LAMB: This is an alternative way to serve rack of lamb by means of cutting out individual chops (cutlets) to cook rather than cooking the whole rack in one piece. Covering the cutlets with puff pastry not only seals in the flavour but makes the dish more spectacular to serve to family or company.

LAMB CUTLETS IN PUFF PASTRY:



1 rack of lamb about 7-8 ribs

herb butter:

3 tbsp. butter, softened
¼ tsp. rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced
freshly-ground pepper to taste

8 mushrooms, chopped

½ cup ham, chopped

1 tsp. parsley

egg wash: 1 egg, beaten with1 tbsp. water

1 tsp. tomato paste

3 tbsp. cooking oil

1 pkg. frozen puff pastry, thawed (or use recipe for home-made to be posted later)



On a small piece of wax paper, mix softened butter with minced garlic, rosemary and pepper together. Fold the paper over to enclose the butter mixture. Refrigerate until needed.

Roll puff pastry out to between 1/8- ¼-inch thickness and cut out 8 x 5-inch circles. Put pastry circles on a wax paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

“French” rack of lamb by using a sharp knife to trim off excess fat and gristles from each rib so that only the meat and the rib bone remain. Cut rack into individual cutlets.

In a large heavy non-stick skillet, heat 2 tbsp. oil over high heat. Sear lamb cutlets in batches for 1-2 minutes on each side. Season cutlets with salt and pepper to taste and remove when browned. Reserve.

Pour fats off the pan; then add 1 tbsp. fresh oil to pan and heat it until hot. Add mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add ham, tomato paste and parsley and mix well together. Remove and cool.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Take pastry circles out of fridge. Place a cutlet on a pastry circle with 1-inch of bone sticking out from the edge of pastry. Divide herb butter and mushroom mixture into 8 portions. Spread 1 portion of each over the top of the cutlet. Moisten edges of pastry and fold over, sealing edges well. The meat should be completely covered by the pastry except for 1-inch of the bone.

Transfer cutlets to the baking sheet and brush pastries with egg wash. Bake cutlets for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown.