Rack of Lamb with two sauces – a mint sauce and red wine sauce

My butchers, Barry and Mario from Kirkpatrick’s Butchers at the South Melbourne market, sell the most delicious and tender racks of lamb which I frequently buy for a simple and quick mid-week dinner.  The butchers sell them, 2 ways, ‘frenched’ or ‘unfrenched’.  ‘Frenched’ is the term used to describe the process of cutting the fat and meat away from the bone end of a rib loin chop or steak for an aesthetic, formal presentation. I always buy my racks, ‘unfrenched’, with all the juicy fat left on the loin and the fat and meat left on the rib bones.  The fat protects the delicate loin and adds so much flavour and juiciness to the meat. Plus, it is perfect for my Low Carb Healthy Fat program. The racks vary in the number of ribs, usually 6 or 8, so ask your butcher to cut the size you prefer.
Serves 2

When I bring the rack of lamb home from the butcher, I wipe it well, rub it all over with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle liberally with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.  Depending on when I plan to cook it, I will store the rack in a suitable, airtight plastic container or if I intend to keep it for a week, I will cryovac it.
Preheat your oven to 190 ℃.  Bring the lamb racks to room temperature before cooking.  Prepare your vegetables and set aside.
For the pickling onions: to easily remove the skins, place them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them.  After a couple of minutes, remove the onions with a slotted spoon and the skins will easily slip off. Heat the wok and add some olive oil, toss the onions in and cook for about 5 minutes to colour and caramelise.  If they are still too firm, I add some water and cover with a saucepan lid to sweat for a few minutes, remove them from the pan. Turn off the heat and set aside the onions until you are ready to cook the greens.

Place the rack on a wire roasting rack inside a roasting pan.  I sometimes roast some oiled and seasoned vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, onions, under the rack and roast them at the same time.

Roast for 30 minutes for medium rare up to 40 minutes for a little less pinkie rare.  I like mine cooked for 30 minutes and Michael prefers 40 minutes. The lamb must rest for at least 10 minutes.  The internal temperature of the lamb is between 55℃ and 60℃ on your digital probe.

While the lamb is resting cook your vegetables. I always wok-toss our vegetables as it is quick and easy plus cooking them this way retains all the flavour, colour and crunch. When almost finished, return the onions to the wok.  Cook the vegetables in the wok in order of length of time it takes to book them; Brussels sprouts, broccolini stems and broccoli florets first.  If necessary, and to hasten the cooking, add a little water to the wok and sweat these with a lid on for just a couple of minutes.  Add the remaining vegetables and toss for a few minutes.  Season well with sea slat and freshly cracked pepper and serve.

Michael’s perfect mint sauce

Michael loves mint sauce and so he perfected this for our lamb and it is now a family favourite. Serve it in a sauce boast with a spoon, so that you get both the sauce and the luscious mint leaves.  It is essential to use good quality vinegars for the sauce. When I make this for me, I substitute xylitol for the sugar, to suit my LCHF program.
Makes about 300ml
150ml water
75ml Champagne Chardonnay vinegar
75ml apple cider vinegar
65 g mint leaves, finely chopped
135g castor sugar or 120g xylitol
Strip the mint leaves from the stems and chop very finely.  Combine water, vinegars and sugar, or xylitol, in a small saucepan; dissolve sugar and then bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Pour this onto mint and stir.  Season with salt and white pepper.  Check the balance of flavours and adjust to your palate. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. It lasts for a few weeks.

Red Wine Sauce
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup rich chicken stock, see my recipe in the Recipe collection on the websit
1 cup red wine, medium bodied such as Merlot
sea salt and black pepper
You can make the wine sauce ahead of time, if necessary and store in the refrigerator. If made ahead, reheat it while the lamb rests. I usually make the sauce while the lamb is returning to room temperature and I am waiting to start roasting it.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the eschallots, garlic and a sprinkle of sea salt. Sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the stock and wine. Bring to a rolling boil and cook until reduced by half, and the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Process the sauce with a stick blender or purée it in a vitamiser or food processor.  This also gives extra body and flavour to the wine sauce. Taste and season with sea salt and pepper as needed.
Serve the lamb with the sauce either alongside the lamb and vegetables, or serve it in a sauceboat as well.