Roast rack of lamb is one of the most beautiful things you can eat. You often hear people talk about letting quality ingredients speak for themselves. In fact, it’s so true that it’s the basis of many beautiful cuisines. Take Mediterranean food for example, so often dishes are really simple but the quality of the ingredients are so good, that there’s no need to play around with them. Let the ingredients do the hard work. It’s a philosophy that I wholeheartedly believe in and very much one of the key approaches of my blog. Cook with ingredients that are in season and keep things simple. If you do this everyone benefits! If you’re cooking you have less work to do, but those eating will enjoy your food more as it’ll be tastier, the environment benefits from you following the seasons and not shipping food half way around the world and it also costs less, as seasonal ingredients are usually better value.
I’m keen to explore this idea further, so I’m aiming to create a whole bunch of recipes using fewer ingredients, keeping each element as simple as possible. This one proved to be a major success and there’ll be lots more easy, healthy, low-carb recipes to come!
For the perfect roast rack of lamb, I bought the most beautiful piece of organic meat from Stroud’s amazing farmers’ market (Adey’s Organic are the bomb!). I seasoned it well and added a touch of cumin to complement it and it made for one of the nicest pieces of lamb I’ve ever had! The broccoli (why can I never spell that word?!) was just as simple, seasonal tenderstem simply roasted and tempered with delicious spices. The yoghurt brings it all together and is a really interesting element that would go with most roasted meat, fish or veggies.
I really hope you enjoy the recipe (my other rack of lamb recipe is delicious too!), thanks to Ottolenghi for sharing the yoghurt recipe – it’s a winner!
Serves 2
Ingredients Indian yoghurt 100g Greek yoghurt 1 tsp medium curry power 1/4 tsp turmeric A squeeze of lime juice Roast tenderstem 200g tenderstem broccoli 1 1/2 tbsps unsalted butter Onion salt 1 tbsps vegetable oil 1 tsp black mustard seeds 1 red onion, finely sliced, 1 clove garlic, sliced 1 red chilli, finely chopped Roast Rack of lamb 1 6-bone lamb rack, halved (1) 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tsps cumin seeds A touch of chopped mint & coriander to garnish
Method
Preheat oven to 220°C or 430°F. Mix the yoghurt ingredients together, taste, season and store in the fridge. On a baking tray, arrange the tenderstem and add a little dot of butter to each stem. Season with onion salt & pepper.
Season lamb generously. After 5 minutes pat dry with kitchen paper before rubbing meat with olive oil. Place frying pan over medium-high heat. Add both lamb racks fat-side down and allow to colour. Turn heat to high and sear each of the remaining sides. Turn fat-side up, sprinkle each rack with cumin and roast for 10 minutes, alongside the tenderstem. Allow lamb to rest for 5 before slicing into cutlets.
Meanwhile, heat veg oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds until and stir until fragrant. Add onion, garlic and chilli and stir for 2-3 minutes until golden. Divide the yoghurt between 2 plates. Top with tenderstem and temper with mustard seed mix. Add sliced lamb and garnish.
Useful tips
(1) When halving the rack of lamb, look closely at it. It’s not always as simple as slicing in the middle of the third and fourth bones, you may need to go closer to one bone than the other to ensure each rack is about equal size. You want to end up with two, three-bone little racks or best-ends.
(2) The meat will be very juicy and quite pink, cook for 15 minutes if you prefer it more thoroughly cooked. Ensure the two racks aren’t packed close together in the pan so they cook evenly.
