Roast Lamb & Leftover Mash Creation

We love lamb here at the McGrath house, even the kids have slowly adjusted their pallets to the taste of it.

There are many ways to cook lamb but I prefer to keep it simple; since the meat is already so flavourful, it doesn’t need many spices or elaborate sauces.

All you need is a rack of lamb and some seasonings of your choice. 

I like the following herbs: Thyme, Sage, Garlic, Rosemary and Pepper. I buy a spice mix called Tuscan Style BBQ Seasoning, it’s from Chef Recipes Organic; it has a nice mix of all of the above spices. I’m sure any spice mix of your choice with the above-mentioned herbs will do…

Ingredients:

1 rack of lamb

Spice mix - Thyme, Sage, Garlic, Rosemary and Pepper

Olive oil

Olive oil spray

Potatoes – left over mashed potatoes for this recipe but you can make fresh mashed potatoes as well

Cheese – Tasty Cheese (or any hard cheese will do)

Mint jelly

Spinach leaves (fresh)

Foil

I begin by massaging olive oil on the rack of lamb and then cover both sides with the seasoning. I pre heat the over at 250 degrees. For the first half of the cooking time I leave it quite high so that it becomes crispy on the outside…I then lower the temperature to about 180 degrees for the remaining time…If you notice the lamb bones turning dark don’t worry…I cook the lamb for max 30 minutes (I use a large rack and you might like your lamb rare; so really for cooking times my best advice is to ask your local butcher…sorry!!!)

As a side to lamb I love mashed potatoes…I had a lot left over from the night before (it was a NUTMEG MASH, so it carried that nice flavor over…and my pet peeve is to waste food so I do anything possible to invent new things with my left overs.) 

I take the mash cold out of the fridge, make evenly shaped balls and place them on a foil sheet that I first spray with olive oil spray so that they don’t stick…(I like olive oil in a can because it allows you to only put on a small even quantity of olive oil on foods).

Once all the mash balls are placed on the foil I spray just a little more olive oil on them and then cut a piece of Tasty cheese over the top of the mash balls.

They then go in the oven at about 200 degrees for 10 minutes…You will realize they are ready when the cheese has melted and they become a golden colour…I leave them in the oven for just a bit longer because I like them crunchy (but don’t worry if they are still soft at the bottom, since the mash has been in the fridge it can let out a bit more moisture)…

A dab of mint jelly on the side of the dish adds a delicious touch…

Oh wait, and don’t forget to add some greens, I keep it simple and just add some plain spinach leaves…

I hope you enjoy…Oh, I learnt a lesson cooking this meal…don’t wear suede shoes in the kitchen because when I cut the lamb and had a taste a bit of the juice drizzled on my new suede shoes…I was very annoyed, but I forgot about it once I ate my delicious lamb… ENJOY!!!