I had a craving for rack of lamb after seeing Conor’s post on herbed rack of lamb. I picked up a nice rack of lamb, thinking I’d serve it with a sauce with a hint of ginger. When I thought about what to serve with it, I also remembered Conor’s post about carrot and ginger soup. And so I decided to serve the lamb with a carrot puree. Carrot, ginger, and cumin go well together, and lamb, ginger, and cumin go well together. So then lamb, carrot, ginger, and cumin should all go well together. And they did! There was only a hint of the thyme, ginger, and cumin in the final dish, but they did bring out the flavor of the lamb and the carrots very nicely.
Cooking perfect rack of lamb is easy if you own an instant-read meat thermometer. Just stick the probe into the meat such that the tip is right in the center of the meat. Set the alarm to 55ºC/131ºF and put the meat into the oven at 200ºC/390ºF until the thermometer starts beeping to indicate that the target temperature has been reached. Due to the high oven temperature this will only take 10 to 15 minutes, and the outside of the meat will brown nicely before a lot of the outer layer gets overcooked.
Ingredients
For the lamb
1 rack of lamb, 8 ribs
1 tsp of minced fresh ginger
1 tsp of ground cumin
2 Tbsp of minced thyme
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
60 ml (1/4 cup) of lamb demi-glace (lamb stock, reduced to 10% of its original volume)
For the carrot puree
500 grams (1.1 lbs) carrots
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp grated ginger
1 shallot, minced
salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 star anise (optional)
olive oil
Preparation of the carrot puree
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/390ºF (with fan). Cut off the ends of the carrots and wash them thoroughly. There is no need to peel them. Toss the carrots in an oven dish with the cumin and just enough olive oil to coat them. I also included 2 star anise pods to perfume the carrots, but I’m not sure that it could be noticed in the final puree.
Roast the carrots at 200ºC/390ºF (with fan) for 35-40 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, sauté the shallot over low heat in a bit of olive oil until soft and fragrant and slightly golden.
Transfer the carrots to the bowl of the food processor. Deglaze the oven dish with 60 ml (1/4 cup) water.
Scrape the oven dish with a wooden spatula to get all of the flavor.
Add the liquid from the oven dish to the carrots in the food processor, together with the sauteed shallot and the grated ginger.
Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Put the carrot puree in a saucepan over medium heat and reheat it, stirring to prevent it from burning. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly ground white pepper. If you like you can also add some more ground cumin or grated ginger to taste.
Preparation of the lamb
Rub the rack of lamb with olive oil, salt, and freshly ground black pepper on all sides.
Heat an oven proof frying pan and add the rack of lamb on the fatty side. Cook for a few minutes or until browned.
Turn over the rack of lamb and brown on the other side as well.
Sprinkle the lamb with half the thyme, making sure that there is thyme underneath as well.
Insert the probe of an instant-read meat thermometer into the rack of lamb, such that the tip of the probe is right in the center of the meat. (As you can see the meat has only reached a temperature of 32ºC/90ºF from the browning.) Set the target temperature to 55ºC/131ºF for the medium side of medium rare, which is what I prefer for rack of lamb. (The meat will continue to cook while it rests, so the final core temperature will end up being higher than 55ºC/131ºF).
Put the pan in the oven at 200ºC/390ºF (with fan) until the core temperature of the lamb has reached 55ºC/131ºF, about 10-15 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven (remember the handle will be hot!) and wrap the rack of lamb in aluminum foil.
Sauté theshallot, garlic, ginger, and remaining thyme for a minute in the remaining fat, adding a bit of olive oil if needed.
Deglaze the pan with a bit of water and the lamb demi glace. Cook over medium heat until it has thickened again to demi glace thickness.
Sieve the sauce.
Cut the rack of lamb into individual cutlets and serve them with the carrot puree and the sauce on warm plates.
Flashback
Two years ago I blogged about dry-aged T-bone steak cooked sous-vide.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
That carrot puree sounds superb. I’m not wild keen on Star Anise but I bet a few cloves might work nicely instead!
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I thought about using cardamom and cinnamon as well, but cloves, nutmeg or mace would all be interesting to try, too.
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Darnation! That demi glace really trumps my lamb effort. I’ll bet the flavours were excellent and the carrot puree is a great idea. Well done (even though it never got over 55 degrees).
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LOL!
The dish actually missed something crunchy, so a herb crust may have been a nice addition.
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ricetta fantastica spiegata perfettamente.
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Grazie 🙂
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Couldn’t put a cigarette paper between the two creations!
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Stefan,
Great dish. I like that you echoed the cumin and ginger in the carrots and the lamb. Speaking of the lamb – you really got a great sear on it! Delicious.
Best,
Shanna
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It was a bit of an experiment to do the ‘echo’ (like that term for it) and it worked nicely.
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Stefan… Yes, echoing flavors… I have read that it is nice on the pallet during a meal. What do you make that does not work out nicely? Everything from Stefan Gourmet looks pretty perfect to me. Take care -Shanna
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One of my favourite dishes beautifully done ~ and I shall definitely add the star anise on my next effort! Am quite jealous: coming from a known sheep country it is frustrating to see I have not been able to buy such a meaty and well trimmed rack here for ages!!
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I usually get fresh local lamb, but I think this actually came in frozen from kiwiland.
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Uhuh ~ have to admit their grass is greener than ours!!!
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So is ours… 😉
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Stefan, I almost posted a recipe on rack of lamb this weekend, but when I finally got to the plating stage, I messed up. I’ll try again soon hopefully. Your lamb chops look great and delicious. And great technique too! Perfectly cooked.
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Thanks. Sorry you couldn’t post yours.
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Very nice carrot puree. Baking provide a nice dimension. It is more or less like this in the maghreb except that star anis is not used. Cheers
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Thanks — I’ll have to look up what maghreb is.
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The lamb looks great! I love cooking with more traditional methods, like the good old fashioned oven, after a couple of sous vide cooked pieces of meat.
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I’d cooked this sous-vide the last couple of times, but it actually works very well this way.
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Very delectable and decadent dish. I am not much of a strong herb or spice person, but I think how you have added and fused the ingredients, it really works for me too.
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Thanks Fae. This is not spicy or herby at all, very elegant. I’m not surprised you prefer food like that, given what Japanese cuisine is like.
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In every aspect, I am “international”! 😀
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What a great dish, Stefan! That rack is a beautiful piece of meat and you’ve cooked it to perfection. As you can probably imagine, I’ve never tried lamb that was seasoned with ginger and cumin. I sure do want to try it, though. Thanks for the inspiration.
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wow! how amazing!
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Great dish, Stefan, and I love a good rack of lamb. It looks perfectly cooked and the sauce sounds divine. Baby Lady doesn’t care for the gaminess of lamb so, unless the kids are home, it’s only me. While I can eat a whole rack of lamb, it really isn’t good for me. So I don’t. Daniel is coming home 12/18 so I should prepare rack of lamb one of the nights he is here. It is such a wonderful meal and makes such a beautiful presentation. Of course, if I can get a saddle or two to make a crown roast of lamb that would even be better. Maybe for Christmas but then I would have to fix Baby Lady her own nice piece of fish. Hmmm… Christmas Eve might be better. 😀
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Milk-fed lamb or lamb that has been marinated in marsala and balsamic is not as gamey, so perhaps that’ll do the trick. It may be just an excuse not to have to eat cute animals 😉 I’m sure Daniel won’t mind you’re making lamb when he comes over…
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