Herb-crusted rack of lamb with white bean purée
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Herb-crusted rack of lamb with white bean purée

By Barney Desmazery

Show off your cooking skills with this restaurant-style cut of lamb served on a butter bean mash

  • Prep:15 mins
    Cook:35 mins
  • Serves 4
  • More effort

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 709
  • fat 49g
  • saturates 14g
  • carbs 19g
  • sugars 2g
  • fibre 6g
  • protein 48g
  • salt 2.2g

Ingredients

  • 50g fresh white breadcrumbs or white bread, torn into small pieces
  • 2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
  • 2 tbsp thyme leaves
  • 2 tbsp rosemary leaves, picked from sprigs
  • zest 1 lemon
  • 25g grated parmesan
  • 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
  • 2 x 8-bone racks of lamb, well trimmed (see 'Try', below)
  • 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 250g spinach leaves
  • 400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • 6 anchovy fillets
  • large rosemary sprig, leaves chopped
  • juice ½ lemon
  • 8 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, the best quality you can afford

Tip

Rack of lamb
Chefs ‘French trim’ a rack of lamb to make it look very neat, scraping all the skin and meat off the bones, and trimming the fat to a single thin layer. This is something a butcher will happily do for you, but you may need to give advance notice.

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tip the breadcrumbs, herbs, zest and Parmesan into a food processor with 1 tbsp of the oil and some seasoning. Blitz until everything is finely chopped.

  2. Heat the remaining oil in an ovenproof frying pan. Season the lamb, then brown it well on all sides and turn off the heat. Turn the racks so that they are fat-side up, and brush liberally with the mustard (Step 1, above). Pack over the herb crust (Step 2), drizzle with a bit more oil, and roast for 25 mins until the crust is golden and the lamb is cooked – this will produce lamb that is pink in the middle but cooked all the way through. If you like your lamb rarer, roast for only 20 mins; if you like it more done, give it 5 mins more. Put the lamb on a board to rest.

  3. While the lamb is cooking, blitz the beans with the garlic, anchovies, rosemary, lemon juice, some seasoning and 7 tbsp olive oil (or enough to make it a smooth purée. Tip into a saucepan to gently heat.

  4. Wilt the spinach in the remaining olive oil in another frying pan. Once the lamb has rested, carefully carve it into chops (Step 3), trying to keep the crust intact. Divide the warm bean purée between 4 plates, add a small mound of spinach, then arrange 3 lamb chops on top of each portion. Sprinkle with stray crumbs and drizzle with a little olive oil.

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