Roast Dinner III Rack of Lamb!!!

I have come across many people who claim to NOT like lamb. My response is always, "You have just never had it done right." And its true. If you eat overcooked lamb, its awful, its chalky, its kind of gamy, its just unpleasant, like any red meat really but yet less acceptable than say overcooked beef . So, if you happen to be anti-lamb, please please do yourself the favor and try it one more time and IF you don't want to risk making the following recipe(which is a little crazy because its SO easy and you will feel like a champ when you make it), go to a GOOD restaurant and have some lamb. Order it rare or medium rare. Its a beautiful thing.

Lamb
1 Rack of Lamb
Zest of one Lemon
1 Garlic clove pressed
1 TBS Dried Rosemary
1/2 TSP Ground Cumin
1/2 TSP Ground Coriander
1/2 TSP Sweet Paprika
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Set oven to 350*

In a small bowl mix together Lemon Zest, Garlic, Rosemary, Cumin, Coriander, Paprika, Salt and Pepper (to your taste maybe about 1/4 TSP each -I use big grinders for both Salt and Pepper and I would say its about 20-30 turns). Add Olive Oil to this mixture until you have a spreadable paste. I tend to grind my own spices so I will throw all my dried herbs and spices in and grind them up, it makes a pretty awesome spice mix that way. I broke my last spice grinder and have been using a coffee grinder. In my opinion, freshly ground spices are just better, but the pre-ground stuff is perfectly good to use.

Spread this all over your lamb rack placed in a shallow baking pan. Pop in your temperature probe and set aside for the moment so the meat loses the chill from being in the refrigerator.

Roast Potatoes
4 Russet Potatoes peeled and cut to desired size.
1 TBS Dried Rosemary
1/2 TSP Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup Olive Oil

Boil Potatoes for about 8-10 minutes.
Drain
Toss Potatoes with remaining ingredients and pour mixture into a shallow metal pan and place in oven.
Toss potatoes around 10-15 minutes or so to get an even brown.

***After 15 minutes add the lamb to the oven***

Mashed Carrots
1 Bunch Carrots
Stock

Boil Carrots in stock until soft.
Drain Carrots and mash.

When your temperature probe reaches 130* (about 30 minutes) remove the lamb from the oven and tent with foil for about 15-20 minutes. Jack your oven up to 400* to brown up your potatoes while the lamb rests. If you are using the temperature probe, you will see how the lamb's temperature continues to climb and climb, eventually, it plateaus and begins to go back down. Once it is back down to around 140* or less, then carve it.

Make the following while the lamb is resting
Sauteed Spinach with Mushrooms
2 Handfuls Cremini Mushrooms stemmed and sliced
1 Clove Garlic peeled and crushed
4 Handfuls Baby Spinach, washed and dried
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

In a large cold saute pan, add 3-4 TBS Olive Oil (enough to give the bottom of the pan a good coating but not fully covering) and the crushed garlic. Turn on heat to medium.
When the garlic begins to become fragrant and to slightly sizzle, add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
Saute for about 3 minutes stirring every minute.
Add the spinach, season with Salt and Pepper and place lid on the pan.
Lift lid and stir every minute for the next 3-5 minutes until the Spinach is wilted down but still a bright green.

Carve your lamb and plate, serve with potatoes, mashed carrots and spinach-mushroom mixture.

Hubs loved it tonight. The Boy loved it (3 years). I pureed all this together for the baby and he devoured it too (8 months). One happy family.

Sunday Roast is such a lovely thing and a tradition I am proud to adopt for my family.