This is a favorite of ours at home. You can “French” the lamb, which just means scraping the meat off the tips of the bones. We like to marinate these scrapings (and the other trimmings) with some of the garlic and rosemary rubs and fry them up for a snack while the rack is cooking. One rack of lamb (8 ribs) will serve 2-4 people.
Ingredients:
- 4-6 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
- 5 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
- 5 tsp fresh ground pepper (or to taste)
- Olive oil
- 1 rack (8 bone) of lamb
Directions:
- If the rack of lamb is untrimmed, trim off the layer of fat and any silver skin that you don’t want to eat. The fat is where a lot of the “gamey” flavor comes so the more you trim off, the milder the flavor will be. The typical rule of thumb is to leave less than 1/8” of fat on the meat.
- Preheat oven to 450 ºF.
- Finely mince the garlic and rosemary. Mix garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper with enough olive oil to make a paste, rub all over the lamb, and let it sit for about an hour at room temperature.
- Place the lamb, fat side up, on a broiler pan (or baking sheet with a rack) and roast for approximately 25 minutes for medium rare (internal temperature of 120-125ºF). Remove from the oven, tent with foil and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing along the ribs to serve.
Alternatives:
- The paste may be done in the food processor – just toss it all in and whir until it’s well mixed.
- Add the zest of one lemon to the garlic and rosemary rub
- You can marinate the lamb up to a day ahead of time – just put the covered lamb in a bag and keep in the fridge. Make sure to take it out of the fridge about an hour before cooking to come up to room temperature.
- The lamb may be cooked on the grill instead of the oven. Grill over medium-low heat (so the garlic doesn’t burn), turning every 3-5 minutes until internal temperature is 120ºF (medium rare). Cover and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
