Turkish Spice Rubbed Lamb Chops for Tyler Florence Fridays

I needed a quick and easy recipe for my Tyler Florence Fridays pick this week and one that would pair well with the Curried Couscous I posted yesterday for Barefoot Bloggers. With a house guest this week, I wanted to get these two events taken care of so that we weren't tied to certain meals and could do whatever we want. I stumbled across Tyler's recipe for Turkish Spice Mix, which is from How to Boil Water and the combination of spices sounded great. Tyler used the mix on a leg of lamb but I found some beautiful double lamb loin chops that I thought it would be perfect on for a simple dinner with a Middle Eastern flair. 

Turkish Spice Mix

Tyler Florence

(Makes 1/4 cup)

3 tablespoons allspice berries
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1-inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon cloves

Combine the spices in a spice mill or clean coffee grinder and grind to a powder. Store in an air-tight container.

For Lamb Chops: (Serves 2-3)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place Turkish Spice Rub on a plate. Take 6 double lamb loin chops and brush or spray lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge lamb chops in spice mix, lightly pressing mix into each chop and shake off any excess. Place on a baking sheet and bake until desired doneness (about 20 minutes for medium rare).

Notes/Results: Excellent! The mix is delicious and really compliments the lamb, (it would be good on beef as well). Baked, the lamb chops turned out tender and juicy and were the perfect pairing with yesterday's couscous. A keeper spice rub and a quick, simple dish for Tyler Florence Fridays. You can see what delicious recipes the other TFF members chose and what they thought of them by going to the TFF site, here.