Bright, sour and crunchy where lamb dinners are usually heavy

Sumac is the secret handshake of Lebanese cooking — a dried berry, ground to a deep red powder, that tastes like lemon decided to become a spice. Rubbed onto loin chops before a hard sear, it forms a tangy crust that makes grass-fed lamb sing. Underneath goes fattoush, the great bread salad of Lebanon: crisp shards of flatbread, cos, cucumber, tomato, radish and a small hillside of mint and parsley, all tossed at the last second so nothing surrenders its crunch. It's the lamb dinner for a warm evening, and it eats like sunshine.

40 mins 2 servings Prep 25 minsCook 15 minsMain CourseLebanese

Ingredients

  • 4 Your Farmer grass-fed lamb loin chops
  • 3 tsp sumac, divided
  • 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
  • Salt and pepper to season
  • 2 rounds Lebanese flatbread, torn into rough shards
  • 1 baby cos lettuce, roughly chopped
  • 2 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced
  • 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 4 radishes, thinly sliced
  • 2 spring onions, sliced
  • 1/2 cup each mint and flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly torn
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 60ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (optional, but worth finding)
  • 1 small clove garlic, crushed

Instructions

For the fattoush

Heat the oven to 180°C. Toss the flatbread shards with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and bake for 8–10 minutes until golden and completely crisp.

2 rounds flatbread1 tbsp olive oil

Whisk the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, pomegranate molasses, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the sumac and a pinch of salt into a dressing.

juice of 1 lemon60ml extra virgin olive oil1 tbsp pomegranate molasses1 clove garlic

Combine the cos, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, spring onions and herbs in your biggest bowl. Hold the bread and dressing back until the last moment.

1 baby cos2 cucumbers250g cherry tomatoes4 radishes

For the chops

Rub the chops with the remaining oil, then the remaining 2 teaspoons of sumac, salt and pepper.

4 loin chops2 tsp sumac

Heat a grill pan or barbecue to high. Stand the chops on their fat edge for 2 minutes, then cook 3–4 minutes per side for medium. Rest for 5 minutes.

Toss the salad with the dressing and crisp bread now — not a minute earlier — and pile it onto a platter. Serve the chops on top, whole or sliced off the bone, with a final dust of sumac.

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Rich Meat, Sour Spice — Why This Works

Loin chops are the little T-bones of the lamb: tender loin one side of the bone, a nugget of tenderloin the other, and a fat edge that crisps gloriously over high heat. That richness is the whole reason Lebanese cooks reach for sumac. The spice is ground from a dried berry and brings a clean, lemony sourness that doesn't burn off in the pan the way lemon juice does — it toasts into the crust and stays put. Fattoush plays the same role from below: acid in the dressing, crunch from bread and radish, and enough herbs to count as a vegetable in their own right. Rich, sour, crunchy, cool — every bite has all four. The chops come four to a pack in every pasture-raised lamb share, and Your Farmer® grass-fed lamb has the depth of flavour this plate is built around.

Swaps and Variations

Cutlets work at two minutes a side; chump chops take an extra minute. No pomegranate molasses? Add an extra squeeze of lemon and a small pinch of sugar — you'll miss a little of the sticky depth but the salad still sings. Day-old bread of almost any kind can stand in for the flatbread if it's torn thin and baked crisp. In cooler months, swap the fattoush for a warm couscous tossed with the same dressing and herbs. The salad half of this recipe is also a lesson that transfers — the same toss-at-the-last-second discipline drives our Thai beef salad from the other side of the freezer. And a salad this raw-vegetable-heavy is a good argument for eco-grown fruit and veg — when the tomato is the dish, the tomato matters.

Storage and Leftovers

Fattoush does not keep once dressed — the bread's crunch is the point, and it's gone within the hour. Store the components separately instead: crisped bread keeps 3 days in an airtight container, the dressing a week in a jar, chopped vegetables a day covered in the fridge. Cooked chops keep 3 days; sliced cold over freshly tossed salad the next day, they're arguably better than round one. Thawed raw chops keep 2–3 days in the coldest part of the fridge.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I buy sumac?

Most supermarket spice aisles carry it now, and any Middle Eastern grocer will have it fresher and cheaper. Look for a deep red-purple colour — faded rusty brown means it's old.

How do I keep the fattoush from going soggy?

Toss the bread and dressing in at the very last moment, once the chops are resting. If you're prepping ahead, keep bread, vegetables and dressing in three separate containers and assemble at the table.

Can I serve the lamb at room temperature?

Yes — this dish is genuinely good with the chops rested longer and served just warm, which makes it an easy one for guests. Slice the meat off the bone just before serving.

How do I stretch this to feed four?

Add a second four-pack of chops and double the bread and vegetables — one batch of dressing stretches with an extra squeeze of lemon. Cook the chops in two rounds so the pan stays hot.

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