Anyway--has anyone been curious about the meal itself? I HAVE! I found this good recipe, and changes just a few things--whether its because I'm not a professional chef and probably doing something wrong...or just because of things I prefer. So, here it is!
RACK OF LAMB WITH MERLOT GLAZE & CHERRY SAUCE
2 cups merlot
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
4 cups lamb stock (or chicken stock, which I used)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt & fresh ground pepper
1 bottle merlot (750 ml)
1 1/2 cups good quality balsamic vinegar
1 shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 lamb racks, excess fat trimmed
salt & freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
rosemary springs, for garnish
To prepare the sauce, combine wine, cherries, garlic and shallot in saucepan over high heat and reduce until the mixture is almost dry, about 10 minutes.
Add the stock, decrease the heat to medium and reduce until the sauce is think and coats the spoon [about 10 to 15 minutes]
Add butter and stir until melted. Season with s&p to taste.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
To prepare glaze, combine the wine, vinegar, shallot and garlic in saucepan over medium heat and reduce until about 1/2 cup liquid remains, 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside until ready to use.
To prepare lamb, season well with s&p.
Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat until smoking hot. Add as many racks as will fit, meat side down, and sear well [3 to 4 minutes]. Transfer to sheet pan. Continue searing racks.
Baste the racks well with the glaze. Set the pan in the oven and roast, basting every 5 minutes, until the meat reaches 135 degrees F internally. About 20 minutes for med-rare doneness.
Remove racks from oven and let sit for 5 minutes, then slice. [mine were too rare at this point, so I sliced them all individually, then seared them again on each side, which gave a better doneness for my taste]
Place on platter to serve and drizzle the some of the sauce. Garnish with rosemary springs and serve warm, with extra sauce on side.
**This was absolutly FABULOUS! Must try! Start the sauces all at the same time, it will help save time. Also plan a little more time for cooking, just incase the degree of doneness is to your liking.
**I also couldn't find fresh cherries that week, so I used a canned kind. Then I waited to add the cherry until the very end of making the sauce, so just enough time to soften them and heat them through.
