Rack of Lamb a la Julia Child

Ever since I saw "Julie & Julia", I've been really into learning more about Julia Child. Ken bought me her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" as well as as "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom", an essentials guide. Today, my colleagues got me her "My Life in France" as a belated birthday gift which I'm looking forward to reading.

As it turned out, I happened to buy a rack of lamb from Costco and was going to prepare it my usual way: cut into chops and marinated in olive oil, rosemary and garlic, seared on both sides then roasted in the oven, and served with a red wine reduction. This recipe called for the rack to be roasted whole, which I haven't tried before. She had a sauce to go with it but it was too time-consuming (um, simmering lamb bones for 2 hours), so I just made something up with the ingredients I had.

Yeah, I know...the whole thing is one color (including the plate). It's dinner so having something tasty was my main concern. I loved the crunch of the bread crumbs and how well it worked with the mushroom sauce. Usually, when something tastes good, I'll hear a quick "mm" from Ken. With this, there wasn't any sound but I knew he liked it because he systematically chomped down one chop after another by holding it by the rib rather than using a fork and knife like a civilized person. There was nothing left by the time we were done with this meal (it's not as much as it looks). It's been a week since I made it so my memory's a little foggy on the sauce, but I'll try my best to remember what I did.

Herbal Garlic & Mustard Coating
Whisk together a mayo-like consistency 1/3 cup Dijon mustard w/ 3 large cloves of pureed garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp ground rosemary & 3 tbsp light olive oil. Spread over lamb and marinate 1/2 hour or cover & refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Rack of Lamb
Scrape off any fatty meat between the ribs & from top of bones. Score the fat side of the ribs lightly & paint w/ mustard coating. Roast for 10 minutes at 500F, sprinkle 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs over the meat & drizzle on a little melted butter. Roast 20 minutes more, or to internal temperature 125F for red rare or 140F for medium rare. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting into chops.

Mushroom Sauce
Saute about 1/2-1 cup (your preference) sliced mushrooms in a little extra virgin olive oil & butter. I added about 1 cup of dry sherry because that's what I had on hand. I had a demi-glace (Gold brand) paste in the pantry and made about 2/3 cup of stock according to the packet instructions, which I added after the the sherry reduced by about half. When the sauce reduces, add about 3 tbsp butter at the end and season with salt to taste. In the future, I would use different types of mushrooms, something more earthy, and maybe add herbs as well for a deeper flavor. It's fun to experiment.

Pot Roast Tacos

We still had some of the pot roast left over from last week, so I thought it'd be a good idea to make tacos out of it. I thought we had taco seasonings and discovered we didn't, so I had to improvise with what we had on in the pantry. I added 1/8 tbsp of cayenne and chili powder and 1/4 tbsp of cumin powder, smoked paprika, and chopped cilantro to the roast and the rest of the broth, and simmered the meat for about 45 minutes, adding chicken broth so it doesn't boil down too far and pulling the meat as it tenderized. The broth should boil down enough to just cover the meat. We made the tacos with flour tortillas, added shredded cheese, fresh chopped cilantro and Jack's Special Salsa. I was surprised how good it turned out. Ken liked it so much he ate the rest.

Mac & Smoked Gouda w/ Broccoliflower

The faculty & staff at work sponsor a brunch every Friday, with different members taking turns to host each one. One week, someone brought the best mac-n-cheese I've ever had, and it turned out to come from KooKooRoo. What made it so good was that it had a smoky flavor to it that reminded me of smoked gouda cheese. Ever since, I had been wanting to replicate the flavor, and a colleague mentioned that Rachel Ray had a recipe that called for the gouda so I had to try it out.

Prior to hearing about Rachel's recipe, I had actually attempted to make it from a box and adding the gouda, but it turned out too thick. This one turned out pretty close. She calls for cayenne and smoked paprika to give it an extra kick which we appreciated, but I would also try it without the cayenne next time. I also left out the small onion and started with sauteing about 1/4 portion of diced smoked sausage. Ham would've also worked but I wanted more of the smoky goodness. Coincidentally, I bought broccoliflower before I even saw this recipe because it just looked so darn interesting but wasn't sure what to do with it, so it worked out really well and gave an extra color element. I also left out the onion, Dijon mustard and pepper.

The one thing that concerned me the most was the tremendous yield at the end. She called for 1 whole pound of pasta, which was way beyond enough. Funny thing because the recipe said it came to 4 servings...yeah, really big ones! It could have easily been 16 servings. I actually intended on only cooking half the amount and boiled a half bag of the pasta, but forgot to make adjustments to the rest of the recipe (the sauce) so had to cook the rest of the pasta. Let's just say we have enough to last at least 3 more meals of healthy portions. We sealed up 2 portions and saved one for later this week, plus a small helping for lunch tomorrow.

How did it taste? Really good, so now it's the best mac&cheese I've ever had. The sauce was rich so it's not a dish you would eat often. The pepper gave it a good but not overwhelming kick. I would've eaten more if I had room, but it was a side dish after all. For our main dish, I made Ken's favorite: hamburgers. Having this stovetop grill has changed cooking for me--for the best. Next time, I'd also put the whole thing into a baking dish and save some of the cheese to top and bake the whole thing for a few minutes before serving.

2/2 It was suggested to me today to make this for brunch this Friday, since I just found out that I'll be one of the hosts. What good timing!

2/4 I just finished cooking this dish again for brunch tomorrow and just doubled the amount of the original recipe. It yielded two 9"x11"x3" aluminum pans, which should give you a really good idea of how much there is!