I usually resort to lamb when there are celebrations like birthdays in a family. We all love lamb, especially the youngest lol. He loves it to the bone 🙂 We have grandpa visiting us all the way from Indonesia and it’s his birthday. The kids have the luxury of having grandpa around spoiling them for 3.5 months now. Iven is constantly looking for his grandpa. The first thing he’ll call out in the morning after “jie jie” (sister), is “gong gong” (grandpa). Mom? who’s mom. She’s just a woman who is still breastfeeding me at 21 months!!!! (no big deal really). Do I feel like being used ? (YES!) lol !! But, it’s not about me anyway.
So, I decided to do a birthday lunch for grandpa. Nothing fancy, but I decided to do roast rack of lamb with rosemary and tzatziki. Lamb is considered quite a luxury meat in Indonesia. It’s not a very common type of meats being eaten. Some people get a bit put off by the strong “milky” smell of lamb. Same case with goat meats. Strangely, I grew up never eating both, but I love both. Grandpa loves lamb too. I saw quite a simple recipe for roast rack of lamb on Ina Garten’s Make Ahead cookbook and decided to give it a try. I did a modification on the tzatziki because I forgot to buy a Greek yogurt 🙂 (typical of me with forgetting things here and there). So, I just use sour cream and it still turned out delicious. The medium rare roasted rack of lamb resulted in such tender bites and the rosemary contribute to the fresh aroma. Happy tummies overall !! 🙂
ROAST RACK OF LAMB WITH ROSEMARY AND TZATZIKI (4 servings)
Ingredients
- 1 1 ⁄2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 1 ⁄4 teaspoon thyme crushed
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 ⁄2 cup Dijon mustard
- 1 1 ⁄2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 racks of lamb
Tzatziki :
- 3 ⁄4 cup sour cream I do not recommend using low fat
- 1 ⁄2 cucumber seeded and diced into small pieces
- 2 tablespoon fresh dill
- 1 garlic clove grated
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- In a food processor, process the salt, rosemary, thyme and garlic until they're as finely minced as possible. Add the mustard and balsamic vinegar and process for about 1 minute.
- Put the lamb in a roasting pan with the ribs curving down, and coat the tops with the mustard mixture. Allow to stand for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Roast lamb for exactly 20 minutes for rare or 25 minutes for medium-rare. Remove from oven and cover with aluminum foil. Allow to sit for 15 minutes, then cut into individual ribs and serve with tzatziki on the side
Preparing the Tzatziki:
- Mix all the ingredients and taste and season to your liking
2 comments
I’ve always been intimidated by rack of lamb, is there any tricks or tips you’d be willing to share? Again, this looks fabulous!
I was intimidated too. All I cooked were chicken, beef, and pork. But I found that lamb doesn’t need much marinating or any other work. In fact this taste so good with just a bit of salt and rosemary and the tzatziki. Love it medium rare 🙂