Rack of lamb with an olive and caper crust
Instead of turkey this year, try our Christmas lamb recipe. A showstopper rack of French-trimmed lamb, with an olive and breadcrumb crust, that’s ready in just 45 minutes.
Or you could spice things up with our slow-cooked curried leg of lamb recipe.
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Serves 4
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Hands-on time 15 min, oven time 20-30 min
Ingredients
- 2 x 300g lamb racks, French trimmed (see know-how)
For the breadcrumb crust
- 65g fresh white breadcrumbs
- Grated zest 2 lemons and juice ½
- 20g parmesan or grana padano, finely grated
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
For the olive paste
- 50g black olives, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp capers, chopped
- 4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked and chopped
- Glug olive oil, plus extra to grease
Method
- Heat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C/gas 7. For the crust, combine the breadcrumbs, half the lemon zest, the grated cheese and chopped parsley in a bowl.
- For the olive paste, whizz the black olives, capers, thyme leaves, remaining lemon zest and the juice, and enough olive oil in a food processor to make a thick paste (or mix to a coarse paste in a pestle and mortar). Smear the olive paste all over the meat, then press the cheesy breadcrumb crust on top to coat evenly.
- Put the lamb on a lightly oiled baking tray and roast for 20 minutes for rare or 25-30 minutes for medium to well done.
- Remove from the oven and cover with foil for 5 minutes to rest before carving. Serve with seasonal vegetables.
- Recipe from December 2017 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 345kcals
- Fat
- 21.2g (6g saturated)
- Protein
- 24.4g
- Carbohydrates
- 13.3g (1.1g sugars)
- Fibre
- 1.7g
- Salt
- 0.7g
delicious. tips
French-trimmed lamb racks have had the bones cleaned of all fat and sinew to give a neat appearance. Ask your butcher to do this for you, or find a step-by-step guide on how to French trim a rack of lamb, here.
A classic lamb dish deserves a classic claret (red bordeaux), ideally a merlot-rich saint émilion or pomerol.
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