Roast Herby Lamb Chops with Tiny Tatoes

Today I adapted another Nigel Slater recipe to suit the chunky lamb chops I bought from the butcher's at the weekend. I also used it as a good excuse to pop out in the fresh spring afternoon to buy some anchovies, for a marinating herb rub. If you don't like anchovies, you could substitute strong black olives. And if you don't like those, I guess you could ... grow some taste buds!

I serve the lamb with some tiny roast potatoes tucked around the lamb. I'd usually flavour potatoes but the lamb herb rub is very strongly-flavoured so it's best to leave them plain. Also I finished off the last of the ruby salad from Saturday; a spinach salad with a splash of lemon juice would be equally delicious with this. As per usual for food this week, this serves one hungry person!

Ingredients:

• 10 sprigs of fresh mint
• 4 medium cloves of garlic, peeled
• 6 anchovy fillets
• 2 lamb chops
• 1-2 medium potatoes
• 1 tbsp duck fat (or vegetable oil)

Whiz the mint, garlic and anchovies in a small food blender, and grind over a good seasoning of black pepper. Cover the chops with the rub on both sides, and leave in a cool place for a couple of hours - you could do this before you go to work and cook when you get home.

Preheat the oven to 220 C. Scrub and de-eye the potatoes - I never peel them, the skins are the best bit! - then chop into 1cm cubes. Parboil for about 8 minutes, keeping an eye on them. You want to cook them until they'll fluff in the pan when you shake them, and they need to roast in the oven in about 20 minutes, so they should be slightly more done than your usual pre-roast parboil.

Put a roasting tin or pyrex tray in the oven with the dollop of duck fat. Drain the potatoes and shake in their pan to give a good fluffiness. Tip into the tray and toss with a spatula to get a good coating of fat. Nestle the lamb chops in amongst the potatoes, trying to give everything enough space to breathe. Roast for 20 minutes; the rub will soften, the lamb will become tender and pink, and the potatoes will crisp around the edges.