Ingredients:-
- 1x 8-bone quality lamb rack, untrimmed
- 150 g feta cheese
- 12 semi-dried tomatoes
- 12 black olives, pits removed
- extra virgin olive oil
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
- seasonal vegetables, for roasting
Serves 4
Method:-
Preparing your lamb rack: Remove most of the fat from the back of the rack, leaving a little bit to flavour the meat as it cooks. French-trim the bones by cutting the fat out around each bone down to the meat. Scrape the bones of all sinew and fat. Cut between the bones and through the eye of the lamb, leaving 1cm of meat still attached at the bottom. (If you’re not confident in trimming your Rack, you can buy the French Trimmed version instead). Make the stuffing: Finely chop the parsley, semi-dried tomatoes and olives and mix them together with your feta in a bowl. Add a little pepper if you need to. Put this mixture between the lamb eye meat and the bones, then fold back up. Tie tightly in about 5 places. Prepare the veg: Cut up the veg and throw into a roasting dish. You want them to cook in the same time as the lamb. Courgettes and aubergines are great, and if you’re using root veg, make sure you cut them into pieces. To make the marinade: Finely chop the rosemary and garlic, mix with a little oil and rub it all over the lamb and the fat, cover and put in the fridge for 1 hour before cooking. Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5 and, while it’s getting hot, take your marinated lamb from the fridge. Leave it for 20 minutes or so until it comes to room temperature. Put the lamb right on top of the vegetables in your roasting dish. Put into your hot oven and roast – see cooking times below. Cooking times: A rough guide is 25 minutes for every 450g of meat, but it all depends on your oven. A good way to test for doneness is to give the meat a squeeze with your fingers. If it feels soft, it means it’s rare; if it feels very firm, it’s well done. For a nice rare lamb rack, 25 to 30 minutes is a good guide. When you’re happy with the tenderness of your lamb, remove the tray from the oven. Remove the lamb from the roasting tray and put the vegetables back in the oven. Let the lamb rest on a board for 5 to 8 minutes, then carve – aim to get two bones per person. Serve with the lovely roasted vegetables. Make a note here of how long it takes to cook your lamb, so you’ll know for next time: Rare = 20 minutes Medium Rare = 26 minutes Medium = 30 minutes Well Done 35-40 minutes
Welsh Gourmet Butchers 