To prepare the marinade, add the mustard, honey, balsamic vinegar and red wine to a bowl or jug and mix through
Drizzle the olive oil in a baking dish. Add the lamb chops, season with salt, pepper and mixed herbs, then flip over and repeat. Pour the marinade over the meat, cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Place in the fridge for 2 to 6 hours, or preferably overnight. Try to flip the meat a couple of times during the marinading process to ensure both sides get even marinading
Cooking
Tip: The polenta takes roughly 20 minutes to cook, during this time you can cook and rest the lamb. I like to cook the peas before and set them aside, then let the tomato sauce bubble away gently while I cook the polenta and lamb. I have included the instructions below for each component separately even though you will cook multiple elements at the same time
Peas
Place the olive oil, peas and crushed garlic into a pan, season with salt pepper and herbs, stir through and bring to medium heat. Place a lid on to help them steam. Cook for around 5 minutes
Tomato Sauce
Add the olive oil and garlic to a small saucepan and bring to medium heat. Just until the garlic softens a little. Do not brown or burn. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, then season with salt, pepper and herbs (I like to add a little sugar to tomato based sauces to balance the acidity)
Cook to sauce gently around 10 minutes or on low heat for the same time as the lamb and polenta. Once cooked serve as is or blitz smooth with a hand-held immersion blender
Lamb Chops
For the lamb chops, place a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and bring to medium high heat. Place the lamb chops in the pan. Unless very thick, they only need 2 - 4 minutes per side and one minute on the fat if you want to crisp it up (I use a splatter guard over my pan to avoid any splatter as you do not want to disturb the meat while cooking)
Remove from the pan and let it rest for at least 5 minutes
Optional: This dish does have a tomato sauce, however as an optional sauce, you can remove any additional oil/fat from the pan, leaving any crusty bits, then pour the marinade into the pan and reduce over medium heat for around 5 minutes. Strain to remove any bits and use as a sauce for the meat
Polenta
Note: If using instant polenta, please follow the package instructions as the cooking time will be much less
In a saucepan, add the butter and herbs and bring to medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the water and milk to the pot and stir in the polenta, stock and salt
Let boil, stirring frequently, until polenta thickens enough that it starts to spit. Lower heat immediately to prevent spitting and continue to cook, stirring frequently with a spoon or silicone spatula and scraping bottom to prevent scorching, until polenta becomes thick and pulls away from side of saucepan, around 20 minutes
Finally taste to check seasoning and stir through the grated parmesan
Note: Polenta needs to be cooked then be served immediately to prevent it from becoming stodgy