Braai Lamb Chops Provençal
Lamb chops grilled over wood coals with herbes de Provence — the perfect summer braai.
Serves
4
Prep
10 min + 2 hours marinating
Cook
15 min
Difficulty
Easy
The braai and the Provençal summer arrived at the same terrace by different routes. The braai is South African — a wood fire, a grill, and a philosophy about the right way to cook meat outdoors that involves patience, a cold drink, and the very firm view that gas does not count. The herbes de Provence are local: thyme, rosemary, savory, oregano growing wild in the garrigue, cut and dried and blended with the kind of confidence that only centuries of repetition produce.
Lamb is the natural meeting point. Provence has always eaten lamb — the flocks that graze on the high pastures of the Luberon and the Alpilles produce meat that is perfumed by the wild herbs underfoot. Marinated in olive oil and the herbs of the hillside, grilled over wood coals with a branch of rosemary thrown directly onto the embers for fragrance, these chops are as Provençal as anything that came out of a kitchen.
The only rule is wood coals. No exceptions.
Ingredients
- •8 lamb chops
- •4 tbsp olive oil
- •2 tbsp herbes de Provence
- •3 cloves garlic, crushed
- •Juice of 1 lemon
- •Fleur de sel
- •Fresh rosemary for the coals
🐸 Marcel says:
The chops should sizzle the moment they hit the grill. If they don't, your coals aren't hot enough. Wait. Patience makes better braai.
Instructions
- 1
Mix olive oil, herbes de Provence, garlic, and lemon juice in a bowl.
- 2
Coat the chops thoroughly. Marinate for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.
- 3
Light your fire. Wood coals are essential — charcoal is acceptable, gas is not.
- 4
When the coals are grey and glowing, place the chops on the grill.
- 5
Throw a sprig of rosemary directly onto the coals for fragrance.
- 6
Cook for 4–5 minutes per side for medium. Rest for 5 minutes.
- 7
Finish with a generous pinch of fleur de sel.
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