Grilled Rack of Spring Lamb

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Carré di Abbacchio alla Griglia

As a boy, I was aware that Mom was a good cook. I’d been to enough of my friends’ homes for dinner to know that few shared Mom’s skill in the kitchen. Judging by their response, my friends came to the same conclusion when they stayed for dinner at our home. In fact, a Mom called mine one evening asking how she prepared spinach. To her surprise, upon returning home after dinner with us, my friend couldn’t stop raving about the spinach, something he refused to eat at his own home. Apparently, she had only served her family canned spinach. Over the phone, Mom gave her instructions for sautéing fresh spinach in garlic-flavored olive oil. Decades before Jamie Oliver, Mom was changing how America ate, one dinner table at a time. Incidentally, to this day, I’ve never eaten canned spinach, no matter what Popeye said or did.

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Knowing that Mom was a good cook was one thing, realizing the authenticity of her cooking was something else. During my first trip to Florence, I followed a tour book’s suggestion and dined at a family owned restaurant. Just as the book described, we were greeted by the owner/chef, taken to our table, and then he disappeared, returning a few minutes later with menus and a list of the specials. In the kitchen, just as the book stated, Mamma could be seen helping to get the orders out to the diners. I followed our host’s suggestion and ordered lamb chops. A few minutes later, I glanced into the kitchen and there was Mamma, just beyond the restaurant’s back door, grilling my chops. When I was served, I was surprised to learn that they tasted exactly — not similarly but exactly — as if my own Mom had prepared them. That was the day I realized just how authentically Italian Mom and Zia cooked. That was quite a souvenir to bring back home.

Although a recipe is listed below, today’s post is more about the method used than anything else. This was how all of our chops and steaks were prepared, no matter who manned the barbecue. This is not an exact science nor will it ever be. The only difference in method when cooking the various meats is that a little lemon juice might be added when cooking lamb. Otherwise, a simple combination of olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper are used to marinate the meats. It really is that simple but don’t take my word for it. Karen has shared her own flavorful version of this simple recipe for grilled lamb in her wonderful blog, Back Road Journal.

As for today’s lamb, a couple of days after Easter, I was pleasantly surprised to see 2 small racks (a 3 rib & a 4 rib) of Spring lamb in the meat display. I asked the butcher about them and learned that they have been trimmed to  fulfill special orders for the holiday. I bought them — at half price! — and stored them in the freezer, bringing them with me when I last visited Michigan. Believe me, after every future holiday I will be sure to check every meat counter within reason, looking for a similar deal.

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Grilled Rack of Spring Lamb Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 portions of Spring rack of lamb, 7 ribs in total, french cut
  • 1 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • rosemary, roughly chopped
  • olive oil
  • 1 to 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)
  • salt and pepper
  • parsley for garnish (optional)

Directions

  1.  A couple of hours before you are to roast the lamb, remove it from the refrigerator and place on a pie plate or similar dish.
  2. Season with garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper before sprinkling with optional lemon juice and enough olive oil to lightly coat everything. The lamb is already dead. No need to drown it in oil.
  3. Set aside to marinate until you’re ready to cook. If your kitchen is warm, place the rack in the fridge until 30 minutes before you intend to cook it.
  4. Pre-heat your barbecue on high. Wrap the chop tips with aluminum foil, something I forgot to do.
  5. Place the rack directly over the heat and sear the meat for a couple of minutes before moving it to an area on the grill away from the heat.
  6. Using an instant read thermometer, we pulled the racks off of the grill when the temperature reached 120˚ F (49 C).
  7. While the racks rested, covered, I grilled the asparagus while Zia dressed the salad.
  8. The racks were served, garnished with a bit of parsley (optional).

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Notes

The olive oil marinade is not one that is left on the meat overnight. At most, the meat was left to marinate for 3 hours, with 1 to 2 hours the norm.

As you can see in the photo, the rosemary wasn’t chopped before being used.  Most, if not all, will be lost during grilling. The same is true for the garlic, so, don’t be overly concerned with chopping/dicing everything evenly.

The racks could just as easily be broiled if a barbecue or grill pan is not available. As always, do not forget about them lest your return to find Spring rack of lamb flambé.

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It’s déjà vu all over again …

Cherries JammedI mentioned last week that tart cherries are now in season. In my opinion, these cherries make the best pies, muffins, and jams. Yes, it can be a bit tedious pitting the little red devils but the end result certainly makes it all worthwhile. If you’re interested, you can see my recipe for making this delicious jam by clicking HERE.

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Coming soon to a monitor near you …

Fried Zucchini Blossoms 

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179 thoughts on “Grilled Rack of Spring Lamb”

  2. Honestly, I cannot tell you how excited I am to see rack of lamb here today. We always make rack of lamb at least once each summer because both my favourite husband and my stepfather L-O-V-E it. I will be printing this page to take with me when we make it in August. Thanks!

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    • That really is a nice thing to say and such a compliment. I hope you all enjoy your lamb fixed this way as much as we always have. I can’t wait to hear what they all have to say. 🙂

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  3. Mmm rack of lamb… it’s a food Dad and agree on. For people from the same family our foodie opinions diverge more than they should. Like on spinach… When I was a kid we didn’t eat it canned but we did eat it drenched in vinegar. Why? I have no idea. I love spinach without vinegar, and brussel sprouts but not frozen. I was condemned for not eating them. Don’t even ask me what Dad says about pasta, oh and pumpkin… it’s ok for him to have food preferences!
    I’m looking forward to your zucchini flowers. I made them for the first time recently, and the G.O. who is suspicious of a great many plant foods liked them. When I make your recipe, I bet he loves them 🙂

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    • Food preferences with a family always fascinate me. My Brother, for example would only eat his eat well-done. For my Father, this was sacrilege. All of our meats were prepared rare. How my Brother decided he liked well-done is beyond me but it would infuriate my Dad every time.
      I’m new to the zucchini blossoms myself. I hope you’ll like what I’ve done. I’d be interested is learning how you prepared yours. 🙂

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      • How I prepared my zucchini blossoms is a sad story. We bought them on impulse to eat simply dipped in batter and pan fried, not stuffed, as a Saturday pre-dinner snack but events intervened and I didn’t get to them until the Monday evening when they looked a bit worse for wear. Undaunted I thought I’ll stuff them but the fridge contents yielded not much. Anyway… I went with good tasty cheese finely grated with pitted Sicilian olives and sun dried tomatoes all blended together. It worked, and was probably a blessing in disguise, as the G.O. liked them, probably more than he would have plain 🙂

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        • My first attempts weren’t much better. I’ve gone the experimental route and have settled on a batter and stuffing I like. Knowing me, though, I’ll keep tinkering with them as long as I can find them at the farmers market. I’d really like to take some with me to Michigan but there’s no way they’d survive the trip. I’d love to see how Zia would handle them. I should plant some squash seeds in her yard just for the blossoms. 😉

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  4. Sorry if I sounds naive but… ewwww… canned spinach is actually a thing? I thought it was just in the cartoon! My mom doesn’t like to cook, but I’ve never ever had anything but fresh spinach (on the odd occasion, she would buy frozen to make spinach dip).

    The lamb chops look amazing! I tried lamb for the first time a few months ago. My dad doesn’t like lamb, so mom never bothered cooking it. I bought myself a single chop, marinated it in olive oil, salt, and peppers, and cooked it up. I loved it! I will try your spice/herb marinade next time though. I want to make it for Bryan next time we splurge for an occasion.

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    • I’ve a feeling, Amber, that you’re too young — meaning I’m old — to know of canned spinach. As a boy, canned foods were just being replaced by frozen. My Dad did the vegetable shopping and we ate fresh. He insisted, though, Mom snuck some frozen veggies into our meals during Winter.
      Lamb is a great protein and I, too, love it. Years ago, you had to cook it till well-done, just like pork. The problem with that is the longer you cook lamb, the stronger the taste and many find that unpleasant. Cook it medium rare and it is a delicious meat. I hope you enjoy my family’s method of cooking it. In the meantime, you can use the same marinade for steaks or pork chops. Good luck! 🙂

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  8. Don’t recall ever seeing canned spinach, wonder what it taste like?
    Now that you have given away the “special deal” secret at the meat counter, your chances of finding those deals are now going to be scarce.
    Simply prepared, your lamb looks fab.

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  9. Beautiful story John. I am hoping that one day the same will dawn on my son. My mother was not a good cook. She hated cooking and was mortified when I wanted to become a chef. I love your fortunate find of lamb and you have done it proud

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    • Thanks and don’t worry about your Son. Your blog is full of mouth-watering dishes. Like most sons, he won’t realize how good he has it until he leaves the nest. Learning to cook for oneself is a real eye-opener. 🙂

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  11. The lamb looks wonderful! And I love how your mother was a “Jamie Oliver” before his time! I’m sure that all across America there are the hidden gems that are masters in the kitchen, we just need refind them during this time of overly processed food and really enjoy their authentic flavors.

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    • Thank you so much. I couldn’t agree more. We are sacrificing nutrition for convenience. It’s no wonder obesity has become such a terrible problem. A home cooked meal should be the norm and not the exception it has become.

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  12. These look so good, John, and just last night my husband and I were discussing a desire for grilled lamb chops! I love the Mediterranean approach to simply seasoning meats and fish, and usually grilling them.

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    • Thanks, Betsy. You’re right. This marinade is the Mediterranean way of preparing meats. I could just of easily wrote the post featuring steaks, pork chops, or chicken. It’s not often, however, that I get rack of lamb and I couldn’t ignore the it. The post wrote itself. 🙂

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  13. Wonderful as always, John: rack of lamb is one favorite of mine among meat dishes! And, I have to say I am looking forward to your fried zucchini blossom recipe as I love them too! 🙂 Thank you, John!

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  14. Hi John,
    I love coming here where I have enough time to read your hilarious stories. They are always so well crafted, I enjoy reading them. You know, I have never seen or eaten canned spinach. I bet it’s out there on the store shelfs but I am always on the lookout for things like canned beans, garbanzo or sweet corn and somehow canned spinach doesn’t just sound right for me. I love my spinach fresh, and sautéing it in garlic flavoured olive oil sounds delicious because I love garlic. I always have some garlic in the kitchen and add it to virtually everything I cook. My mom loves garlic, too. She says it’s good for her heart. The recipe for rack of lamb is so simple but elegant at the same time. I can just imagine what it tastes like in the end, flavoured with rosemary and drizzled with some olive oil. I am looking forward to the fried zucchini blossoms. You know how I love zucchini too. That zucchini blossom, photo looks great. Thanks for sharing this simple but elegant recipe and thanks for visiting my blog several times. Your presence there is always appreciated. I wish you a wonderful week and best wishes to your wonderful family!

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    • Thanks, Liz, for leaving such a gracious comment. As far as I’m concerned, canned spinach will remain one of life’s mysteries. I’ve no desire to find out whether it’s good. I grew up watching Mom sauté garlic in some olive oil, remove it once it started to brown, then sauté some onions before adding the spinach. It works for me! If it ain’t broke …
      I’m glad you enjoyed the post and hope you’ll feel the same about the zucchini blossoms. Have a great week!

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  15. i’m not a fans of canned spinach since it preety pricey compares to the fresh ones because all canned spinach are imported
    btw, thx to popeye, we used to called amarath as spinach in Indonesia….
    this post make me craving even more since actually i’m a lamb person..
    btw, have ever try to smoke lamb rack before????

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    • I’m no fan of canned either but not because of the price. Most of our canned vegetables aren’t at all expensive. I haven’t a smoker and have never tried smoked lamb before, I bet it’s delicious!

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    • Thank you, Celia. I’m not at all accustomed to using Zia’s barbecue. I stood over that lamb like it was a newborn, fearful that if I left the barbecue, it would burn. 🙂

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  17. Thank you for this recipe and process! I’ve always wanted to do this and now I can. We are both big lamb lovers so I know this would be a huge hit!

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    • Thanks, MJ. I, too, am a lamb lover and find myself preparing it more often than I do beef. I hope you enjoy your lamb prepared this way. Aside from braised lamb shanks, this is the only way I’ve ever prepared lamb. 🙂

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  19. Your mother sounds like a phenomenal woman–if only everyone could grow up with delicious fresh meals made with love! This recipe looks fantastic and I have no doubt that it is!

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    • Thank you for leaving such a lovely compliment, Mary Frances. Mom was something special and I can almost feel her in my kitchen whenever I cook one of these family recipes.

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  20. I brought this recipe with me to our family BBQ this past weekend. We made lamb chops instead of rack of lamb, but the marinade worked beautifully all the same. The chops were a huge hit and, of course, I looked like a hero.

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    • Good for you! I’m honored that you had enough confidence in the recipe to use it at a family affair. It such a simple method but it sure does deliver. I especially like how the meat smells coming off of the grill. I get a whiff of that scent and am immediately transported to my youth. 🙂

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