Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb

Submitted by Josh Nazarian

Ingredients

  • 2 Racks of Lamb – trimmed
  • 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2-3 tablespoons of fresh mint, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • Brown or Dijon mustard
  • Olive Oil
  • Kosher Salt & Pepper

Preparation:

I’ll preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2 Racks of Lamb – French Cut (I actually get them in pre-sealed packs of two at the Fresh Market).  Take them out, and clean and trim any extra fat.  While it’s good to keep some of the fat for searing/roasting, I find that they need to be trimmed down to be slightly leaner and more healthy.  Even the fat cap on the flat part of the rack can be trimmed. 

Season the trimmed racks with plenty of kosher salt and pepper.

Add a tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil (not olive as you want it HOT) into a skillet (repeat for each rack). 

One at a time I’ll sear/brown all sides of the racks in a cast iron skillet, including the ends.  A normal skillet or even a hot grill with achieve the same result.

Set the seared racks aside to cool.

In a Cuisinart, I’ll actually add 1-2 cups of panko bread crumbs (they’ll get pulverized down), 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint, 1 tablespoon of thyme, and 1-2 tablespoons of parsley, a teaspoon or so of salt, some cracks of pepper from a peppermill and a teaspoon of granulated garlic). 

Pulse until it’s well blended, adding some olive oil (maybe a couple of glugs out of the bottle) to develop a well-blended paste. 

With the racks cool, I’ll smear them with some brown mustard (anything from Guldens to deli style or Dijon mustard works).

Spread the breadcrumb mixture on the racks by hand.  Enough to create a crust, but don’t ‘cake’ it on. 

I don’t crown the rack of lamb, but instead intertwine the two racks, across from one another, bone side in and fatty/meaty side out. 

On a rack, in a roasting pan, I’ll roast them for about 20-25 minutes, standing ‘bones up’, depending on the size and the sear…using a thermometer helps.  I’ll take them out to rest at about 125-130.  Rest for at least 10 minutes and cut into double chops.