Spring Lamb with Rosemary

I cannot believe that I would ever get so hooked on a recipe. This spring lamb with rosemary is easily one of the best recipes for lamb I have ever had! It works perfectly as laid out, yielding medium-rare to rare cuts every time. This recipe is easily scalable up or down (I equate “a few” sprigs rosemary to four). The rosemary and garlic really marry well into the rich flavor of the lamb. You could take this preparation a bit further by sautéeing it in a hot cast iron skillet or other heavy pan for just over a minute per side before sliding it into the oven, and you can then reduce the remaining time by about 5 minutes, for a total of 15 to 17 minutes. The racks get a little extra colour and crispness to them. You could also grill the racks for a minute or two per side (you’d want to have the grill on for other things, though), then finish them in the oven as above. Either way, the racks then get an extra browned crispiness to them, but still turn out rare or medium-rare as desired. With the variety of lamb recipes out there, I will move on… but not today!

I had a huge smile on my face when reading this recipe—this is exactly how my mother used to make spring lamb. I hadn’t made it in a while, so I jumped into the opportunity to do it again. I love, love, love it. It’s absolutely one of my favorite recipes. The flavors are intense yet don’t take away from the lamb. The lamb is done to perfect, lightly browned on the outside and rare on the inside. We served it with homemade garlic and cream mashed potatoes. A must-try!

I’m a fan of David Tanis, so I was eager to try this recipe. I made half of it—a single rack—using one garlic clove and one large sprig of rosemary. I was blown away that when I checked the meat temperature after exactly 20 minutes of roasting, it was exactly 125 degrees! That never happens. I like that the amount of rosemary is just a guideline since (to me) the herb can be very overwhelming in aroma and flavor. Here it was just perfect—not overly assertive. If you want more, you can use more. I love the simplicity and elegance of this recipe.

The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity. Like most of the recipes from Tanis, it celebrates the deliciousness of the food at a most humble and basic level. Good food doesn’t need much more than that.

Although this recipe for roasted lamb chops isn’t very original or unique, the results are delicious. The ingredients and amounts that were called for were spot-on, and the time it took to cook was perfect, although I pulled my lamb out of the oven a couple of minutes early as my family likes it a bit on the rare side. Definitely make this, it’s a winner.

This recipe sounded like a great way to welcome spring flavors! Its simple yet elegant ingredients made the dish sound appropriate for a family meal or even a dinner party with friends. This may have to do with the size of the lamb racks I used, but the cooking time was actually double what the recipe called for. I checked the lamb after the allotted 20 minutes, and it was still pretty rare. I kept it in the oven for 20 minutes more. The recipe calls for 2 garlic gloves to be made into a paste and spread on the racks of lamb, but I’d actually recommend at least doubling that amount—the more garlic, the better. Overall, I really enjoyed this dish. It just took a bit longer to cook than I expected.

Maybe the stars aligned, maybe I got an exceptionally good rack of lamb that day, or maybe this recipe is just awesome. I suspect it has something to do with the hour-long rest before cooking—it turned out tender lamb, perfectly medium-rare in the center, with salty bits of browned fat on the edges. There was a hint of the garlic and rosemary, but not enough to overpower the lamb itself. I graciously portioned it out between our dinner guests, but I could have easily eaten a rack on my own. It’s a simple recipe, so there’s not much to say about it, but it makes a delicious dish!

Perfect for spring—simple, quick, and delicious. I made half of the recipe using Amish lamb purchased from our local butcher, and served it with lemony rice pilaf and steamed broccoli. The recipe is so simple that it barely merits being an actual recipe, but for those first-time rack-of-lamb-roasters out there, this one is a winner.

I'm a huge fan of David Tanis. His recipes are mostly pretty simple, with just a few ingredients of top quality. This one is no exception. It works perfectly well as written, just as usual. Try to buy the already frenched lamb rack (I prefer the New Zealand one's at Costco), it saves you so much work. A very nice side is fresh peas with mint.