Roast Rack of Lamb with Dijon & Port Wine Reduction. You Can Thank Me Later.

The Easiest Way to Get a Professional Result, Every Time.

I make this dish quite often; it’s a real showstopper! People love the presentation and most have rarely had a dish made on such a professional level by an amateur cook!

I have a guilty pleasure…that would be watching Gordon Ramsey completely rip a restaurant owner/chef for some horrible dish that came out of the kitchen or on how filthy everything was. I owned a fine-dining restaurant, and it’s not that difficult to put out a decent meal or to keep the kitchen clean. I mean, if these people on his show knew he was coming in, and they have ever actually seen the show, why didn't they clean the kitchen? They knew as soon as he got there he was going to inspect the walk-in fridge. The point is, I often learn something from Chef Ramsey after watching him scream “IT’S F**KING ROTTEN” into someone’s face.

I’ve been making rack of lamb at home for about 20 years, and not too long ago I realized I was skipping a step. Ramsey seared his rack in a sauté pan before he seasoned it and finished it in the oven…what a difference that one step makes! Now, I thought my rack of lamb was pretty good, but now it’s amazing.

Some cooks feel intimidated when they’re cooking a piece of meat where the temperature is so critical to it being the best it can be. Well, I have a solution for that! Pro chefs will tell you they can tell just by feeling a piece of meat or by looking at it, they can tell what temperature it is on the inside. I can tell you that you can get pretty close, but by counting the times I’ve had an overcooked or undercooked steak in a 5-star steakhouse, we can tell that they are off quite a bit. Simple solution: if you want to tell the temperature of anything, what do you do? YOU USE A THERMOMETER. Duh.

I really don’t know what the aversion there is in commercial kitchens to using a thermometer to check the center of a roast, steak, chicken or any type of meat to see if it is cooked to the right temperature; some chefs just refuse to use one. I do it every time I cook meat (especially chicken). It takes about 2 seconds, and I’ll tell you I very rarely over-cook or under-cook meats in my house.

Quick side note: when I first got married, I cooked a dinner for my all friends who helped my fiancée and I move to a new apartment. Since it was the first time I ever cooked a roast of any kind, I followed the recipe precisely and we ended up with…lamb tartar.

The center portion of the roast was cold and raw, and unfortunately I didn’t know that until I sliced it at the table. One of my guest said he actually heard it bleating. Not my best work. But that was the first and last time I ran into that problem.

You can find charts online that show the correct temperatures of various types of meat, and a decent meat thermometer is about $7; your local grocery store probably stocks them. One more thing to remember when you’re working with meat: it needs to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving; if you do, you’ll lose a lot less juice when you carve it. One lamb rack has 8 ribs, and they come in all different weights. A 1 ½ lb. rack should easily feed two people.

Roast Rack of Lamb with Herbs and Port Wine Reduction

For the sauce:

1 cup port wine

1 tbsp. demi glace

Put both ingredients in a small sauce pan, and reduce over medium heat until the wine is reduced by 50% and the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes.

For the lamb:

½ cup bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. dried rosemary

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp. pepper

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

4 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425°. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, thyme, rosemary and salt & pepper. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to moisten the mix, set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the garlic and the Dijon mustard.

If the fat cap is not removed, you can trim some of the fat away from the top of the rack. Season the rack with salt & pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in an oven proof skillet over high heat. Once the oil is almost smoking, lay the rack in the pan, top-side down. Sear for 2 minutes, then flip the rack and sear the bottom as well. Remove the rack from the pan and spread the garlic/mustard mixture over the top side. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the mustard, covering all of the mustard.

Put the rack back in the pan, bone side down, and put it in the oven. Roast for 12-15 minutes depending on your taste.

With a meat thermometer, take a reading in the center of the rack; when it hits 125°, the rack will be medium rare.

Remove the rack from the pan to a cutting board and loosely covered, let it rest for 5 minutes before carving.

Spoon the sauce over the carved chops and serve.