Grilled Rack of Lamb, Haricot Vert Amandine

Grilled Rack of Lamb with Herbed Hawaiian Red Salt
Mint Vinegar Sauce
Haricot Vert Tossed with Roasted Walnut Oil, Marcona Almonds

A special thank you to Peter of Kalofagas blog, and ultimately Bobby Flay, for the idea to crust the lamb with herbed salt. Here I took fresh mint, parsley and dill and blended in a food processor with Hawaiian Red Salt.

Hawaiian Red Salt
A small amount of harvested reddish Hawaiian clay called alaea enriches the sea salt with iron-oxide.
The traditional red salt originated on Kauai, where red volcanic clay mingled with sea salt during heavy rains. Evaporation created Hawaiian Red Alaea Sea Salt.
The herbed salt looked like little jewels, watermelon tourmaline crystals to be exact. Beautiful!

The rack was removed from the refrigerator about an hour before cooking. It is massaged with fresh ground pepper and the herbed salt. (You can also wrap each bone with strips of aluminum foil to keep them from blackening).

Place lamb rack on the hot grill with a remote thermometer inserted into the meat. Close the lid and turn the fire to medium. It is important to watch as there may be fire flare-ups. If so, douse with a sprinkle of water. Turn the rack over once. When the temperature reaches 140 degrees (for medium-pink) remove the lamb from the grill and let it rest. Once the lamb was removed from the heat the temperature went up to 155 degrees while resting, then when it came back down to 140, it was sliced. I like to use the temperature to determine when the meat is ready to be sliced.

Very little of the juices were lost when slicing by waiting for the temperature to come back down. This method gave us juicy and smokey medium-pink chops exceptionally well-seasoned with the herbed salt and pepper.

In the meantime it is a snap to make a tasty mint vinegar sauce to complement the lamb. And to whomever it was that came up with the idea to pair not just mint, but vinegar too, with lamb, thank you very much.

The haricot vert are steamed then tossed with Hawaiian red salt, roasted walnut oil, and Spanish marcona almonds.
If you haven’t cooked a rack of lamb on the grill, you just might want to give this smokey version a try!

29 thoughts on “Grilled Rack of Lamb, Haricot Vert Amandine”

  1. Lori Lynn, gorgeous (as always) and I couldn’t have done it better myself!

    It’s amazing how the herbed salt penetrates the meat and I like that the herbs don’t burn with this method.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  2. this looks great. just beautiful! and i’m obsessed with mint sauce. when i go to visit my in-laws in England, i always take the bowl of mint sauce and virtually eat it with a spoon. There the mint sauce is very thick with mint. you’d almost have to use a huge bit of mint to get it to that consistency. sharp, sweet and tangy… perfect combo w/ the lamb.

  3. This looks delicious. I was especially struck by the green beans – the name is similar to a dish my mom used to make, and they looked similar, but the technique was completely different.

  4. The lamb looks gorgeous Lori Lynn and what a neat thermometer…I just added both to my wish list šŸ˜‰

  5. lori
    thats a nice preparation and if i show to my hubby, he will look forward to experiment it..thanks for sharing.

  6. Okay, I’m not going to let my husband see this post because he will demand lamb… and there’s no way I could make it look that gorgeous!

    LOVE the picture of Wilson! He has the sweetest little face. Chloe has a pug stuffed animal named Wilson, by the way.

  7. You have taken the fear out of rack of lamb preparation! This looks beautiful and not so hard Lori Lynn! I have no idea why I have always shied away from racks but I think I’ll give it a go. And I love the grill version! Is your flame on medium or medium low?
    Yumm! šŸ™‚

  8. YAY Peter! No, thank you! It really works. But I do not intend to slap myself over it.

    Hey WANF – I might have to try the thick mint. I have liked the balance in this sauce and I LOVE vinegar with the meat. I am always open to new ideas.

    Hi FK – It is so easy, but the quality ingredients make the difference I think.

    Oh Lore, I think it is a great tool. You do not have to cut the meat open. And yes, you can use your finger to test the springyness of a steak, but this is really good for roasts, etc.

    Hi Anamika – let me know what he thinks.

    Sure you could Heather – just put it on the grill, he’ll love it. Who named Chloe’s toy?

    Hi Laurie – that is a tough question. You have to close the lid, but keep an eye out just the same for flames. My grill temp gets over 400 cooking this way. I had it on mediumish heat. You just don’t want to burn it. So if you have a remote thermometer, you can’t go wrong. If you like it more rare remove before 140 and LeT iT REsT a while. It was smokey and juicy and well-seasoned and delicious. Please let me know if you make it.

    Darius T. – oh yea, and please consult Peter’s blog for specifics.
    Thank you, perfect choppers, well maybe they were!

  9. Say Father Adam – I am thinkin’ you would really like this…What side would you serve with it? Potatoes? Or?

  10. Thanks for the challenge, LL. Yes, I think that I would like this Lamb dish very much. I would serve it (i.e. I’d like to eat it with) a Risotto Bianco. Of course, in my opinion, Risotto goes with everything. But this particular Risotto (simply made with garlic, gray salt, white wine, butter and parmesan) would not interfere with, but enhance, the Hawaiian Red Salt while standing up to the mint vinegar sauce.

  11. By the way, the recipe for the Risotto Bianco that I wrote about in the previous comment comes from the signed copy of the cookbook that you gave me: Michael Chiarello’s “Casual Cooking”. I really like that book! In the book Michael calls cooking Risotto a meditative experience – maybe that’s why I like it so much.

  12. Everything looks wonderful as usual Lori Lynn, I love how you prepared the beans too with the walnut oil and the marcona almonds!Mmmm!! I was wondering how you were doing with the earthquake yesterday. I was thinking about you, hope all is well on your end.

  13. Thanks so much Sylvia.

    Thanks Marie – so sweet of you to think of me. We certainly felt the earthquake, but everything is fine. A good reminder to be prepared in the future. Say, I was in Chicago when you had your earthquake last April, it woke me up, and I thought huh? aren’t I in Chicago, not LA, this is an earthquake in Chicago!!

    Thanks PAB – very flavorful, and smokey.

  14. I made a bobby flay lamb dish last summer which was a big hit. Yours is so elegant–perfect for a dinner party.

  15. I saw that post of Peter’s as well, and it looks like it really worked for you. Wow, that lamb looks so succulent!

  16. Without wishing to be crude, I think this might be what the phrase “food porn” was coined for. You take a beautiful photo!

  17. that herbed salt is really gorgeous!! they really look like jewels..i bet the taste of this lamb is heavenly!!

  18. Droolworthy…….I would give anything to sink my teeth into one of those chops right now. The pink salt is so beautiful!

  19. Ouuuu, I have to try and get my hands on some of that salt. I had read about it before.

    Your food as always is delicious, gorgeous and forever inspiring.

  20. Hi Susan – I like Bobby Flay too, I need to get one of his cookbooks.

    Hi Kevin – It really works well for grilling!

    Hi Neen – Peter’s got some great ideas.

    Hi Lori – looks schmancy, but easy too!

    HI Emiline – not cow, lamb. hehe

    Hello Tom – Welcome and thank you.

    Dhanggit – who woulda thought herbs and salt could be “pretty?”

    Hi Francesca – makes me want to go to Hawaii and scoop up my own salt šŸ™‚

    Hi Nina – and if you did, your choppers would be happy! Guaranteed.

    Say Oggi – I love to grill lamb, but I always cooked the rack in the oven, well that is all changed now.

    Thank you Cynthia – as always you are so kind.

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