Rack of lamb with an olive and caper crust

  • Portion size: Serves 4
  • Hands-on time 15 min, oven time 20-30 min
  • Difficulty: easy

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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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
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Method

  1.  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.
  2.  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.
  3. 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.
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  5. Remove from the oven and cover with foil for 5 minutes to rest before carving. Serve with seasonal vegetables.

Nutrition

  • 345kcals Calories
  • 21.2g (6g saturated) Fat
  • 24.4g Protein
  • 13.3g (1.1g sugars) Carbs
  • 1.7g Fibre
  • 0.7g Salt

Cook smarter

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.

To Drink

A classic lamb dish deserves a classic claret (red bordeaux), ideally a merlot-rich saint émilion or pomerol.

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