Rack of lamb
With a garlic, parsley & pistachio crust
Rack of lamb
Serves 4
Cooks In50 minutes plus resting
DifficultyNot too tricky
Nutrition per serving
Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbook
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Ingredients
- 2 x French-trimmed 7-bone racks of lamb , (caps, fat and sinews removed)
- olive oil
- unsalted butter
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 100 g shelled pistachios
- 1 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley , (30g)
- 75 g bread
- 1 whole nutmeg , for grating
- Dijon mustard
- GREEN BEANS
- 350 g fine green beans
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
- ½ a lemon
- 3 sprigs of fresh tarragon
Tap For Method
Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbook
Tap For Ingredients
Method
- Get your meat out of the fridge and up to room temperature before you cook it. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
- Drizzle the lamb racks with olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt and black pepper, patting the seasoning all over the meat.
- Sear in a hot frying pan on a high heat with a little extra oil and 1 knob of butter for 2 to 3 minutes, turning with tongs until golden all over, then remove the racks to a roasting tray and let them cool.
- Peel 2 cloves of garlic and place in a food processor with the pistachios and parsley (stalks and all). Tear in the bread, finely grate in half the nutmeg and blitz into a fine green crumb.
- Generously brush each lamb rack with mustard, then cover with the herby crumb, patting it all over the top and sides.
- Roast for 25 minutes, until the crust is crisp, to give you beautifully blushing lamb. Remove from the oven and leave the lamb to rest for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, trim just the stalk ends off the green beans and cook for 6 to 7 minutes in a pan of boiling salted water.
- Crush the remaining unpeeled clove of garlic through a garlic crusher into a jar and mix with 1 teaspoon of mustard, the vinegar, 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and the lemon juice, then taste and season to perfection.
- Finely chop and add the tarragon leaves. Drain the beans and toss with the dressing. Carve up the lamb and serve with the dressed green beans and my potato al forno.
Tips
Sometimes I like to ask my butcher, when he's removing the cap meat, to trim and chop the cap. I then fry it with some finely chopped onions and flour until golden, adding stock to make a simple gravy. You can leave it chunky, or pass it through a sieve before serving.
