Inspired by this week’s Mastercook, here is my recipe for a perfect rack of lamb, crusted with lovely feta cheese and served with creamy parsnip purée.
If you want the recipe in Luxembourgish, you can find it here.
8-bone rack of lamb, French trimmed
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp olive oil zest of 1⁄2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
For the crust:
25g breadcrumbs
zest of 1⁄2 lemon
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
60g feta cheese, crumbled
For the parsnip purée:
800g Parsnips
2 Braeburn Apples
50g butter
30ml milk
nutmeg
salt and pepper
Serves 4
Start by marinating the lamb. Mix the thyme, olive oil, lemon and garlic in a little bowl. Put the lamb rack into a non-metallic dish and rub the marinade all over.
Cover with cling film and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 24. The lamb needs to be cooked from room temperature, so if you’re cooking within one hour after having added the marinade, leave the lamb out of the fridge.
When you’re ready to cook the lamb, preheat the oven to 200°C. Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan and brown the rack well on the meaty side for about 1 minute, then turn and brown the fatty side for a further minute. Put into a roasting tin and prepare the crust.
Combine all the crust ingredients in a bowl, and press onto the fatty side of the meat so that it sticks. Roast the lamb for 30-35 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the parsnip purée.
Peel the parsnips and cut into approximately 3cm cubes. Peel and core the apples and cut into 3cm cubes.
Cook in a saucepan with salted boiling water for about 10 minutes until the parsnips are soft. Drain and put the parsnips and apples into a food processor with the butter, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Whizz until you have a smooth purée.
Once the meat is done, take out of the oven and let the meat rest for 10 minutes, loosely covering it in foil to keep it warm.
After 10 minutes, cut the lamb and serve each portion with parsnip purée.
