First and foremost, I want to thank all my friends… who constantly nag me and remind me that I haven’t posted in forever. I get it. Sorry, I have been out of town a bunch and quite busy. Between weddings in Florida, my five year old cousin’s birthday in New York, and catching up with good friends in Seattle, I haven’t been in D.C. much to hunker down and cook.
Lucky for me, my first weekend in D.C. was filled with food. Saturday I attended EmporiYUM near Union Market which was filled with great food and running into random friends. After getting filled on various tastings from the venue, I biked home to start prepping dinner with my cousin Mahlon. He had seen my blog, and requested a meal worthy of a blog post instead of going out to a restaurant. I decided to bring in some family classics on to the plate. Mahlon grew up in Pickford, Michigan with his mother on a sheep farm. Every summer when my family would head to Sugar Island Michigan for the summer, we would have lamb at some point fresh from the farm. It was served usually with heaping mounds of my mom’s mashed potatoes and a generous dollop of mint jelly. Soooo I thought I would do my own twist of a childhood classic.
Ingredients
French rack of lamb (count two bones per individual)
1 bunch of thyme
Lamb jus
Lamb bones (ask the butcher at the counter for these)
1 quart Beef stock
2 celery stocks chopped
1 Onion
3-4 carrots chopped
3 fresh bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
4-5 red potatoes
1 bushel parsley
1 bulb of garlic
2 tbsp butter
1/2-1 cup milk or cream
1 pound fresh snap peas
1 bushel mint
1 pint grape seed oil
Preparation
1) Making mint oil will require preparation at least 24 hours in advance. Bring a pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add the mint leaves for 10-20 seconds. Remove from boiling water and place in an ice bath. Place mint leaves in food processor, and add grape seed oil until the leaves are completely covered. Blend for two minutes and remove from processor. Let sit refrigerated overnight. The next morning, run the oil through a cheese cloth to separate all the solids. This can take a long time, so provide ample time for the oil to drain out.
2) For the pea mash, you will want to bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the peas for about a minute, remove and put peas into a ice bath. Shuck the peas from the pods, and place the peas into a food processor. Add about 4-5 tablespoons of the mint oil, fresh cracked pepper and salt, and puree/mash it.
3) I have never made jus before, but its frickin delicious! In a pot, add the lamb bones, celery, carrots, onion, bay leaves and thyme sprigs, cover with beef stock, and bring that sucker to a boil! Reduce heat slightly and allow the liquid to reduce down about 85%. Strain the liquid out into a container and you will have this super rich and awesome broth to pour onto your meat later.
4) Bring a pot of water to a boil, and boil potatoes until tender in the center. Meanwhile, cut the top of the bulb of garlic, pour a little bit of olive oil on top, add a sprig of thyme, and wrap in tinfoil. Roast in oven at 350-400 for 30 minutes. Once the potatoes are completely cooked, strain the water and mash the potatoes. Add butter, milk, chopped parsley, and roasted garlic. Make sure to add plenty of salt and pepper for flavor, and mash until you get your desired consistency. I get that keeping skins on potatoes is super contentious, but that’s how my momma makes them so back off!
5) You can do your lamb in several different ways. First, you should divide the rack of lamb into portions. I do two chops per portion. You can grill, roast, or in my case use a sous vide (my newest most favoritest toy ever). I went ahead and brought my stove top grill to a very high heat and seared the lamb on all sides. Once you get a nice sear, remove from heat and place into a Ziploc bag with a small dollop of butter and sprig of thyme per portion. To use a sous vide, you are supposed to use a vacuum bag… but not all of us have vacuum bags do we? So I left a very small break in the seal and inhaled air from the bag, and quickly closed the Ziploc before the air can get back in. Submerge the lamb in the Ziploc into the water bath set at 55 degrees Celsius for an hour. Remove the lamb from the water bath, and baste the meat in a hot pan with brown butter and coloring. Let the protein sit for a minute or two and cut down the center.
6)Plate your dish, and cover the protein with lamb jus, and enjoy!
seizethesupper 