Cooking with Sherri

I confess, there was a time when the thought of cooking a rack of lamb made me nervous. There was something intimidating about it; it sounded so formal, pretentious even. Well, one good thing about getting older is you become fearless in the kitchen. Heck, now I'm willing to try anything once.
So recently, when my sister-in-law, Sherri, and I discovered we had a mutual desire to cook a rack or two, we decided to have a kitchen cooking party, at our house.
I found this recipe in my kitchen Bible -- Gourmet Today, edited by Ruth Reichl. It sounded challenging -- the kind of dish that gives you the most satisfaction in the kitchen when it turns out well.
I was hoping that together we could produce the kind of dinner you'd expect from a fine-dining restaurant, at a fraction of the price. I wasn't disappointed.
Basically, I took care of the prep, and once Sherri and my brother arrived, she finished off the cooking.
This takes a while from start to finish, so be prepared to make a night of it. We enjoyed this so much -- both the cooking and the socializing -- that we're thinking of making our kitchen cooking party a regular event.
This recipe would make wonderfully romantic dinner for two, but for our purposes, we just doubled everything. Be sure to read the recipe through carefully before you begin.


Provencal Rack of Lamb (serves 2)

A savory sauce of roasted tomatoes, black olives, shallots, anchovies and white wine, thickened with roasted garlic, makes a sublime base for tender rack of lamb. ... Be sure to have crusty bread on hand for mopping up the sauce.*

1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic head, left whole, plus two cloves peeled and crushed
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
2 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 (8 rib) frenched rack of lamb (about 1 1/2 lbs.)**
2 tbsp. plus 1/4 tsp olive oil
1 pint (8 oz.) grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
4 anchovy fillets
1/4 cup Nicoise olives, pitted
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 450 F.
Combine 1/3 cup wine, extra-virgin olive oil, smashed garlic cloves, shallots and half the rosemary and thyme in a sealable plastic bag. Add the lamb and seal, squeezing out excess air, and marinate at room temperature for an hour (or longer in the fridge).
Meanwhile, trim 1/4 inch off the top of the head of garlic. Drizzle the tops of the exposed cloves with 1/4 tsp. olive oil and wrap head in foil. Roast garlic until pale golden and tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 45 minutes. Leave the oven on.
While the garlic is roasting, toss the tomatoes with 1 tbsp. olive oil, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. pepper and the remaining thyme and rosemary in a bowl until coated. Arrange tomatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast until beginning to brown, about 20 minutes. Set aside. Leave oven on.
Remove lamb from marinade and reserve marinade. Discard smashed garlic cloves. Scrape shallots off the lamb and return them to the marinade. Pat the meat dry and season with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper.
Heat remaining 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large, heavy ovenproof skillet over moderately high heat until the oil is hot but not smoking. Add lamb and sear, turning once, until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Spread mustard over both sides of the lamb with the back of a spoon.
Turn lamb fat side down in the skillet, place it in the oven and roast it untill a thermometer inserted about 2 inches into the centre registers 130 F (for medium-rare), 16 to 20 minutes. Transfer lamb to a cutting board and let stand, loosely covered with foil, for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, squeeze roasted garlic from skins into a bowl and mash with a fork.
Add reserved marinade to the skillet you roasted the lamb in and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits. Reduce heat to moderate, stir in remaining 1/2 cup wine and anchovies and simmer, covered, until shallots are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir to blend anchovies into sauce and then add the mashed garlic, tomatoes, olives, water and parsley and stir until well combined. Stir in any meat juices that have accumulated on the cutting board.
Cut lamb into chops. Spoon tomato and olive sauce onto two plates and arrange chops on top.


*We loved the sauce so much that when there was some left over, we rushed out the next night and bought lamb chops, marinated them in olive oil and fresh rosemary, salt and pepper, grilled them and then served them with the reheated sauce.

** As Gourmet Today recommends, we bought our racks of lamb fresh (not frozen) at a big box store. It cost about $35 for two racks. It's not inexpensive, but is still reasonable for a fancy dinner for four compared to eating out at a restaurant.


We served our racks of lamb with my husband's famous whipped potatoes, and baby carrots that I parboiled, then sauteed in butter and fresh tarragon and pepper untill crisp-tender. We also enjoyed a lovely pinot noir.