Lamb rack with blue cheese risotto 

This is a succulent and tasty winter dish of lamp chops with blue cheese-flavoured risotto that can be served up with a hearty red wine.

To iterate our risotto article in the Autumn 2010 issue, don’t get your tea-towel in a twist over making a risotto. Stick to the formula of 1 cup of rice to 3-4 of stock, and keep tasting your rice until common sense tells you it is ready  – but serve it quickly, risotto left to sit too long will turn into a gluey mess.

Risotto basics

Your rice should be the short-plump-grain varieties such as arborio, carnaroli (medium-grain), or vialone nano (firmer than arborio) from northern Italy. 

The challenge is to get that starch-filled grain to release its creamy starch slowly. This starts with ‘toasting’ the rice in butter or oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan over a low heat with onions and garlic (don’t let them get brown). It slows down the rate at which the grains absorb the stock. Keep cooking until the grains are a little translucent.

Once the rice is ‘toasted’ many recipes at this stage have you add a little white wine (or a nice red), which will be quickly absorbed by the rice. Make sure the wine is ‘cooked off’ (the pan almost dry) before adding the stock.

Add the stock slowly

You can use homemade or commercial stock, and whether it is vegetable, fish, beef or chicken, it must have a depth of flavour otherwise your risotto will taste bland.

The stock (three to four times the quantity of rice) also has to be hot so it doesn’t cool the cooking rice, and added to the rice a ladle at a time. Allowing the rice to absorb each ladle of stock means the grains slowly release their starch and gives you greater control over consistency. You are after a creamy, not gummy texture.

It takes about 18-20 minutes (no more - cook on a high heat)-for the rice to absorb the stock and here’s the contentious part – how much stirring with the wooden spoon?

The purist school obliges you to stir continuously, but there’s an alternative school that says that ‘occasional stirring’ or intermittent stirring works just as well.

The only reliable way to know when your risotto is finished is to taste it. Forget all that al dente firm baloney. You don’t want rice grains crunching between your teeth or reduced to a gummy rice porridge. And if you don’t know what cooked rice is like to chew on – keep well away from attempting this recipe or any other rice recipe. 

The final touch is binding the risotto with a knob of cold butter before serving.

Lamb rack with blue cheese risotto  

Serving for 4

The risotto

1 cup (250ml) risotto rice
Small (or half) white onion diced
2 garlic cloves crushed and diced
Salt and pepper to season
Sweat off onion and garlic with a little butter or oil in a heavy pot and add rice and toast

3-4 cups (1l) of hot chicken stock
Added a ladle at a time as the stock is absorbed
100ml white wine
Add to rice after the first ladle of stock has been absorbed and cook off alcohol
170-200g creamy blue cheese
Blend into the finished hot risotto
Knob chilled butter
Add and stir into risotto just before serving

The lamb & herbs

2 lamb racks, trimmed and cleaned carefully

½ cup parsley
½ cup basil
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 garlic glove peeled and grated

Chop herbs finely. Saute breadcrumbs and grated garlic in a little oil and add to herbs. Pat mixture over crown of the rack firmly. In the photo the chef has taken out two of the bones from the rack – this is optional. Roast in a 180 degree oven for 12-15 minutes depending on size of the racks. Let rest a minute before cutting each rack into four chop portions for serving  – two portions per plate.

The jus and mushrooms
  
If you have access to commercial lamb or beef jus off the shelf – use it. The quality of such products these days is very good.

Or, to make a simple red wine reduction:

750ml (bottle) of rich red wine (your favourite)
500ml beef stock
Vegetables: 4 mushrooms, 1 onion, 2 celery sticks, 2 carrots, 2 courgettes
1 tbsp of tomato paste
1 bayleaf
Pack mixed fresh herbs
Salt/pepper/sugar to season
Knob of butter

Add everything except seasoning into medium saucepan and reduce to about half on a simmer. Strain solids. Return strained liquid to saucepan and reduce by another 25 percent. Season to taste (might need a little sugar). Stir in knob of butter before serving.

4 large mushrooms – sauté in a little oil until cooked.

4 sheets of prosciutto - crisped in the oven (optional)

Winter 2010

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