×

Simply Food

Rosemary and lamb

By Wendy Monro

Yes, I was reminded of Mary and her little lamb; but, it had been a while since I have made something especially for Claud. He does love lamb. So, I quickly let that thought vanish from my mind and instead I concentrated on making Claud a meal he would enjoy. Usually, I think of mint when I want to make lamb. This time, I considered rosemary. I thought rosemary would be a nice change and a good compliment to a rack of lamb.

A couple of days ago, I wandered around Whole Foods Market looking for more ideas to add to the meal. He has been traveling a lot lately and hasn’t had too many home cooked meals. Since the beginning of the year, he has visited: New York, Florida, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and California. This week he is off again and will travel for most of the month. I attempted to talk him into bringing me along with him to the Bahamas in March. He said no. I’ll get him next time.

At Whole Foods, I stared in the produce section. If you have never been to Whole Foods, I highly recommend a visit. Sure, some things cost more but they also have incredible sales. Also, it might be possible that you have never before seen such an amazing display of produce in your life. The strawberries were huge and so red. Then the romanesco broccoli caught my attention. I cannot get over how wonderful this broccoli looks. It’s the Cindy Crawford of broccoli. It’s the St. Petersburg of produce. The shape is fascinating. It looks like the most incredible turrets you’ve ever witnessed in the world. I had to buy some. So, I did.

I also threw some potatoes and onions into the basket because I wanted to make dauphanoise potatoes. These are Claud’s favorite potatoes. I don’t make them very often because they use so much cream. They are absolutely delicious but not very healthy. This meal was more about taste than health. Above all else, I wanted this to be a meal he would love. I saw a woman looking through the leeks and thought I should get some of those as well. Since I was already buying cream, I would make some creamy leeks to go along with everything else.

To top it all off, I decided to bake a chocolate cake. I could hardly believe it myself. I got kind of excited. I stood there in an aisle looking up chocolate cake recipes until I found one I liked. What was going on with me? I didn’t care to look too deeply into why I wanted chocolate cake and looked around for the ingredients necessary to bake a chocolate cake instead.

When I got home, I got to baking. It was fairly early for dinner and thought it best to bake the cake first. I used my star shaped cake pans. Anyone who has had a birthday cake at my house has had a star shaped cake. I have had these pans for at least twenty years. The cake turned out pretty well except the tip of one of the edges had to be glued in with frosting. Oh well, who would care about that? Not me. A little extra frosting never hurt anyone.

I moved on the lamb and decided to make rosemary butter. I figured with the cream and the chocolate cake, what’s a little butter going to hurt? I threw butter, garlic and rosemary into the food processor and made a paste that I would slather over the lamb. I knew Claud would love this. Before I knew it, we had a rack of lamb, romanesco broccoli, creamy leeks, dauphinoise potatoes and a chocolate cake for dinner. I really out did myself that night. Everything was so rich, neither of us could clean our plates. However, it was one of the most amazing dinners we have eaten in a long time. Those were Claud’s words. Oh, and I was correct about the rosemary. Claud didn’t miss the mint one bit.

Rosemary & Lamb:

Time 45 minutes

Serves: 2

1 rack of lamb

salt and pepper

½ cup butter

¼ cup fresh rosemary leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle both sides of rack with salt and pepper. Place lamb in an oven safe dish. Place butter, rosemary, olive oil, and garlic into a food processor. Mix until blended well. Scrape out with a rubber spatula. Spread on both sides of the rack of lamb. Place in the oven. Bake for twenty minutes with the fat side facing up. Then, turn it over and cook to your liking. Claud likes it rare, so I cooked it for another five minutes. Then, remove from oven and let it rest for ten minutes before serving.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today