This was an experiment that worked out pretty well (although I could have taken a better photograph, I was just too hungry). The sauce is made with roasted eggpplant, yellow squash and red pepper and yogurt. I found some goat milk yogurt, which has a bit more richness. Its fairly simple, and can be done quickly, but the veggie roasting takes about a half hour. This sort of sauce is perfect for lamb, with the tangy yogurt, and sweet roasted veggies. You could probably make this without the butter, and without the final heating stage, and it would make an awesome pita bread dip.
1 baby eggplant
1 yellow squash
1 red pepper
4 ozs. goat milk yogurt
1 T butter
1 rack of lamb, cut into chops
Shitake mushrooms for garnish
Cut the vegetables into large chunks, (saving a slice or two for garnish) drizzle with olive oil, put in a pie plate, or on a cooking sheet and roast in a hot (400F) oven for half hour or so, until the chunks just start browning. You don’t need to char the skin the way some recipes call for. Turn them half way through cooking. Let them cool for a bit and peel off the skins. I found that you usually don’t need to do any special tricks to pull off the skin if they’re cooked enough and you let them cool a bit. Blend them with a hand blender or processor until just past a lumpy texture. For a fancy presentation, you might want to puree this smooth, but I wanted this to have a bit of consistency to it.
Pan grill the chops until they have some nice markings, along with the veggies and mushrooms you’ll use for garnish. Finish in the oven at 325F for 5 or 6 minutes. While the chops are in the oven, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the pureed veggies, and heat through before adding the yogurt. Heat the sauce just to bubbling.
Serve the chops on a puddle of the sauce, with some more drizzled on top, along with the garnish veggies and shrooms.