Marinated lamb chops with garlic and herb sauce – recipes and wine pairings

This is an ideal recipe to serve as finger food or a quirky canapé. Quick and easy to prepare, this is a great way to open up the palate before a delicious meal. Spring lamb is extremely delicate; be carful not to overpower with excessive use of spices. A simple marinade and garlic sauce will make this mouth-watering rack of lamb stand out.

Serves 4 as an canapé

Ingredients:

• 1 rack of spring lamb (with 8 bones) French trimmed

To prepare the marinade:

• 4 tbsps olive oil

• A sprig of striped rosemary

• A sprig of striped thyme

• 1 tsp piment d’Espelette (Ground chili)

• 1 tsp sea salt

To prepare the sauce:

• 100ml milk

• 2 peeled garlic clove

• 250ml rapeseed oil

• 1 tbsp chopped mint

• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

• Salt and pepper

Method:

To prepare the marinade:

1 Place all the ingredients in a mortar and grind until the oil is properly infused. Rub the marinade all over the lamb rack and leave in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

2 Preheat your oven to 175 degrees C

3 Heat a large, frying pan over a medium to high heat and brown the rack on the meaty sides for about 1-2 minutes, then turn and colour the other sides for a further 1 minute. Finally, brown the ends briefly so that all of the exposed meat is seared.

4 Then place in an appropriate roasting tray and roast for approximately 10 minutes (depending on the size of the rack). Leave the meat to rest for a further 5 minutes before slicing each chop.

To prepare the sauce:

5 Place the milk and halved garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Gently heat making sure the liquid never boils. Once hot, use a hand blender to mix the garlic cloves and milk together.

6 Progressively incorporate the oil until the sauce emulsifies and thickens. Then pour the sauce into a small bowl and leave to cool down for 1 hour.

7 Once completely cold, whisk the chopped herbs into the sauce and serve alongside the lamb chops.

Translated by Leo / 孔祥鑫