Parmesan Crusted Lamb with Warm Fennel and Red Pepper Salad

It’s Day 8 and we’re still in Sydney.  We’ve called in to visit Tania from My Kitchen Stories.  Tania is a professional chef who gave up working those long hours when she became a mother.  She still works in the food industry working more regular hours as a food product manager but also does catering and teaches cooking classes.

Parmesan Crusted Lamb Cutlets with Warm Salad and Potato Mash

Parmesan Crusted Lamb Cutlets with Warm Salad and Potato Mash

I first met Tania through her blog and a friendship developed and today that friendship is not just a cyber-relationship, it’s a real-life friendship.  Tania’s blog is all about food and travel.  And Tania has done a lot of both; travelling to exotic or remote locations where she would be be employed as a cook and out of a tent structure produce fabulous meals for all the tourists.

Ready for action

Ready for action

Tania’s other great love is animals and firmly believes no animal should be neglected or mistreated.  She has worked as a volunteer at an elephant refuge in Thailand, looking after elephants that needed to be rescued.

Lamb cutlets with a parmesan crumb

Lamb cutlets with a parmesan crumb

If you haven’t read Tania’s blog, you’ll really enjoy it as she tells very funny stories about her mother’s appalling cooking skills, her overseas misadventures and being the mother of a of a very loud and budding musician.  But it’s not only about the stories because then there’s the food!  Being a professional chef, the recipes she puts on her blog are mostly her own.  When I’m needing to put a meal on the table I’ll often go to Tania’s blog for inspiration – she has great family-style meals that neither require a list of complicated ingredients nor are too challenging to create.

Parmesan Crusted Lamb Cutlets

Parmesan Crusted Lamb Cutlets

Tania is also brilliant at making cakes.  You should have a look through her blog to see the range of very creative cakes she has made for family, friends and clients.  A few she has done recently are a bonfire, a poker machine, a Bible and a bunch of flowers.

A wonderful family meal

A wonderful family meal

But we’re not making any of Tania’s cakes today; we’re cooking something every good Aussie would enjoy.  When I was growing up lamb was the most common meat served around the family table and on Sunday’s it was a leg of lamb served as the family roast and during the week it was lamb chops cooked under the griller and served with mashed potatoes and peas.

Parmesan Crusted Lamb Cutlets

Parmesan Crusted Lamb Cutlets

This is a more sophisticated version of the lamb chop, peas and mash meal.  It’s lamb cutlets coated in a parmesan crust with a fennel and red pepper warm salad.  Old habits die hard and so I served this with mashed potato.  Unfortunately lamb is not the budget meal it once was and lamb is now quite expensive.  This is more of a special occasion meal than something we would eat most nights of the week.

Cooked for just a minute or two each side

Cooked for just a minute or two each side

5.0 from 7 reviews
Parmesan Crusted Lamb with Warm Fennel and Red Pepper Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Lamb
Cuisine: Australian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Parmesan crusted lamb cutlets with a warm fennel and red pepper salad.
Ingredients
  • For the Cutlets:
  • 8 cutlets
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • ¼ cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • seasoning
  • ½ cup plain flour
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 tbspns olive oil
  • For the Salad:
  • 2 tbspn olive oil + 3tbspns extra
  • 1 red onion, finely diced
  • 2 cups of fennel cut into large squares - 2cm or 1 inch
  • 1 red capsicum cut into the same sized squares
  • ½ cup finely chopped parsley
  • ½ cup seeded green olives
  • 1 tbpsn balsamic glaze
  • 1 tbspn dijon mustard
  • seasoning
Instructions
  1. For the Cutlets:
  2. Combine the bread crumbs and parmesan and seasoning. Mix well. Dip the cutlets first in flour, then in egg wash, then in the crumb mixture.
  3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat and add olive oil.
  4. Cook cutlets in batches for a couple of minutes on each side or until golden. Remove and rest on paper towel.
  5. For the Salad:
  6. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add olive oil.
  7. Add onion and cook until softened.
  8. Add fennel and saute until starting to brown.
  9. Add red pepper and cook until pepper is starting to look a little scorched.
  10. Remove from heat and place capsicum mixture into a serving bowl.
  11. Combine parsley, olives, oil, balsamic glaze, dijon and seasoning in a bowl and stir well.
  12. Pour over capsicum mixture and serve warm.

If you’d like to follow Tania you’ll find her at My Kitchen Stories and you can also follow her on Instagram.

A wonderful family meal

A wonderful family meal

Tomorrow, we’re going up in smoke.

 

Comments

  1. Oh my gosh Charlie I am so humbled that you would write about me. Thank you. It has been a pleasure to know you are just around the corner even though I dont get to see you enough. Lamb is definately an expensive dish these days but I have to say your dinner looks delicious. Thank you Charllie. When are we haveing lunch anyway?

  2. Up in smoke? I shall look out for that!

    I do love fennel and serving it warm with red pepper sounds lovely – perfect for autumn here as well as spring for you 🙂

  3. I admit to a wee tad of envy over your access to such beautiful and legendary lamb. I just don’t have a source that is consistent. My husband is Macedonian and a vegetarian, but wave a piece of lamb in front of the man and his roots shine through. He would love this recipe.

    • [Sunday laughter!] . . . Well, Vicki, if you can convince Norman so easily, why not have a go at Zack also and go hunt for some yummy ‘baa-baa’ and pretend the dish consists of green matters 🙂 ! Yes, we are ‘lucky’ but also ‘yes’ just about every other ‘protein is cheaper’!!!! This IS lovely tho’ !!!!!

  4. These little lamb cutlets look so good! This is not something that we make often as do you know how many lamb cutlets I would need to make to keep a hungry teenager satisfied?

  5. Love Tania’s cake creations as well! And your take on her lamb cutlets looks equally delicious!

  6. I’ve only recently started eating lamb and it was because of our trip to Morocco where they eat a lot of lamb. It’s also very expensive here next matter if it’s New Zealand lam or right from our own backyard.
    I think JT would love this dish and it looks perfect for a Sunday meal.

  7. I have never eaten lamb. Beef from our farm was the meat of choice when I was growing up.

  8. I love lamb but have had it so rarely that I savour every morsel when I get it. Your crumb coating will keep it nice and moist. I’ve never tried fennel so I have to pass on that part of the menu for now. 🙂

  9. This is brilliant! This is what I would have said about Tania if I were as clever as you. I think her recipes are the bomb and I’ve made several too. They’re always easy to follow and turn out just like she says they will.

  10. I love Tania’s honest writing and her very obvious passion for food. I also love the look of those chops. Crumbed chops were quite a favourite when I was a kid.

  11. Fantastic, yummy recipe guys! Tania is so lovely isn’t she Charlie? It’s wonderful to have such sincere, real friends found through the blogging community xox

  12. I’m not a huge fan of lamb, something about eating it every day for over a decade prob had something to do with that. Although…. The other evening I went for a degustation dinner and the main was lamb cutlets, I ate the whole dish up, and it was surprisingly delicious. So maybe I will add them back on the menu and have a crack at this little recipe. Thanks Charlie. 🙂

  13. I never knew all the fun facts about Tania! I now like her even more. And this would be a Bill approved meal…he adored lamb!

  14. I’m not a huge fan of lamb, but this looks delicious. And what a beautiful meal!

  15. Tania is such a lovely soul! Lamb cutlets are such a classic family favourite 😀

  16. Same here – lamb was the most common meat on our menu too while growing up. I love Tania’s blog. She is a great chef and has great travel stories too.

  17. That’s the second time today I read about Tania. =) She and her blog must be special.
    The lamb chops by the way look super delicious Charlie. I would love it for dinner, especially since I have never really tasted lamb.

  18. Lamb is so expensive in Minnesota/America…
    but one of my all time favorites.
    This looks exquisite! xx

  19. Tania is a PIRATE and I love her to bits! Great post Charlie and delicious looking lamb! Look forward to catching up in November! x

  20. They look so delicious and so simple… I will give Tania’s blog a look, but you are making it very difficult for me Charlie!!!! I think I am going to have to dedicate one day a week just to looking at and commenting on blogs! there are so many great ones!!! Liz x

  21. Charlie, you write great introduction of the persons! You are always a great writer, but you do very well to describe about a person too. This was such a great introduction to Tania and her blog and I enjoyed getting to know her blog. Not to mention, I enjoyed viewing your delicious looking Parmesan crusted lamb!

Trackbacks

  1. […] Day 9 of our 10-Day Tour and we’re still in Sydney.  A few suburbs away from Tania (where we were yesterday) is Lorraine, Australia’s Uber-Blogger from Not Quite […]

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