Don’t Worry… I Cook Lamb!!!
I’ve only had a rack of lamb at a steakhouse before. It was absolutely delicious, but also quite expensive. I honestly think it was better than the other menu items I tried, such as Mike’s filet mignon.
I figured that this lamb wouldn’t be as delicious as the dish at the steakhouse, since they obviously (hopefully) had much more experience making lamb and other meats than I did. Despite all this I wanted to give it a try because I’ve never made a rack of lamb before.
I bought a rack of lamb from Costco. Surprisingly enough, it was cheaper to buy it from Costco than Trader Joes. One general issue that I have with Costco is portion size. For example, today I saw a 4 pound beef tenderloin… which would have cost $80. I’m not sure how much a similar cut would cost at the grocery store, but I’m hoping that I can buy a 2 pound one for much less.
The rack of lamb at Costco was actually about the right size. It was actually a little small. I was supposed to buy a rack of lamb that was about 2 pounds, but the biggest one that I could find at Costco was slightly less than 2 pounds. I believe it was around 1.75 or so pounds. I bought it anyway since it was around the right size and I didn’t want to have to go to another store to potentially buy the lamb.
I did have to spend a bit of time cutting the fat off of the lamb. I guess rack of lamb is just a very fatty. It was worth it, thought because the lamb was amazing!
Lamb is traditionally served with mint jelly. I personally hate mint so I served the lamb “plain” with a side of amazingly delicious parmesan roasted potatoes.
- 6 large garlic cloves, minced
- 4 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ⅔ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 rack of lamb (8 ribs), approximately 2 pounds, trimmed of excess fat
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Place an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
- In a small bowl, combine the garlic, parsley, thyme, rosemary and olive oil. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
- Liberally sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the rack of lamb. Spread the garlic mixture over both sides of the lamb. Place lamb on the prepared baking sheet.
- Roast the lamb until it is nicely browned, approximately 15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet and roast for another 5-10 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the center of the lamb reads 135 F.
- Remove the lamb from the oven, and tent with aluminum foil for 8 minutes.
- Slice the rack into individual chops and serve hot.
Adapted from The Pollan Family Table
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[…] that would use potatoes, since I normally buy a five pound bag of potatoes. I decided to make a rack of lamb one day and knew this would be the perfect […]