One of the great classic recipes, Rack of Lamb is an elegant, flavorful, easy dish to prepare for anyone who loves melt-in-your-mouth tender lamb. Garlic and rosemary are natural complements to lamb as are thyme and parsley. Whichever combination of herbs you choose to use, try to keep the mixture of fresh herbs to around 1- 1 1/2 tablespoons so you don’t overpower the flavor of the lamb. It’s a shame to overcook (and waste) an expensive cut of meat, so monitor the temperature closely after cooking the lamb for 15 minutes. Some chefs brush on a thin layer of Dijon mustard before coating the meat with the bread crumb-herb mixture. This is optional to help the crumb-mixture to stick to the meat, but if you’re careful you can skip the Dijon step. If you or your guests are squeamish about fat, you can cut off the small piece of fat below the tender eye of meat on each chop and make lamb “lollipops”. Either way, they are a treat.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients:

• 1 frenched rack of lamb (7-8 bones)

• 3-4 cloves of garlic minced

• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary minced (or 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary)

• 1 anchovy fillet minced (or ½ teaspoon anchovy paste)

• ½ cup Panko bread crumbs

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper (to taste)

• ½ teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

1. Sprinkle the lamb with salt and pepper. (Optional: using a sharp knife, you can make a cross-hatch pattern on the fat-cap side of the rack and rub the salt and pepper into the slits in the fat.)

2. Add the minced garlic, rosemary, anchovy, and ½ tablespoon olive oil to a mini-food processor and process until finely mixed. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle or back of a spoon to mash the ingredients into a paste.

3. Add the Panko and remaining ½ tablespoon of oil to the processor with the garlic-herb mixture and pulse a few times until well mixed.

4. Rinse and dry the lamb and (optionally) wrap the ends of the bones in foil to prevent the tips from charring.

5. Rub the seasoned bread crumbs all over the lamb, leaving a thicker layer of the mixture on the fat side of the rack facing up. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours. This will allow the herb mixture to flavor the lamb and will yield a beautiful golden crust when finished in the oven.

6. Uncover and carefully place the lamb (fat side with the bread crumbs facing up) on a sheet pan or shallow roasting pan lined with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up). Bring the lamb to room temperature for at least a half-hour or more.

7. Place the pan with the lamb in the upper third of the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. Check the temperature of the lamb by inserting an instant-read thermometer into the meaty side of the rack. Continue cooking monitoring closely until you reach the desired doneness. For rare lamb you want 125 degrees; 130 for medium-rare. Once out of the oven and tented the meat will continue to cook for another 5 degrees so remove the lamb from the oven when your thermometer reads 5 degrees less than you want for the finished meat. Once the meat is at or almost at temperature, if the crust isn’t quite brown enough, you can place the meat under the broiler for 1-2 minutes monitoring closely until the crust is golden brown.

8. Cut the rack into individual chops by carefully slicing between the bones. Sprinkle any of the flavorful crust that falls off back onto the individual chops.

   *Note: Pair this dish with a medium full-bodied dry red wine with some acidity like Garnacha (Grenache), Syrah, Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, or Merlot to balance the richness of the lamb.