A crowning glory
As turkey is to Christmas Day, so lamb is to Easter Sunday. Cooking duties fell to me, and from the freezer came two trimmed racks of lamb.
There’s only one solution, in cases like this: a crown roast. I started early, by bringing some wine up to a simmer with a lamb stock cube, some tarragon, and shallots. This then sat in the bottom of the Aga for most of the day, whilst I got on with other things. When the cooking time came, I tied the two racks together with string to form a circle, covering the exposed bones with foil, and – on a clean tray – filling the centre with the shallots and wine.
It took about twenty minutes in the top of the Aga to cook perfectly. Whilst the lamb relaxed, I made a gravy from the onion-infused wine and cooking juices, thickened with a little flour; a mix of vegetables also went on to steam.
It was excellent – plated up with individual chops cut from the crown, pink to the centre; new potatoes, the steamed vegetables, and shallots completed an excellent meal (with the usual redcurrant jelly and mint sauce alongside.)