April 2006 - Pistachio-crusted Lamb Racks

At some point during the tossing and turning as to which recipe to make from issue #48 I thought about making the cover recipe of Pea & Haloumi Fritters. They look really good and would make a nice lunch time meal. I also considered Rick Stein's Cornish Pasties. They looked exceptional and I really like pasties but I really wanted to make an evening meal from this issue.

There is a beautifully rich looking Daube of Lamb with Pappardelle recipe from Gordon Ramsay. I had most of the ingredients, except for the lamb and some of the vegetables. It served 4 although I always find that portions are a bit too generous and I often end up with 6 serves from these types of recipes. I also always find that to make these types of dishes it just doesn't work correctly halved. It really is a case of the full recipe or none at all.

I then considered making the Warm Risoni, Chickpea & Kumara Salad. It did sound quite nice and reasonably light, even though there is pasta in it. However, with the weather starting to turn cool in the evenings and I wanted something a bit more like winter food.

In the end I went back to the recipe that was the first to catch my eye in this issue and the one that I kept tossing up on whether to make, Valli Little's Pistachio-crusted Lamb Racks. I really wanted to make this as I really like lamb but at the same time I thought that a rack of lamb might be a bit too expensive. I managed to find a nice one that didn't cost too much and in the end got three meals out of it so it probably was worth it. This was really nice. The mint and the pistachios combined nicely, it was slightly oily but not too bad. It was slightly fiddly to make but worth it. The only problem I had was that it took almost double the time to roast that it stated in the recipe. I am not really sure why. It is hard to tell whether my rack was bigger than the one in the magazine, I don't think so. Due to this the sautéed potatoes that I did to go with them were a bit overcooked and then only just warm by the time they were served. When I served the last of I cut some kumara in to chunks and drizzled with olive oil and chilli honey and then roasted them in the oven and also sautéed some finely sliced cabbage with some bacon and onion. I actually think this was a better combination than the potatoes and mixed vegetables. I would definitely make this again. It would be perfect for a special meal, although if you were following the recipe, to serve 6, it would probably be quite an expensive one.