they must roast a long time.
50. Short wedges cook through, look good, wont break, and will caramelize on the edges too.
51. Cut onions in wedges, but trim them so the layers remain attached at the root end and they dont fall apart.
52. Cook leeks whole.
53. Use medium-thick leeks (1 1/2 inches); trim off tough leaves; wash thoroughly; trim the hairlike roots, but leave the root base that holds the leaves together.
54. Do not cut the leek crosswise; split the leavesbut not the root endlengthwise.
55. When serving, slice off the root and cut into short lengths.
56. Use thick, big celery stalks; peel to remove tough skin.
57. Cut celery sticks about 1 inch wide, so they dont fall apart.
58. Caramelize the vegetables in the roasting pan after pouring out the pan juices for sauce.
59. Roast them with the meat or by themselves.
60. As detailed in the preceding lamb recipe, vegetables usually need more dry roasting than the meat, because they have been covered in liquid.
61. Speed caramelization by raising the heat or the level of the roasting pan in the oven.

lamb shoulder chops, salt, carrots, parsnips, celery stalk, garlic, onions, bay leaves, rosemary needles, mint, porcini, whole black peppercorns, extravirgin olive oil, white wine, turkey broth, a large, aluminum foil

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/roast-thick-lamb-chops-with-roast-carrots-and-parsnips-384528 (may not work)