Lamb Rack In Red Wine Sauce With Micro Leaves
The Queen Jubilee weekend went pass so quickly! Monday and Tuesday are public holidays in the UK and I am glad to have seen the whole event on the TV in my comfy home. The weather was pretty bad on Sunday during the Thames Pageant. I wasn’t out and about but managed to catch some scenes on the Thames river.
Days off give me more time to cook good food at home. When I saw the lamb rack from New Zealand at the supermarket, I just couldn’t resist not to try out. It looked fresh and tender, which I thought would be great for Sunday lunch. I wanted to make it just a little bit more elaborate, so I decided to make some red wine sauce to go with it. And serve the lamb with some micro leave salads. I love those micro leaves – pea shoots and red radish sprouts, they are pretty and great as salad!
Lamb isn’t something very common for me as my mom has never cooked anything other than seafood, pork, chicken and vegetables. I started to learn more about other meats, particular red meats when I was at college and university. I have learnt even more after I travelled to different countries.
It must have been in France when I first tried a very delicious lamb dish – it was Pyrenean milk fed lamb – very tender, succulent with delicate flavour. The ewes give birth to the lambs in the mountains and the lambs suckle only on their mother’s milk for up to 42 days. They are reared in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
Even though the lamb rack that I bought weren’t from Pyrenees, it looked good enough for me! I didn’t want to complicate the dish since I was going to serve with the red wine sauce. So, I just seasoned it with salt and pepper, sealed the meat in a hot grill before put it in the oven to continue to cook. I usually like my meat medium if not well done. Regardless of the weight, a lamb rack should be cooked in the oven at 200°C for 20-25 minutes for rare, 30-35 minutes for medium and 40-45 minutes for well done. It is important to check the doneness of the meat from time to time.
Tomato Risotto
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cook Time:
30 minutes
Yield:
4 servings
Ingredients:
For the Lamb Rack In Red Wine Sauce With Micro Leaves:
300g rack of lamb
salt and pepper
Red Wine Sauce:
2 tsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 small carrot, finely chopped
250ml red wine
300ml beef/chicken stock
20g butter
Micro Leaves Salad:
50g pea shoots
50g red radish sprouts
80g red watercress
some extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Method:
1. Preheat the oven at 200°C. Season the rack of lamb with salt and pepper. Heat up a grill pan and when it’s hot enough, grill each side of the rack for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a roasting tray, covered with foil and continue to cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes for rare, 30-35 minutes for medium and 40-45 minutes for well done.
2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, add in the shallots and carrot in olive oil. Cook until they are soft and slightly caramelised. Add the red wine, cook until all the alcohol has evaporated and reduced until it becomes syrupy. Pour in the beef stock, reduce until the sauce reached a coating consistency. Sieve into a bowl, discard the solid. Return the liquid into the saucepan and bring to a simmer, add the butter, whisk until the sauce thicken. Keep warm.
3. Meanwhile, add all the salad leaves in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and dressed with some extra virgin olive oil.
4. Remove the lamb from the oven and allow to stand, covered, in a warm place for 10 minutes to allow the juices to be absorbed back into the meat. Cut the lamb into individual cutlets, pour over some red wine sauce and served with dressed micro leaves.
