Roasting the Rack

Tonight, I came home to a houseful of chores that needed to be done, so I opted for a meal that I could put in the oven and "forget about." A rack of lamb is a good way to go in that situation because it takes awhile to cook and you don't really need to do much to it while it's roasting. For this occasion, I'm making a Rack of Lamb with Garlic-Herb Crust and Roasted Tomatoes...and at the last minute, I decided to make some whipped potatoes as well. Both recipes came from Stonewall Kitchen Harvest.

For my lamb, I didn't need a ton of ingredients so my mise en place came together rather quickly. Good thing too, because my puppy was hungry and I needed to get her food ready before I started cooking the lamb! I gathered garlic cloves, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, salt, black pepper, olive oil, breadcrumbs, a rack of lamb and 4 tomatoes.

At this point, I preheated my oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

I put my minced garlic cloves, along with half of my rosemary and thyme into a mortar, and used a pestle to mash it up along with some salt and pepper, until I had a chunky paste.

Once the paste was ready, I put it into a larger bowl, along with the breadcrumbs and olive oil, and then mixed until combined. The result is a granular, crusty type of paste.

At this point, my oven is preheated so it's time to start a-roastin'! I placed my rack of lamb into a roasting pan and tucked tomato quarters all around and underneath it. You want the bones to be propped up by the tomatoes. I packed the breadcrumb mixture on the top (fatty side) of the lamb, pressing it down so it molded to the shape of the rack. I also sprinkled the exposed tomatoes with the leftover rosemary, thyme and some salt and pepper.

And into the oven it goes, for 20 minutes. Once those 20 minutes are up (20 minutes that I used to put in a load of laundry, fold some dry laundry, feed the puppy, and even wrap some coins to take to the bank), you want to reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

...and continue roasting for another 35-40 minutes! I used those 40 minutes to get a second load of laundry in, and "whip up" some whipped potatoes! Once the timer beeps, take your lamb out of the roasting pan and allow it to rest for a few minutes before slicing it into individual chops.

I plated this meal by scooping some whipped potatoes onto each plate, and then placing the lamb chops on top of the potatoes. This was a small rack, so between the two of us, we finished it. I placed roasted tomatoes around the edge of each plate, and presto - a meal I didn't really need to "think about." That's a fancy Monday night dinner with not a lot of work, wouldn't you say!?