This lamb recipe ticks so many boxes when it comes to fitting into a busy family lifestyle – it is quick, easy to make, it’s defo a crowd-pleaser and requires just 4 ingredients (amazing right?!) But it does more, it tastes like restaurant food and feels sophisticated. The garlic flavour is tamed way down and just gives a delicate yumminess, so don’t worry if you have a fussy eater, it will barely register!
The recipe is easily doubled and really suits all sorts of occasions – a busy family day, a lazy family Sunday lunch or those special events where you want to impress a foodie relative or friend.
Here’s how we made it – Enjoy!
Roast rack of lamb with slowly caramelised garlic
recipe slightly adapted from the beautiful Rick Stein’s French Odyssey
Ingredients
1 rack of the best lamb you can find, weighing around 500g (7-8 cutlets.) We use this from Abel & Cole
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ to 1 garlic head
25g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
A little squeeze of lemon juice or mild vinegar (this is the white wine vinegar we use at home)
Around 100ml water or chicken stock (you can buy a delicious ready-made organic chicken stock here)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 230C. Season the rack of lamb with salt and pepper, make sure the salt is well rubbed in the crisscrossed scored fat.
For the slowly caramelised garlic, peel the cloves from each of the garlic cloves and put them into a small pan with the olive oil and half of the butter. Sauté gently until just starting to colour, then add the chicken stock, press a sheet of crumpled wet greaseproof paper down onto the top of them and leave to cook very gently for 15 minutes.
Put the lamb into a roasting tin, place the roasting tin on the top third of your oven (for a crunchy crust) and roast between 25 to 30 minutes.
Lift the soft, caramelised garlic out of its cooking juices onto a board and coarsely chop them (or you can chop them in the pan with a small knife, they will be very soft.)
Remove the lamb from the oven, and let it rest for 10 minutes.
For the garlic gravy, return the pan of garlic cooking juices to a high heat, add the chicken stock or water, lemon juice and chopped caramelised garlic and boil rapidly until reduced slightly and well flavoured. Whisk in the remaining butter and season to taste with some salt and paper. If it tastes too lemony or vinegary, add a bit of sugar to balance it all out.
Serve with the best potatoes you can find. We love the Riverford potatoes – they are the tastier!
Disclosure: I love the products I recommended, and I’m not paid to promote them.
