Anne Morgan You bake Delia Smith’s lamb chops in a hot oven, with a little chopped onion tucked around them. This is her Oven-baked Lamb Chops with Onion and Rosemary Sauce, for 4 people, and the sauce cooks on the hob at the same time. Allow about an hour, but the oven does most of the work.
Delia first wrote it for Sainsbury’s Magazine, and it is on her website today. It is one of her simplest lamb dishes, because the chops need no browning and no turning.
The sauce is pale and soft, with a gentle taste of rosemary. Half of it is blended smooth, so it still has a little texture from the onion.
Delia Smith’s Oven-Baked Lamb Chops
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings10
minutes45
minutes520
kcalLoin chops baked on the top shelf of a hot oven with chopped onion. They come with a creamy sauce of slowly softened onion and finely chopped rosemary.
Ingredients
- For the chops:
8 lamb loin chops
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the sauce:
1 large onion, peeled and chopped small
1 rounded tablespoon rosemary leaves
25g (1oz) butter
25g (1oz) plain flour
175ml (6fl oz) milk
175ml (6fl oz) vegetable stock
2 tablespoons whipping or double cream
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- To garnish:
sprigs of watercress
Directions
- Oven: Heat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas mark 6.
- Chops: Put the chops in a shallow roasting tin and tuck the small chopped onion around them. Season them with salt and pepper.
- Bake: Bake them on the highest shelf of the oven, for 30 minutes if you like them pink or 45 minutes if not.
- Onion: Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Cook the large onion over a very gentle heat for 5 minutes.
- Rosemary: Bruise the rosemary leaves with a pestle and mortar, chop them very finely and add them to the onion. Cook gently, uncovered, for another 15 minutes, without letting the onion brown much.
- Sauce: Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the milk a little at a time, then the stock, stirring hard and finishing with a balloon whisk.
- Simmer: Season the sauce and let it barely simmer for 2 minutes. Take it off the heat, blend half of it, then stir it back into the rest with the cream.
- Keep warm: Taste and check the seasoning, then pour the sauce into a warm jug. Cover the surface with cling film until the chops are ready.
- Serve: Serve the chops with the sauce poured over and a few sprigs of watercress.
Notes
- Bruising the rosemary in a pestle and mortar releases its oil, so do not skip it.
- My own tip is to pick chops of the same size, so they all finish cooking at the same time.
FAQs
How long should lamb chops bake in the oven?
At 200°C, give them 30 minutes for pink meat or 45 for well done. Delia says she doesn’t mind the middle being cooked through, because she likes the skin crisp.
Her second How to Cook book gives 30 to 40 minutes at the same heat. The time depends on the size and thickness of the chops, so thick chump chops need longer, my own view.
What can I use instead of the sauce?
A quick gravy from the tin. In the same book, Delia says that after baking the chops you can pour wine, cider or stock into the roasting tin. Stir it over the heat to lift the juices, and you have a gravy.
This is the way to go when you are short of time, because the sauce takes about 25 minutes.
Is the sauce in any of her books?
Yes, almost the same. Her How to Cook Book One prints this Rosemary and Onion Sauce next to a leg of lamb. She says it also suits lamb chops, or bangers and mash.
The book version uses crème fraîche instead of cream. It also simmers for 5 minutes, not 2, before you blend part of it.
How do I make her lamb chops with roasted vegetables?
This one-tray supper for 2 is on her website, from her Guide to Meat Cookery. Curl the tails of 4 lamb chops (110g each) into rounds on an oiled tray, about 30 x 38cm. Then season them, sprinkle on a level teaspoon each of chopped rosemary and thyme, and roast them at 200°C for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, halve 4 small carrots and 2 small parsnips lengthways, and cut 2 red potatoes (175g in all) into wedges. Toss them with 4 whole garlic cloves, 8 small onions cut like water lilies, the herb sprigs and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then put them around the chops and roast everything on the top shelf for 35 minutes more.
Lift everything onto a plate, then bubble 150ml of wine, stock or cider in the tray for a minute and pour it over.
What other lamb chop recipes does Delia have?
Her One is Fun book has two for one person. Lamb Chops Baked with Aubergines has a Greek taste from cinnamon and oregano. Baked Lamb with Garlic cooks two loin chops with a potato in one dish.
To grill loin chops, her mustard and sugar glaze from her lamb cutlets works too, at about 10 minutes a side. If you came looking for a rack of lamb, that page explains why she cuts it into cutlets.
What does Delia serve with lamb chops?
At home she serves these with tiny steamed new potatoes, tossed in a teaspoon of the lamb fat and some snipped chives. With them go young peas or broad beans.
That makes it a good summer supper, when new potatoes, peas and broad beans are all in season, my own view.
