Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb, Pickled Radish and Red Onion Salad, and Chanterelle Mushrooms

It's New Years Eve so I pulled out the big guns and knocked out seven more recipes.  I was in Atlanta this week so I swung through Whole Foods and picked up two beautiful racks of lamb.  I have been excited about trying the herb-crusted rack of lamb with honey mustard glaze recipe.  Armed with two racks of lamb, I had to find some mouths to feed so I invited over some friends and neighbors to celebrate New Years with us.  Funny, none of us made it to ring in the New Year...I think we were too full!

I will start with the salad recipe as I actually made the pickled red onions and pickled radishes last week (two more recipes from the book) last weekend to plan for the salad. For the pickled radishes I used the basic pickling liquid (another recipe) which is just champagne vinegar, sugar, and water poured the liquid over the sliced radishes.  The red onions were the same recipe only I used red wine vinegar instead of champagne vinegar.

I peeled and sliced cucumber which marinated for a few hours in champagne vinegar, olive oil, and red pepper flakes.

Baby carrots were cooked for the recipe over the stove in water with a little honey, garlic, and thyme.

I also made the torn croutons recipe for the salad.  Normally in making croutons, I cube bread and let it toast in the oven.  This recipe calls for you to cook garlic in oil to make a garlic oil over the stove.  You then remove the garlic and add torn pieces of bread (I used honey wheat bread from Whole Food) and let the bread cook in the oil.  I like this method as the croutons weren't as crispy as they normally get in the oven.

After tossing mixed greens with a little olive oil, I assembled the salad which was topped with the marinated cucumbers, pickled radishes, pickled red onions, baby carrots, and torn croutons.

The racks of lamb were scored on the fat side and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I then combined dijon mustard and honey in a small bowl for the glaze and made the crust which consisted of panko crumbs, anchovies, butter and garlic.  After brushing the glaze on, I patted the lamb down with the bread crumb mixture. 

The lamb was then roasted in the oven until medium rare and carved into 2 bone chops for serving.

The next recipe of chanterelle mushrooms with pea shoots was a bit of an adaptation.  The recipe calls for chanterelles or other mushrooms in season so I picked up the chefs blend at the Whole Foods.  It also calls for pea shoots but says spinach can be substituted and since I couldn't locate pea shoots, I substituted here as well.  So let's call this "Chefs Blend Mushrooms with Spinach." I cooked diced shallot in butter and added the mushrooms and thyme.  I then glazed the pan with a little chicken stock and added the spinach until it was wilted.  All in all this was a quick and easy side dish.

The rack of lamb was really good, lots of flavor, and our group determined that it is proper etiquette to use the bone as an utensil if the meat is served with the bone.  While there were many pushes from the group to include a picture of this illustrated, I am limiting the finished pictures to the food!  The honey mustard glaze was a great bind for the bread crumbs and complimented the lamb really well.  The pickled red onions and radishes were the hit of the salad.  The pickling liquid from the vegetables actually made the dressing for the salad.  The pickled red onions would be great not only on salads but also as an accompaniment to a meat dish.  I must admit that I don't like mushrooms so I didn't try this one and there weren't a ton of comments so either that means they were ok or not that great!  Maybe everyone was just focused on the lamb!  Also, we had that leftover blueberry cobbler for dessert.


I would like to wish everyone who is reading my little blog a very Happy New Year.  I appreciate the support and great comments.  I was a little skeptical at first to "advertise" as it was a lot easier to write when I thought no one was reading, and I had resigned myself to the fact that people would think I had lost my mind.  Everyone has been so nice that it has definitely given me more confidence in not only my cooking but also my blog.  If you are reading this, you are officially invited over for dinner as a thank you...just let me know when!  I appreciate all of the interest in my little cooking endeavor and I suppose my New Years Resolution is to FINISH THE BOOK!

Pickled Radish and Red Onion Salad...

Mushrooms with Spinach...

And the star...

Recipe Countdown:  55 of 251 recipes