Roughing it in Arizona

Lamb chops and rosemary potatoes.  Photo by Rob Robitaille

Recently, my wife's brother was married in Arizona.  To be honest, I never even considered Arizona a place that I would want to visit.  But after chatting about it with my wife, we decided to extend the wedding trip into a vacation.  I have to admit that I instantly fell in love with Arizona.  Every concept I had about the state turned out to be wrong, in a good way.  The dessert was blooming, birds were everywhere, and the "dry heat" concept is true.  The only time I broke into a sweat was hauling my wife's suit case up two flights of stairs to our second floor room at the inn that we stayed at the first three days.  Other than that, the weather was great.  On top of that, the food was also equally as good.  After the weekend at Fountain Hills, which was a very nice community decorated with many Mercedes, Porches, Ferraris, and at least one Maserati that I could find, we headed south, past Tucson, to the Medera Canyon.  Fountain Hills was nice, but Medera Canyon is my kind of place.  My wife was primarily responsible for planning the vacation, which was fine my me, and she did a great job.  She found the nicest B&B I have ever seen.  If there is a better one out there, you have to prove it to me, because the Chuparosa Bed and Breakfast is the best, in my opinion.  The owners, Luis and Nancy, are top notch.  The fluffy quiches and yogurt parfaits were outstanding, and the inn itself is beautifully maintained and cared for.  After all, it's their home, too.  As with all B&Bs, breakfast is provided (hence the term), but you are on your own for the rest of the meals.  We happened to be about 15 miles from the closest town of Green Valley, so we picked up some groceries to make our own meals, which was great, because hanging out at a great inn, with great people, and getting to cook is my idea of a wonderful vacation.  If you like meeting people from all walks of life, B&Bs are fantastic for that.

Our stay at Chuparosa was proof that you don't need a lot of equipment to make a fantastic meal.  I was armed merely with some good ingredients, salt and pepper, aluminum foil, paper plates for prep, and a wickedly sharp Swiss Army knife (never travel without it).  Much to my joy, Chuparosa has an abundant supply of rosemary bushes, which they were more than happy to share with us.  On the first night staying anywhere that I will be cooking, steak is the traditional celebratory "WE'RE ON VACATION!" meal.  However, I found some nice racks of lamb at the grocery store as well as some nice steaks.  Now my tradition is steak the first night, unless you can find a rack of lamb.  The outdoor cooking area, complete with a monster sized grill, was conveniently located about twenty feet out our door.  The first nights menu, grilled rack of lamb, rosemary potatoes, and a salad which we ate outside in the beautiful, clear, calm day at our own private table.  Very special.

This trip reminded me of one of the basic rules of cooking.  Less is more.  I know, people cringe with that phrase, but it is really true.  Americans, in general, tend to lean toward the mantra of more is better.  More ingredients, bigger portions, etc.  I would rather eat three small lamb chops than a huge steak any day.  Period.  So, let's talk about this lamb, since there is a picture of it above.  If you have never tried lamb, I encourage you to give it a shot.  It is actually quite simple and the only way you can really screw it up is if you over cook it.  You can serve it up to medium, but medium rare is even better.  If you are a well done kind of person, then maybe this isn't for you, because well done lamb is just sad.  While you can find individual lamb chops, which are fine, I prefer to buy a rack of lamb chops because the presentation is better and they are less work because you only have to cook one thing.  They usually come with the bones frenched, meaning cleaned off like you see in the picture.  All you need to do is season the meat and cook them.  I personally like the seasoning Spike Original Magic, which you can find in almost any grocery store. It works well with lamb, but feel free to come up with your own special mix.  The seasoning can be done a while in advance, up to a couple days.  To cook them, you need either a hot grill or heavy pan that is smoking hot.  If you use a grill, it is a good idea to fold a piece of aluminum foil over the bones so they don't burn, which, besides making them ugly, will reduce their usefulness.  After all, the bones are handles.  More on that in a second.  Then, sear each side to make a nice crust.  At this point they will be rare to medium rare depending on how thick the roast is.  If you like them that way, take them off now.  If not, reduce the heat of the grill, or if you are using the pan method, move them into a 325 oven and finish them to a medium.  Remember, as long as they don't go past medium, you are in for a treat.

Then, and this is probably the second most important step besides cooking them properly, let them rest.  Resist the urge to cut into them, because all you will do is dry them out.  Right now, the lamb is hot and the pressure inside is higher than the outside, so if you cut into them, all the wonderful juice will be pushed out leaving you with a puddle and dry chops.  This rule is so important for any cut of meat or poultry, by the way.  So, grab another beer, or have some more wine, or just put your hands in your pockets and give it about 10 minutes.  After that, hold the roast by the bones and cut between each one to separate it into individual chops.  Now you can dig in.  About the handles I talked about, I don't think I have ever seen anyone, even my mom, use a knife and fork on one of these.  Just pick them up and enjoy.  Once you taste one, you will see why the lamb lollipop method is the best.

It has been a few weeks since our trip and I really miss Arizona and my new friends at the Chuparosa, but we have already made reservations for next year, so I have that to look forward to.  In the meantime, I will enjoy the bounty of the farmers market and go forth and boldly cook. And above all, have fun.