Rack Of Lamb To Rave About!

We like our meat rare. If you like yours more well-done, cook it a little longer. You can always add cooking time, but once meat is overdone you cannot make it more rare! The outer pieces were perfectly medium rare.

I made this Rack of Lamb for my husband, Jerry’s, birthday this past November. Lamb is his favorite and this recipe is simple and delicious. We eat a lot of lamb when we are in Ireland and I found this recipe on ‘Allrecipes’ and tried it this summer while we were there. We buy most of our meat from our favorite butcher in Spiddal, Mr. Feeney.

Lamb in Ireland is plentiful and not nearly as pricy as it is here. If a lamb is slaughtered between 6 and 10 weeks it is considered to be Young Lamb; between 3 and 6 months it is Spring or Early Summer Lamb. When a Lamb becomes 1 year old it is called a sheep or mutton.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary, extra sprigs for roasting
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 (7-8 bone) rack of lamb, trimmed and Frenched
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Move oven rack to center position.
In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs, 2 Tbsp. garlic, 2 Tbsp. chopped rosemary, 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Toss in 2 Tbsp. olive oil to moisten mixture. Set aside.

Season the rack all over with salt and pepper. Heat 2 Tbsp. olive in in a large, heavy cast-iron or other oven-proof skillet over high heat. Sear rack of lamb for 1-2 minutes on all sides. Set aside for a few minutes. Rub all sides of the rack of lamb evenly with the mustard.

Mustard bath.

Press the bread crumb mixture until evenly coated over both sides of the rack. Do not add the crumb mixture to the bones. Cover the ends of the bones with foil to prevent charring. I skipped this step as I did not plan on roasting long enough to char the bones.

Ready to go into the hot oven.

Arrange rack bone side down in the skillet. Roast the lamb in preheated oven until desired doneness. After 10-12 minutes, take a reading with a meat thermometer in the center of the meat. The temp should read about 120 degrees. Cover loosely with foil and cook another 10 minutes. Check temp again. Between 125-130 degrees will give you a nice rare rack.  If you want more doneness just keep checking every 5 minutes. Medium-rare is approximately 145 degrees. Medium-160 degrees. I roasted my rack 20 minutes total. Let the rack rest, loosely covered,

Just out of the oven, ready to rest.

for 5-7 minutes before carving the ribs apart. The rack does continue to cook after you take it out of the oven.

I served the Rack of Lamb with roasted asparagus and Boursin Mashed Potatoes. It was a beautiful birthday celebration!

I cannot believe Christmas is just a week away. We are having our good friend, Leslie Jackson, from Tucson join us for dinner with her 2 adorable Schnauzers, Gracie and Ruby. Leslie is a fabulous cook herself, but this time I will have the meal prepared so all she will need to do is open the wine!

Here’s Gracie sipping some ice water when she was visiting in the summer. We were sipping a little more than ice water!

Our menu will include more lamb. This time I will bone a leg, stuff it and roll it. Here’s the whole menu:

CHRISTMAS MENU 2018
Hors’Doeuvres:
*Baked Shrimp with creamy dipping sauce
*Irish smoked Salmon with rye crisps

Main Course:
*Leg of Lamb stuffed with Spinach, Garlic, Rosemary, Feta Cheese and Pine Nuts
*Hasseback Potatoes
*Garlic-Herbed Creamed Spinach

Dessert:
*Classic Key Lime Pie

I may add a relish, sauce, or garnish along with a few other surprises, but this is the basic plan.

UNTIL NEXT TIME…