Traditional Scottish Recipes
- Roast Rack of Lamb with Herb Crust

This recipe is from Claire Macdonald who has written many cookery books and runs the cookery school at Kinloch Lodge.

Introduction by Claire Macdonald
I have seen - and bought - racks of lamb for sale in butchers' departments of supermarkets and they are so convenient, especially when you are only a few for lunch. They cook so much more quickly than a large leg of lamb. How long you roast it depends on how pink you like to eat your lamb. Do trim as much fat as possible off each rack, because it doesn't get a chance to crisp up under the herb crust.

I serve this with a sauced vegetable, like leeks in a nutmeg-flavoured creamy white sauce, and with crispy sautéed potatoes with paprika.

Allow 2 - 3 chops per person, depending on their ages and therefore, to a great extent, their appetites.

Ingredients (for six people):
2 oz/56g/half stick butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped as finely as possible
1 clove of garlic, skinned and very finely chopped
6 oz/170 g/1½ cups day-old breadcrumbs made from baked bread, as opposed to steamed sliced bread; cut off crusts before whizzing the bread to crumbs
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley, snipped chives and chopped tarragon
2 racks of lamb each with 6 - 7 chops in it

Method:
Melt the butter and heat the oil together and sauté the onion in this till it is really soft - about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cook for a minute. Then stir in the breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, off the heat, and lastly the chopped herbs. Mix all together very well. Trim all the fat you can from the racks. Lay them so that the fat side is uppermost, flat. Spoon over the herb crust, pressing it down well, and roast in a hot oven, 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6, for 25 minutes - 30 minutes if you prefer slightly better-cooked lamb.



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