Braised rack of lamb with thyme

This braised rack of lamb with thyme captures the essence of Provence and brings back lively memories of summers in the South of France – making this the perfect dish to slide into Tablonomie’s summer break.

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THE MAIN ARGUMENT  I know of no other dish that captures as wonderfully the essence of thyme. Paired here with one of its favourite partners, lamb.

A TAD OF HISTORY  In this recipe, you will discover a dish swathed in the incomparable flavours of sun, sea, garrigue and the countless valleys in the Provence hinterland.  Not to mention the rice fields of the Crau plain (see THIS blogentry for a recipe). Few cuisines are as evocative as that of Provence – one cannot help but think of its dialects, and of its literature, with Mistral or Pagnol, recipient of the 1904 Nobel Prize. Or Peter Mayle, of course. A recipe for tapenade, one of Provence’s iconic dishes, was published by Tablonomie in 2022 (here’s the link).

THE TABLONOMIC SIGNATURE  …is the magical triangle of thyme, lamb and bacon, prepared with remarkable simplicity.

You will need a cast iron Dutch oven with a lid that closes tightly. The size will vary depending on the number of racks of lamb you intend to prepare.

INGREDIENTS (multiply by the number of racks):

• 1 rack of lamb, frenched
• 1  50g slab of smoked bacon (from the butcher’s)
• approx. 200g vegetable stock and a little extra
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• a glass of red wine
• a great quantity of fresh thyme
• pepper and salt

PREPARATION  (Recipe for rack of lamb braised with thyme, STEP BY STEP):

1 Slice the bacon into thick strips and render its fat in a cast iron Dutch oven with the garlic over a very low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Reserve the bacon and increase the temperature. Sear the lamb for 5 minutes over high heat, season with pepper (and salt if necessary), then remove and wrap well in thick aluminium foil. Discard the garlic.

2 In the same fat but over low heat, sauté the chopped onion until lightly browned, deglaze with stock and boil down to a quarter. Meanwhile, dice the bacon. Unwrap the meat and return it to the Dutch oven, throw in  the diced bacon, add lots of fresh thyme and close tightly. Simmer for 10 minutes over very low heat without opening. Then, deglaze with a little red wine.

3 Lift out the lamb. Discard the thyme. If necessary, concentrate the juices to obtain a good sauce texture. Slice the rack into chops, garnish with small cubes of bacon and coat with sauce.

NOTE:

Serve with courgettes stuffed with ricotta and Herbes de Provence, or sautéed potatoes and ratatouille (pictured), or Camargue rice.

If your lid isn’t pretty airtight, you can lute the rim with dough, which may then be served as a crunchy accompaniment if not too blackened.

In a cast-iron Dutch oven, this recipe may also be cooked over a wood fire or on a barbecue grate (place embers on the lid as well, in both cases).

WINE PAIRING:

In The Flavour Thesaurus, we read on thyme: ‘…thymol is a key component of the flavour of thyme, just as it is part of the flavour of lamb, and [we] can detect notes of thyme in certain red wines from the southern Languedoc.’ This naturally directs to us to a powerful Corbières from the foothills of the Pyrenees, such as the legendary and mysterious N°3 from the Castelmaure cooperative (pictured).

Photo © c.m. 2024