RECIPE: Mint and Spice-Rubbed Lamb Cutlets

In a nod to my heritage, I bring you a simple lamb dish that can be pre-prepared from the nigh before or simply spice-rubbed 15 minutes before you cook them in the oven. We Iranians love using fresh mint and dried mint in our cookery. Fresh mint produces a wonderful, almost Alpine-fresh, minty coolness whilst dried mint imparts a warm, woody mint-heat that we combine with yoghurt and add to salads also.

This is such an easy supper and lately I have been doing a lot of cooking for friends and lamb seems to be a well-liked meat amongst my peers so I always try and come up with a new and interesting way in which to season/marinade it. Spice rubs are one of my favourite ways to impregnanate flavour onto meat; wet marinades are all very well but often fiddly, smelly and messy so this kind of flavouring works perfectly for me when I'm feeling lazy.

Mint and Spice-Rubbed Lamb Cutlets
6-8 lamb cutlets/chops
2 heaped teaspoons of dried mint
2 heaped teaspoon of dried cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon of cinammon powder
1 heaped teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 heaped teaspoon of garlic powder
A generous drizzle of olive oil
**oven paper**

Place your lamb cutlets into a large bowl and empty all your spices, mint and oil before mixing well and giving each cutlet a good rub with the spices and mint ensuring each one gets an even coasing. Leave overnight or use straight away. Preheat your oven on to it's highest temperature or even better, if you have a grill then please use it! Line an oven tray with oven paper and once your oven is nice and hot, roast or grill your cutlets for 8-10 minutes each side. Grill takes less time and produce a much better result but the oven version is still a great 2nd. BBQ-ing the lamb cutlets would produce the most fantastically charred result! Perfect with potatoes, rice or a little salad on the side. Actually wait... salad is for wimps! Potatoes and rice it is!