Sultan's Delight (or, Braised Lamb over Silky Egglplant Puree)

Lamb is not my go-to meat when I'm thinking about what to make for dinner, but for some reason yesterday I just had to have it. Maybe it's that whole springtime thing. I haven't cooked many of the lamb recipes in the book (although a notable exception is the Hibiscus Marinated Lamb, which was excellent) and truthfully cost is a deterrent, at least for the rib chops.

I was kind of leaning in the stew direction, but ended up with Sultan's Delight, which called for fewer ingredients and has the virtue of being unattended for most of the cooking time.

I was unprepared for the lamb selection at Stop-n-Shop. First, I was surprised they had lamb shanks (I might have gone in that direction instead) and then vexed that they didn't have boneless shoulder. Why? Because they don't cut their own anymore--it's all contracted out. So I bought six bone-in shoulder chops--a little over three pounds thinking that I'd get the two pounds I needed for the braise.

Do you know how much freakin' bone is in bone-in shoulder chops? I might have gotten maybe a little more than a pound of meat, and I cut away tons of fat too. Phooey on Stop-n-Shop.

I was surprised by how incredibly rich the final product was, though considering that you mix your grilled mashed eggplant into a roux thinned with whole milk I guess I shouldn't have been. I had intended for it to be a meal O'Malley and I could eat before karate class, but this meal makes you want to go like this:



with a glass of red wine, not this:



Oh well, life is all about readjusting, and I'll tell you it was GREAT after karate with gin and lime on the rocks while we watched the season finale of Lost.