How to Cook a Rack of Lamb

Directions

1The cooking time depends on the size of your rack of lamb, and how you want it cooked and your oven of course. For me the rack of lamb should be cooked rare to medium rare. Make sure to allow enough time for your lamb to come to room temperature before cooking, an hour should be enough, then the all-important resting afterwards, 10 minutes, should be enough!! As your lamb is coming to room temperature, with a small sharp knife, scrape any sinew off the exposed bones the butcher may have left, then once done, get some aluminum foil and wrap the exposed bones completely. This will minimize any discoloration to the bone, and make it more aesthetically pleasing on the plate. (I have even seen chefs using a brand new green abrasive pad to clean them!)

2Preheat oven to 200°C. and prewarm a skillet / pan.

3Score the fat with crisscrosses, one cm apart, season and massage the lamb with salt, pepper, garlic and chopped rosemary. Place in the warm pan on medium fire. fat side down.

4(Cooking the rack of lamb is not as simple as a steak! what you are going to do is listen to what is happening in the pan, all we want to do at this stage is render some of the fat away by cooking it slowly, so if there is too much smoke turn down the heat! As the fat renders, mop it up with some kitchen towel. This process may take 10-15 mins Approx.)

5Now using some tongs turn over the lamb, the crisscrosses on the fat should now be golden brown and have shrunk apart a little. Now you can cook the rest of the exposed lamb meat as you would a steak. turn up the heat and ensure the meat is well seared.

6Once seared, place on an oven tray and into the oven it goes for 10 mins Approx. for rare, or 15mins for medium-rare Approx. once cooked, pull out of the oven and leave to rest in a warm place. Then remove the foil and cut lamb chops away from the rack by slicing between the bones.

7Serve with some creamed celeriac root and pan juices.