I’m heading into work late.  It’s way too cold, icy and snowy to go outside.  In lieu of doing work this morning, I typed up my Sunday dinner menu for you.

Spice Rubbed Lamb Chops

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large lamb shoulder blade chops

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Mix the 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon together. Brush each lamb chop lightly with the olive oil and season with the spice mixture. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chops in the skillet, without crowding until brown and crisp on both sides, about 3 or 4 minutes for both sides. Finish chops in the oven for 1 minute for medium rare, or to desired doneness.

(I substituted cayenne for cloves, which I realize isn’t the same, but worked out very well.)

Chickpea and Leek Soup

5 medium leeks
1 can chickpeas
2 cloves of garlic chopped finely
1 medium potato
4-5 cups of vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan plus extra for garnish
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Dice and boil the potato, set aside.  Clean and slice the leeks, lengthwise and then in narrow strips.  Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed stock pot with the olive oil and add the garlic. Once they begin to soften, add the leeks and a generous pinch of salt.

Once the leeks are soft and smelling good, add the pre-cooked potato and the chickpeas. cook about 2 minutes then add the 2/3rds the broth.  Simmer 15 minutes.  At this point you have to decide how you want to serve the soup – as it is, puréed or semi-puréed. I blend about half of it and ad it back to rest of the soup. Add the rest of the broth to your desired thickness)and the grated Parmesan.  Serve with more grated fresh Parmesan.

I served all of this with butter lettuce salad, as well.

Over all, super easy.  Since there’s only two if us, we usually end up with enough soup for two more meals.  I’ll probably add chicken and mushrooms to it when I reheat it, to keep it new.