Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Rack of lamb


Preface

It’s Saturday and Monday is my 66th b-day. I’m cooking my own special dinner but don’t yet know what it will be. I have our specialty market trying to track down shad roe – for us a once-a-year favorite. Also have them trying to find fiddlehead ferns – an extraordinary veggie which is available for only a few weeks in the spring. I also thought of soft shell crabs. Alas, they won’t be around for a couple more weeks I’m told.

Fiddleheads are extremely expensive - $15 per pound if I recall correctly. The good news? We still have over $100 left on a gift card I received for my b-day last year (it started out at $650!) So the sky’s the limit.

Yesterday afternoon I got another inspiration: rack of lamb. I’ve only made it once and that was a long, long time ago. Have to look through our recipe collection to see what I have.

I haven’t yet thought of what the starch will be, or what the veggie will be if, as I suspect, I strike out on the ferns.

Later …

Well, the big day has come and gone. The menu became rack of lamb, oven-roasted green beans (thanks to Peter) and a russet potato galette.

I found a recipe for the lamb in our collection. It’s probably the one I used years ago. It is wonderfully simple. I posted my galette recipe a couple of months ago and will not repeat it here.

I’ll let you in on a secret: the rack of lamb cost $50.00! Thank goodness for my gift card (still has $80 on it). Another little secret: the lamb was so tender I could have removed my teeth (if they were false) and enjoyed it with no effort.

Rack of lamb
1 lamb rack (8 ribs), Frenched
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
juice of ¼ lemon
1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in an oven-proof skillet (cast iron is great for this). Season the lamb all over with salt and pepper. When the oil starts to smoke brown the lamb on both sides (6 minutes total).

Mix the other tablespoon of olive oil with the mustard, rosemary and lemon juice.

When the lamb is well-browned, remove the pan from the heat. Place the lamb on a cutting board and brush it all over with the mustard sauce. Return it to the skillet and place it in the oven.
Roast to an internal temperature of 135 degrees for rare/medium rare. Remove from the pan and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Enjoy.

2 comments:

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

What a beautiful luxurious meal! Happy birthday Stephen :)

Unknown said...

I didn't know it was your birthday...well Happy Birthday my friend! Hope it was a fantastic day!

The whole plate looks amazing! And the lamb does sound really simple! But, wow..$50? Guess that will be my other excuse for not making rack of lamb! lol Unless I win the lotto that is!

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