Transcript: Lamb Chops

Budget Health Nut
Episode “Lamb Chops”

Joe Dias: Hi, and welcome to Budget Health Nut. I am your host Joe Dias and today our premier show. We are going to roll out one of my favorite dishes. Which are Lamb chops, accompanied by a side of steamed asparagus. I love asparagus it’s so good. And on top of that, some nice redskin mashed potatoes.
Joe Dias: I can’t wait to bring you in the kitchen, our whole point of this show really, to not only save you some money, but also to show you how to cook healthy in your own kitchen either for a date, or for your own family. Lamb chops are fine cut loin, reduced fat we will say, style of lamb. There very meaty, very rich. A nice good red meat that you might be able to sink your teeth into.
What is it? $10 for 1 1/3 pound of chops. As I unwrap them for the first time. I just picked these up today actually. The butcher told me something really interesting to be honest with you. He said that more we than not, you want to separate the lamb with more butcher paper. Because what ends up happening is the ascorbic acid in the meat makes it brown.
Man I love the feel of butcher paper. It feels good it beats opening up the plastic or Styrofoam and things like that. It’s awesome. And the crinkle, I just dig it you know, I jut dig it. I am not a big fan of salt. And I think that we maybe as Americans have counted on salt quiet a bit to try to bring out the flavor of our meal. Now I am not going to say that I am not going to use salt at all. But I think as we powder some of things with a lot of different things. I think that salt doesn’t need to be incorporated. Let the meats speak for themselves, let the flavor come out.
What we are also going to do is just sauté and pay careful attention to using olive oil as opposed to butter. Butter, just for your information is, a hundred calories per tablespoon. As opposed to olive oil which is much less, right around 64 calories per table spoon. And butter is also a saturated fat, which is not good for the old ticker.
Again both sides because you are going to be tasting both sides of the meat. I like to go ahead, especially with herbs, to crumble them up with my fingers a little bit, because that releases the flavor. Some chervil, you can again be generous with that. We are going to go ahead and sear the lamb. What we are going to do when we sear is, we are going to make sure; again the pan that we use is hot. So that way as soon as it hits the olive oil, it will sear in that flavor, and really bring richness to it.
Then after the searing, we are only going to do about a minute per side till it gets that golden flavor that golden color trapped in there. Then we are going to go ahead and pop it into the oven which I have preheated about 350 or 375. So let’s go ahead and add some olive oil to our pan. And as it heats up, again we are only going to use about a few tablespoons, because we only have four chops here. Make sure you spread it around in there so that you touch all the sides of the meat. And in about a minute, minute and a half we are going to go ahead and flip these over.
So we can get that going now. The trick with mash potatoes is, actually put them in cooler water first, and dice them into smaller pieces so that way. Number one you don’t want to pop them into boiling water. Because it will do the same thing it does with that meat. It will flash freeze the outside of that potato and make your potatoes lumpy.
You want to put them in room temperature or colder water after you chop them up. Oh yeah, see these are getting good. Lets turn down the heat a little bit, as these are getting nice and toasty. Very good, very good. Pull them off the heat. Go ahead and pop those in there, we are going to put those In there for about eight to ten minutes, depending on if you like them a little more well done or not.
And this is going to take about three minutes to go ahead and warm up. And we are going to want to coat it with the olive oil. And you will know it’s done when the onion gets translucent. Go in there, and don’t be afraid to get in there and use some of your forearm, because you know that’s what it’s all about. A good way to do that is just get to the edge, flip it around. I am going to add a little sugar to caramelize with the onions.
You got to feed the machine you know, and this boy can eat a lot. But just to let you know, the normal portion size, you can take a look at the palm of your hand and what ever fits in there, as far as meats concerned, is really going to be what you should focus on to stay healthy. Ok now that’s looking good, let’s go ahead and add our baby portabella mushrooms. This is going to add the earthy flavor. I love mushrooms. Love them. And when those mushrooms start to get, again nice and brown. Is when this bad boy is done. Lets turn on the heat a little bit.
Again steaming preferred to boiling, its going to save a lot of nutrients in there, its going to look real good. Once they get steamed they get really tender. I really don’t like using on these nice metal pans, metal on metal. But if you’re really careful I will let you slide okay. Look at that bad boy. Even some of the fat drained put already out into the olive oil. So really your pulling this out of its own juices.
I am going to go ahead and make these, again this is my plate so I will take, and I will take the big one. I think we are ready to go to the table lets plate it up. Here we are back at the table, and be careful because it’s pretty hot coming right off the stove. This is Ashley Colpaart our guest here. She is a registered Dietician?
Ashley Colpaart: I am
Joe Dias: What is your total title?
Ashley Colpaart: I am a registered dietician as well as a licensed dietician.
Joe Dias: What do you think a plate like this might run as far as calories, versus what we have here eating out?
Ashley Colpaart: This meal altogether would run you about 2,000 calories in a restaurant. Which a lot of people that’s there caloric intake for the day. There limit. So what we have here is I think we are running about 1.200 calories after we calculated it all out. So we are doing pretty well, that’s really good. Especially if that’s going to be your main meal of the day.
Joe Dias: So what we are looking at is mainly eating lighter meals with breakfast. Going into a little bit of heavier meal for lunch to give you some energy through out the day. And then sitting down, earlier in the evening, sitting down to a nice healthy meal like this.
Ok, cool. So far we are looking good at 1,200?
Ashley Colpaart: That’s pretty good.
Joe Dias: And your comparing its about 2,000 at a diner or maybe a name brand restaurant.
Ashley Colpaart: Oh yeah and sometimes you can maybe get even to 3,000 calories in some of those meals. They are serving it on a real big plate and your getting about four portions of meat in some of those servings. So you really need to watch serving size.
Joe Dias: And from what Ashley is telling me its pretty advantageous to…
Ashley Colpaart: To have a salad. And its always a good idea to eat a salad before your meal because its going to fill you up a little bit so that your not consuming a whole lot of your main part of our meal. You can always save some of your main part of your meal for another meal. So that’s always a great idea.
Joe Dias: For left over’s or maybe a late night snack.
Ashley Colpaart: Exactly the caloric intake for a salad is pretty low, as long as you easy on the dressing.
Joe Dias: Easy on the dressing. And even fat free dressing kind of fools you because they add some sugar in there to cover up for fat…
Ashley Colpaart: As well as a lot of sodium.
Joe Dias: A lot of sodium.
Ashley Colpaart: I always use balsamic vinegar, with some olive oil. Easy on the olive oil. And high on the balsamic vinegar.
Joe Dias: And some cracked pepper, add salt to taste.
Joe Dias: Would you like a cup?
Ashley Colpaart: Yes I would, there is also a lot of flavinoids in wine and there really good for the heart. A glass of red wine a day, good for your heart.
Joe Dias: That and a aspirin and your looking pretty much at the AMA standard. Well, lets dig in here and again be careful it’s a little steamy so. I think I am going to go ahead and try some of the meat first.
Ashley Colpaart: Uh huh, me too.
Joe Dias: I am going to go ahead and try some of the filet side first.
Ashley Colpaart: And you seared and baked that, those are two methods that are really good for cooking. Easy on the oil.
Joe Dias: Good, good, thank you for your tips especially. Ashley Colpaart again our registered dietician here. We are going to head on out for this show. And I look forward to having you back here for the next show. I think we are going to go ahead and showcase a chicken dish. You come back and find out, I would love to have you here. Lets dig in huh?
Ashley Colpaart: Mmm, thanks.
Joe Dias: I am going to have some of this wine.