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Lamb chops Champvallon with potatoes and onions.

Lamb

Côtelettes d’Agneau Champvallon

By Patrick Asfaux

Browned lamb chops bake beneath thinly sliced potatoes with onions, garlic and thyme. The potatoes soak up the meat juices and beef broth, turning soft below a golden, gratin-like top. This recipe is already excellent, but if you can find pré-salé lamb chops and new potatoes from Ré or Noirmoutier, it can be exceptional. For a slow-cooked version, layer the chops, potatoes, stock and onions and give them 4½–5 hours at 100°C. A delight. Serve it straight from the baking dish, with the potatoes and all those good juices shared around the table.

Prep
30 min
Cook
1 hr 30 min
Total
2 hr
Serves6
Jump to recipe ↓AFTouch Cuisine ↗

Ingredients

Lamb and potatoes

Method

  1. Heat butter and oil in a wide sauté pan. When lightly coloured, add the chops, season and brown for 5 minutes on each side without burning the butter.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200°C /392°F. See Notes for Asfaux's separate slow-cooked version.
  3. Transfer the chops to an ovenproof earthenware dish.
  4. Soften sliced onions in the same pan for 5 minutes. Add half the stock and the optional cep powder, bring to a boil and pour over the chops to cover; add a little water if necessary. Distribute a third of the garlic, the halved bay leaf and thyme.
  5. Bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes.
  6. Cover the chops with sliced potatoes, the remaining garlic and half of the remaining stock.
  7. Bake for 45 minutes, basting occasionally and covering with foil if the top browns too much. The source describes the finished dish as gratin-like, with the stock absorbed. Serve in the baking dish.

Equipment

Wide sauté pan; Ovenproof earthenware dish; Foil

Notes

  • Asfaux advises avoiding burnt butter while browning the chops.
  • Reserve the remaining stock for basting, adding a little only if the dish needs more liquid. Cover with foil if the potatoes colour too quickly.
  • Slow-cooked version: Asfaux recommends layering the chops, potatoes and stock with the onions, then cooking at 100°C /212°F for 4½–5 hours. He describes the result as a delight. This is an alternative to the quicker oven stages above.
  • Serve the gratin-like dish in its baking vessel at the centre of the table.
  • More potatoes: answering a reader, Asfaux confirms that you can add extra thinly sliced potatoes beneath the chops.
  • Cooking for a crowd: Asfaux advises using a large, deep roasting tray that fits in the oven. He recommends beef stock in preference to chicken stock.

Photos

2 photos
Côtelettes d'agneau Champvallon, rapides à réaliserFinished dishLamb chops Champvallon with potatoesCôtelettes d'agneau Champvallon, fondantes et parfuméesFinished dishLamb chops Champvallon with potatoes

Côtelettes d’Agneau Champvallon

Recipe photos

About this dish

Legend has it that Madame de Champvallon cooked these lamb chops for Louis XIV with more than dinner in mind. The king was already fond of Madame de Maintenon's chops, and Madame de Champvallon hoped her own would persuade him to share her bed. Her recipe, the story goes, worked its magic: he joined her that very evening.

Patrick Asfaux calls Champvallon one of the most flavourful dishes in French cooking. For the version he describes as exceptional, seek out pré-salé lamb and new potatoes from Ré or Noirmoutier. It is the quality of these simple ingredients, he says, that can take an already excellent dish a step further.

He also recommends a slow-cooked version, layering the chops, potatoes, stock and onions before giving them 4½–5 hours at 100°C. His verdict is warm and simple: a delight. Allow an afternoon for this alternative.

Recipe and cooking notes adapted from AFTouch Cuisine.