A proper Kiwi lamb chop

I was horrified when I recently discovered that, of the 33 recipes in the 'sauces and marinades' chapter, I had done precisely zero. Since there's clearly some catching up to do here, I got myself a couple of lamb chops and set about making a marinade.

Kiwifruit marinade (p190) is a mixture of finely chopped kiwifruit, honey, grated ginger and crushed peppercorns. I mixed this up and smeared it over the lamb chops - the recipe said to leave it for at least 15 minutes, but it was probably closer to an hour before I got around to putting them under the grill.

I put the chops under the grill for about six minutes per side - which, according to my Edmonds book, should be approximately correct for medium-grilled chops. Meanwhile, I bustled around sorting out some veges.

It was only when I was taking out the chops that I realised I'd forgotten to put the crushed peppercorns into the marinade - so really it only had three ingredients, but it still tasted really good.

The marinade gave a nice sweet flavour to the chop, and was very successful in tenderising the meat - the chops were tender and came apart easily. I found that perhaps 6 minutes per side was not quite long enough for my taste: the meat was still quite rare in the centre.

I actually put the second chop back in, intending to grill it for another two or three minutes on each side, but (typically) I forgot all about it, and only came running back into the kitchen when I smelt burning. Luckily, it was mostly the protruding bones in the chop that were scorched: the meat wasn't really burnt. I had the chop for lunch today, and, as often happens, it was even nicer eaten cold the next day.

If you love lamb chops like I do, it's worthwhile playing around a bit with marinades: they tenderise as well as favouring. Have a look in your Edmonds book for inspiration - I would never have thought of using kiwifruit in a marinade otherwise!