My aunt sent me this lamb marinade recipe a couple weeks ago. One of my uncle’s favorite dishes was lamb. His birthday would have been on Easter this year, but he passed away when I was young. To celebrate his memory, I roasted lamb for dinner on Sunday.
Since we don’t eat a lot of lamb, I did a little research before I purchased it. Here’s a little of what I learned (from The Science of Good Food by Joachim and Schloss). The quality of lamb is determined by the lamb’s age. Milk-fed lamb is the most desirable, but is hard to find in the US. Most US lamb is spring lamb, which is young (three to five months old) when it becomes meat for us to eat. After that, the lamb is called old-season lamb. And finally there’s mutton – lamb that’s over two years old (which is tougher and stronger in flavor).
Like beef, the most expensive cuts and those best for grilling are from the rib and loin areas. Cuts from the shoulder and breast are best suited for roasting and shanks are good for stewing and braising. I ended up with a breast, because that’s all that was left by the time I did my research, and it turned out very well!
Rack of Lamb Marinade
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 t paprika
- 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
Make a paste of salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika. Combine rosemary, sugar, oil, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the paste to the second mixture. Rub onto the meat and baste the meat while it’s roasting. I baked my lamb at 325 degrees until it reached 140 degrees (about 25 minutes/pound).
The lamb turned out delicious — very tender and flavorful. I served it with a side of oven roasted zucchini, yellow squash and cremini mushrooms, seasoned with salt, pepper and tarragon and with garlic mashed redskins.
Here are a couple other lamb recipes I enjoyed last weekend (at least with my eyes!)
Rack of Lamb with porcini and fresh herbs from Rufus’ Guide
Porcini and Rosemary Crusted Lamb Loin Chops from TasteFood
mannaandquail.wordpress.com 
Lamb is frightfully expensive here in Mauritius so my hubby and I are really looking forward to enjoying lamb again when we return home at the end of June.
Your marinade sounds fabulous and I like the combination of veggies and mash you served it with.
:-) Mandy
Thank you! My former boss grew up in Mauritius and it sounds like a beautiful place with good food. Where are you originally from?
I am South African and looking forward to returning to home soil.
It has been quite something getting used to the food here – the local produce is very limited and quite often there are day to day items that I am not able to get for weeks on end, which has been extremely frustrating and we have calculated that it costs approximately 50% more here for food than it does back home. There are shopping mall developments at the moment with stores from back home that are going to open which will make a big difference for the availability of foods – we will have returned home by the time that they are finished though.
Mauritius is a beautiful country but sadly it is also very poor with a lot of derelict homes and there are hundreds of thousands of stray dogs who are in very poor health roaming the streets – it is heart breaking and I battle with it every single day! We have just heard that the government has retracted their donation to the non profit organisation who travel the island sterilising and medicating the strays!
My hubby and I have 2 kitties that adopted us during our stay and we are in the process of getting them micro chipped and vaccinated to take home with us. :-)
Sorry a very long response to your question. :-)
Wow, I didn’t know that much about the country’s economy or political situation…that’s sad. I just know that his wife makes good curry! Glad to hear that you’ll be returning home soon!
That lamb looks wonderful – so tender and juicy! I like the combination of herbs and spices too. And anything with rosemary…I LOVE how that makes the kitchen smell. I’m sure that your uncle would have enjoyed this! :)
That marinade sounds really good! So do the vegetables you paired it with. I’m on a tarragon kick. And thanks for the shout out.:)
Thanks! I love tarragon – it smells so good! I wanted to add a trackbac but I’m not sure how to do it. Do you know how?
No, but I’ll play around this weekend and try to figure it out. If I can I’ll e-mail the instructions.
Thanks a lot! I read the WordPress help and couldn’t figure it out, but I could probably email them…so don’t worry about it too much. Hope you have a good weekend!
This looks beautiful! Thank you for the link!
Beautiful presentation! I love lamb but it’s just so bloody expensive! My fav is leg of lamb, rotisserie style, with rosemary and garlic cloves placed inside the lamb by creating pockets in the meat with a knife and finished off with a little olive oil, pepper and salt rub. Simple but absolutely to die for!
Wow thats a perfectly roasted lamb. Yummy!
Extremely yummy. I´m really glad, that I´m not hungry right now!
that sounds really delish and I bet the house has a great smell when it was roasting. Will try it, thanks.
That looks incredible. I’ve just gotten my husband into eating lamb (he had a sparse pallet growing up… his parents idea of mac and cheese was elbow pasta with American cheese melted on it..) and there are quite a few local farms that grow their own meats. Can’t wait to get some really fresh lamb one of these days!
Your Freshly Pressed! Woo hoo!
Yay! So exciting!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm………I’M STARVINNNNNG!! :P :@ :P
I’m hungry now :(
Thanks. http://calogeromirafoodand.wordpress.com
Looks amazingly fresh and delicious- just the type of “simple” food I like. No fuss, all the taste. This will go in my sunday dinners repertoir..
this sounds delicious! thanks for sharing the tips on choosing how to pick your cut.
cheers –
http://www.modestcupboard.wordpress.com
Nice story! And this lamb looks delicious!
looks delicious!
I’ve never had lamb before, but your recipe sounds delicious! I might have to give this a try. :)
We recently had a whole butchered lamb given to us from one of our clients, and I am looking forward to trying your recipe! I can already smell it roasting in the oven!
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe; it’s not often you see a good lamb recipe that’s as easy as this one…where all the ingredients are easily found in my spice cupboard.
I’ve never had lamb, but those pictures are making my mouth water. I will be attempting to make the cinnamon pull apart bread…can’t wait!
Oooh! It looks awesome, and is making my mouth water!
P.S. Like the title of your blog.
This has inspired me to get a rack of lamb and have some fun. Wonderful presentation in the picture!
This looks DELICOUS! I can’t wait to try it. The photos are excellent too. Congrats on FP!
Now I am going to crave lamb! The pics are great it looks delightful.
This looks yummy :)
Truly looks yummy! Rather tempting and intimidating, I must add. :)
looks delicious!
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This sounds so good!!! Congrats on FP!
Great post, and AWESOME photography. Congratulations on being freshlypressed! :D
That looks absolutely delicious.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I cannot wait to try this!
i’m hungry when i see it!
Looks utterly delicious
The recipe sounds really nice, I love lamb, but nobody in my family likes it so a barely eat it :( Now after reading this, might be on the menu soon.
This turned out beautifully for you! lovely mouth watering photos. I made stuffed roast shoulder of lamb for Easter. It was pricey but oh so worth it. It was stuffed with fresh tarragon and spinach. The stuffing was bound together with 100g ground pork mince (Swiss family recipe) The marinate was similar to yours. Sadly, we were so keen to eat it that we forgot to take a photo. Yum
Wow what a perfectly roasted lamb. Mmmmmm
We recently had a whole butchered lamb given to us from one of our clients, and I am looking forward to trying your recipe! I can already smell it roasting in the oven!
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe; it’s not often you see a good lamb recipe that’s as easy as this one…where all the ingredients are easily found in my spice cupboard.
Thanks! I love tarragon – it smells so good! I wanted to add a trackbac but I’m not sure how to do it. Do you know how?
This turned out beautifully for you! lovely mouth watering photos. I made stuffed roast shoulder of lamb for Easter. It was pricey but oh so worth it. It was stuffed with fresh tarragon and spinach. The stuffing was bound together with 100g ground pork mince (Swiss family recipe) The marinate was similar to yours. Sadly, we were so keen to eat it that we forgot to take a photo. Yum
I’ve wanted lamb for a while, now I want it even more. That looks absolutely fabulous. Perfectly cooked too.