Posts tagged sustainable farming

Recipe: Local Lamb Chops with Red Wine Reduction

Local Lamb Chops with Red Wine Reduction… a perfect and well-balanced preparation for our Fat Toaster Farm Jacob Sheep lamb chops. With hints of middle eastern spices, this is one of the most beautiful things you’ll ever put in your mouth. Here is how to make it in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

6-8 small lamb chops (cut 3/4″ – 1″ thick)
1 cup of your favorite red wine
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs canola oil
2 Tbs garlic powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
pinch of fresh ground pepper

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Mix the garlic powder, thyme, cardamom, and cinnamon in a mortar and use pestle to mix up the ingredients and crush the thyme. Lay chops out on a flat surface and place 1/2 of the salt across the surface of one side of the chops. Liberally sprinkle the spice mixture across the surface of the chops. Turn the chops over and season the other side with the other 1/2 of the salt and a coating of the spices.

On the stovetop place a cast iron or other oven-safe 10″ (or larger) saute/frying pan over high heat. When the pan is very hot, put the canola oil in the pan and immediately add the seasoned chops. Sear for 2 minutes on one side, turn the chops, and then place in the preheated oven. Bake for 6 minutes for medium rare (recommended).

Remove pan from oven and immediately move chops to a single layer on a plate. Cover with foil for 5-8 minutes to rest. While the chops are resting you will make your wine reduction sauce. Heat the pan over medium-high heat and add the wine. Use a spoon or whisk to scrape the bits in the bottom of the pan as the wine reduces. When the wine is reduced by at least 1/2, turn off the heat and whisk-in the butter until incorporated. Arrange 2-3 chops per serving and spoon the wine reduction over each chop. Freshly cracked pepper over the top and you have completed this amazing dish.

Wonderful when served with creamy au gratin potatoes or your favorite vegetable.

lamb chops

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Back in Spring, Lambs were born!

I know it is the middle of August, and clearly I’m behind (as usual) in my blogging. I thought you might be interested in our lambs from this spring.

Our Jacob sheep ewes all twinned this year, and in addition we obtained a Shetland ewe with young ram lamb at the side… so in total, we had 7 lambs on the farm. All three of our Jacob ewes lambed when we were away, and without incident. They are wonderful mothers, and their lambs are now happy and healthy. My only complaint? Of the six lambs born here this year, five were pesky boys.

Cecilia was the first to lamb this year on 4/3/10. She had two very healthy 4 horn rams, Calvin and Hobbes.

Calvin, Hobbes, and Cecilia
Zach and Cecilia's CalvinTop photo – Calvin, Hobbes, and Cecilia

Bottom photo - Zach and Calvin

Baby was the second to lamb with a ram (Bocelli “Bo”, 2 horn) and a ewe (Andrea, 4 horn) on 4/8/10

Baby and her lambs, Andrea (top photo) and Bocelli (bottom front)

Baby and her lambs, Andrea (top photo) and Bocelli (bottom front)

And Finally, Roberta came in third a fitting three weeks later with two playful ram lambs on 4/29/10. We dubbed them Conan (2 horn) and O’brien (4 horn)

Roberta with Conan and O'brien

Roberta with Conan and O'brien

And finally, Jasmine, our black Shetland ewe and her white lamb ram. We named him Jasmine’s Aladdin, but his nickname is “little ramb lamb” forevermore. He is now a wether who will live a long life on our farm as a fiber animal. He is a big fuzzy puppy dog of a sheep, and the highlight of anyone’s visit to our farm.
"Little Ram Lamb" Aladdin

"Little Ram Lamb" Aladdin

Of course, it is August as I write this, so all of the lambs have grown significantly.  Many updated photos can be found on the “For Sale” page!
Zach with "Little Lamb Ram" in August, 2010

Zach with "Little Ram Lamb" in August, 2010

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Spring sheep shearing 2010

Our saga began on Friday night as we picked up a friend’s pickup truck complete with a rack/cage in the bed perfectly suited for sheep transportation. It had been raining all week, so we had kept our sheep in the barn for several days to stay dry. My dad arrived at the farm just in time to help me load my three Jacob ewes in the truck. We backed the truck into my barn to keep the ladies dry overnight.

8am rolled around very quickly, and we gingerly drove the sheep over to Hillside Jacobs in Sparta, Michigan where we were going to shear my sheep, Gary’s sheep (Hillside), and one of Gary’s brother’s flock of Columbia sheep.

Setup was relatively simple. The professional shearer needed a 6′ x 6′ footprint, and myself and a few other guys worked to keep the sheep flowing around him. On one side, one of Gary’s brothers helped get the unshorn sheep from the paddock. The shearer took about 4 minutes per sheep, and when done, I grabbed the freshly shorn sheep, brought it over to get a quick vaccination shot (tetanus and a few others), and then returned her to the paddock.

Click here to see a video of my ewe Cecelia getting sheared

Once the fleece was off the sheep, it was carried over to a skirting table where two ladies (Gary’s wife and sister) worked hard to remove the bad or soiled wool and categorize the wool quality. The wool was bagged in individually marked bags so that hand-spinners could know what sheep their wool came from. Wool from the stomach area as well as the rear is usually discarded. Jacob wool is highly prized by hand-spinners for its natural two-tone color and generally good quality.

The shearer worked from around 9am until nearly 5pm without an extended break. Many spectators joined the fun over the course of the day. The Columbia sheep, over 200 pounds, were certainly a huge task when compared to the Jacobs or Shetlands that Gary and I had. It was a busy day, but filled with great learning experiences.

A late lunch was had by those remaining, and we drove our newly naked ladies home to their warm barn.

Lambs are soon to be on the way!

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