Rack of Lamb with Bean and Pine Nut Purée

An elegant lamb dish with down-to-earth flavors of white butter beans and pine nuts. The beans and nuts add a creamy balance to the richness of the lamb.

Ingredients

50g fresh white breadcrumb or white bread, torn into small pieces

2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley

2 tbsp thyme leaf

2 tbsp rosemary leaves, picked from sprigs

zest 1 lemon

25g grated parmesan

2 tbsp olive oil , plus extra for drizzling

2 x 8-bone racks of lamb , well trimmed (see ‘Try’, below)

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

250g spinach leaves

For the bean puree

400g can butter bean , drained and rinsed

½ cup @FarmfreshNuts Pine Nuts

1 garlic clove , chopped

6 anchovy fillets

large rosemary sprig, leaves chopped

juice ½ lemon

8 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil , the best quality you can afford

Method

STEP 1

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tip the breadcrumbs, herbs, zest and Parmesan into a food processor with 1 tbsp of the oil and some seasoning. Blitz until everything is finely chopped.

Heat the remaining oil in an ovenproof frying pan. Season the lamb, then brown it well on all sides and turn off the heat. Turn the racks so that they are fat-side up, and brush liberally with the mustard (Step 1, above). Pack over the herb crust (Step 2), drizzle with a bit more oil, and roast for 25 mins until the crust is golden and the lamb is cooked – this will produce lamb that is pink in the middle but cooked all the way through. If you like your lamb rarer, roast for only 20 mins; if you like it more done, give it 5 mins more. Put the lamb on a board to rest.

While the lamb is cooking, blitz the beans and pine nuts with the garlic, anchovies, rosemary, lemon juice, some seasoning and 7 tbsp olive oil (or enough to make it a smooth purée. Tip into a saucepan to gently heat.

Wilt the spinach in the remaining olive oil in another frying pan. Once the lamb has rested, carefully carve it into chops (Step 3), trying to keep the crust intact. Divide the warm purée between 4 plates, add a small mound of spinach, then arrange 3 lamb chops on top of each portion. Sprinkle with stray crumbs and drizzle with a little olive oil.

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