(Costolette d'Agnello alla Calabrese)

SERVES 4

Marcella Hazan says: "This is a recipe that starts out as two before becoming one. The chops and the sauce… are cooked separately. Small rib chops should be cooked very briefly to a moist, flaming pink. Cook them too long, and they will turn gray and lose all their juice."

1 large red bell pepper or 2 small ones
8 rib lamb chops, each about 1" thick
Fine sea salt
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups peeled, ripe, fresh plum tomatoes,
   cut up with their juice, or canned imported
   Italian san marzano tomatoes
3 tbsp. chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup green olives in brine, pitted and coarsely cut up
Black pepper ground fresh from the mill

1. Cut each pepper lengthwise along the creases, remove the stem, seeds, and pithy core, and skin with a swivel-blade vegetable peeler. Cut into approximately 1 1/2" squares.

2. Sprinkle the chops on both sides with a little salt.

3. Put the olive oil into a 12" skillet and turn on the heat to high. When hot, slide in the lamb chops. Brown them thoroughly on one side, turn them, and brown them thoroughly on other side. Remove them from the pan to a plate.

4. Put the chopped onion into the pan and cook it over lively heat, stirring frequently, until it becomes colored a rich gold. Add the tomatoes with their juice, turning them over in the pan once or twice, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the cut-up peppers, parsley, olives, salt, and generous grindings of black pepper. Turn the heat down to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, until the peppers are tender but firm.

5. Sprinkle the chops with pepper and put them into the pan with the sauce. Turn the chops over several times to coat them well and after a minute or so empty the full contents of the skillet onto a warm serving platter and promptly bring to the table.