30 Things to Make Before I Turn 30: Rack of Lamb

I was the most nervous about this item on my 30 Things to Make Before I Turn 30 List. I do not cook with much red meat and if I do, it's beef. But this list and my cooking adventures is all about challenging myself to try my hand at new ingredients so rack of lamb made the list. My husband was very excited about this one. He loves lamb and will order it when we dine at a nice restaurants. I will usually take one teensy weensy bite of his lamb, but I am not usually a fan of the taste, as it is often very gamey or tough. I was really expecting the worst. 


Finding rack of lamb at my local grocery stores proved difficult in itself. I finally came across a rack of lamb from New Zealand at Costco. I usually try to buy fresh, local, organic meat, but I really had no other choice. I started to research recipes and found this recipe for Herb Marinated Lamb on Food Network.com. While reading the reviews of the recipe, I learned that imported lamb from New Zealand is tends to be less gamey than domestically raised lamb and this was very true for the rack of lamb I bought. It was tender, flavorful, and had just the right amount of crispiness on the outside of the meat.

I apologize that I don't have more pictures of this recipe - - the photo software on my computer is being testy and I lost several pictures of the lamb. I had some beautiful pictures of the meat after we cut it too. Sigh. On a brighter note, I thought I'd point out how my husband ate every morsel of meat off his racks and that our pug Wendell tried very hard to get a bite. 

Herb Marinated Lamb
From Food Network
Printable Version


Ingredients
1 rack of lamb, about 8 or 9 ribs each
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed
1 rosemary sprig, crushed
3 thyme springs, crushed
2 rosemary sprigs for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt

Directions
Clean the rib bones well by scraping off sinew with a small sharp knife. Mix together the olive oil, garlic, crushed rosemary, and thyme sprigs in a large bowl. Add the lamb and coat well. Grind some coarse black pepper over all. Marinate overnight.


The next day remove the lamb from the marinade and scrape off as many herbs as possible. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 


Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season the lamb well with salt. Sear fat side down until golden, about 7 minutes. Turn over so that the fat side is up and roast in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Let the rack rest for 10 minutes before cutting. 


To serve cut each lamb rack into equal pieces. Garnish with rosemary. 
Note: I served these with Emeril's rosemary roasted potatoes and it was outstanding!