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Meat & Potatoes Day 2 goes continental! Lamb Champvallon.

According to the Larousse Gastronomique, this classic French dish dates from the reign of Louis XIV. It was supposedly invented by one of his mistresses. But which one? There are 14 (quatorze) officially recognized mistresses. That's a lot of ladies to give credit for this dish to.

The French seem to have a lot of these stories attached to their most traditional foods. It's hard to say how much truth there is in any one of them.

Take this recipe known to the French as Cotes D'agneau Champvallon. If it was indeed a lamb dish brought to the King's attention by a mistress, it seems to make sense that her name may have been Champvallon. But most mistresses get short shrift in the history books. I can find no references to any of Louis' lovers with that name.

So I decided it was time for me to take hold of this lore and redefine the history behind this dish to suit my own needs and my own cooking style. While I am rewriting history I think I'll do a bit of tweeking to the recipe too. Something more suited to the modern palate.

I have decided however, that the mistress part of this story is true. But she was not named Champvallon. Nope, that's a very tiny village in Bourgogne. High falutin' Parisan mistresses were not typically country girls. So in my tall tale she has the oh so sophisticated name of Rose Marie.

Because I felt it was time she come out of hiding and took credit for this centuries old recipe. So it lands on me to give the ole girl her due. Afterall, Loius XIV could not have been easy to live with. So my first change is in the herb. I changed it from the traditional thyme to one more suited to our heroine. I chose to flavor my dish with her namesake rosemary; and not just a little either. No this girl's been waiting a long time for recognition and I went big with the herb. It works well with the lamb and the potatoes in my opinion. Besides it's just the kind of thing a girl like Rose Marie would do.

Speaking of lamb. It would have historically been a bone-in chop, most likely a shoulder chop. Most recipes stay true to this idea. Including my inspirational recipe from Daniel Boulud.  But this tough cut of meat would have required hours of cooking time. While I am sure this would be delicious, hours of cooking time does not always fit nicely into my hectic schedule. So I modernized the recipe further by choosing boneless chunks of lamb.

But I didn't stop there with the changes. Afterall, I believe Rose Marie deserves to see her recipe go mainstream. So I also moved some of the cooking to the stovetop. That way I have a little more control over the final flavors. Plus I raised the oven temperature and decided to cook it uncovered, because I like my potatoes to get crisp around the edges. I bet Rose Marie did too.

Lamb Champvallon serves 2 with leftovers CLICK Here for a printable recipe