Strawberry Mint Glazed Roasted Rack of Lamb

A tart and fruity strawberry and mint glaze makes a wonderful sticky topping for this strawberry mint glazed roasted rack of lamb. It’s the perfect dish for date night or the ingredients are easily doubled for a family dinner. 

Years ago I discovered quite by accident that a rack of lamb takes only 45-60 minutes to roast, which is so much quicker than the leg, my usual part of a lamb to roast. As much as we love lamb chops, I had never bought them all hooked together still. 

One day I arrived home to find a care package with big prawns, some smoked salmon and a vacuum-packed rack of lamb stashed in my refrigerator. One of the catering contractors who supplied my husband’s drilling rigs had dropped it all off as a thank you for the business.

Those were the days of achingly slow dial-up internet so I consulted my trusty Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook (1980 edition.) Right there on page 227, the instructions were so simple: Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour or until you reach your desired internal temperature. In the last 15-30 minutes, brush with an apricot glaze aka warmed apricot jam. Honestly, does it get easier than that? Who knew!

Good Housekeeping ended with the instructions of how to remove the back bones on one side of the rack so the chops can be easily cut apart. Let me offer you a little tip. Ask your butcher to do this before you even bring that rack of lamb home. Roasting and serving is quicker and easier without those back bones to deal with. 

Strawberry Mint Glazed Roasted Rack of Lamb

Instead of the Good Housekeeping recommendation of apricot glaze, you can use any fruit you like so this can be a wonderfully seasonal dish. This time I used strawberries and mixed them with the more traditional accompaniment to lamb, classic mint sauce. Any leftover glaze can be served with the roasted rack of lamb, to spoon over the chops. So good! 

Ingredients

For the strawberry mint glaze/sauce:

7 oz or 200g strawberries

Pinch salt

1­-2 teaspoons sugar (if needed, depending on the sweetness of your strawberries)

2 tablespoons prepared mint sauce (Not mint jelly! Proper mint sauce has a bite from the vinegar. I recommend Colman's Classic Mint Sauce.)

For the rack of lamb:

1 1/2 lbs or 680g rack of lamb, preferably with a nice layer of fat on top

1 teaspoon flakey sea salt 

1 large clove garlic

1⁄2 teaspoon peppercorns (I use mixed peppercorn but just black are fine.)

Method

Start your oven preheating to 375°F or 190°C. 

Use a sharp knife to score the fat on the top of the rack of lamb. Don't cut all the way through to the meat.

Use a mortar and pestle to crush the peppercorns, garlic and salt salt into a paste.

Rub the seasonings into the scored fat then place it on a rack in a baking pan. Set aside. 

To make the strawberry mint glaze, hull the strawberries and chop them into quarters. Cook them until soft in a small covered pot over a medium flame, with the pinch of salt and a splash of water.

Taste the strawberries and add a little sugar if they aren’t sweet. 

Mash the strawberries with a fork and cook them down until they are a thick sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the mint sauce. Set it aside

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When your oven has reached the proper temperature, put the pan in the oven and roast the rack of lamb for about 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches about 115°F or 46°C, for rare chops.

Remove the rack from the oven and brush it all over thickly with the strawberry mint glaze.

Return the rack to the oven for another 15 minutes or until the internal temperature is about 135°F or 57°C. Remove it from the oven and tent it with foil for about 10 minutes.

Slice into six chops and serve the remaining strawberry mint sauce alongside the chops.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay again and this time I’m hosting and we are sharing lamb recipes. Check out all the delicious recipes below. 

• Handi Mutton Mughlai from Sneha's Recipe
• Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Lamb Stew from Making Miracles
• Stinging Nettle and Lamb Börek from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Stir-fried Mongolian Lamb with Scallions from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Strawberry Mint Glazed Roasted Rack of Lamb from Food Lust People Love

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