Grilled Blade Chops over Greek Salad Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Author Notes

This is my version of a recipe we had on the menu at the restaurant I used to work at. I think this is a great summer meal, and tastes best when grilled outside! Allowing the salad to marinate while you cook the chops really lets the flavors of the vegetables shine through. I like my salads to be a touch aggressive with the vinegar, as the fat of the lamb eventually mixes with it, rounding it out, rather than dampening the flavor. Any feta will do here (although a mildly creamy Bulgarian feta is especially nice), but please do buy block feta and crumble it rather than buying the pre-crumbled stuff. It tastes so much better. And serve this with a little grilled pita, and you've got a great one dish meal! —Helen

Test Kitchen Notes

If you have never cooked lamb blade chops before, here's your excuse to go out and buy some. This dish is simple, lush and fresh: summer grilling at its finest. Helen advises "aggressive" seasoning throughout, and we heartily agree -- the right amount of salt and pepper will make this sing. And you will be similarly rewarded if you put together the Greek salad about an hour ahead of time, allowing the vegetables time to release some of their own juices into the dressing. We used about 1/2 cup sliced red onion (more would overwhelm the other salad ingredients) and added 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. - A&M —The Editors

What You'll Need

Ingredients

• The Greek Salad
• 1 large, ripe tomato
  
• 1 hothouse cucumber, peeled
  
• 1 tablespooncapers (rinsed if salt packed)
  
• ¹/₂ red onion
  
• 1 green pepper (or red. or yellow.)
  
• ¹/₂ cupfeta
  
• 1 pinchdried oregano
  
• 4 stuffed grape leaves
  
• 1 dashkosher salt
  
• 1 dashfinely ground black pepper
  
• 1 extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 red wine vinegar
  
• ¹/₂ cupkalamata olives
  

• Lamb
• 2 lamb blade chops
  
• 1 dashdried oregano
  
• 1 dashground coriander
  
• 1 dashkosher salt
  
• 1 dashcoarsely ground black pepper. more like sand than like powder.