Featuring Delia's White Wine & Chilli Mustard™

Our founder, Delia experimented with Lavender - a herb much used during medieval times - and her White Wine & Chilli Mustard to create this recipe.

The result is a lovely herb crust which brings out the true flavour of British spring lamb. Delightful!

 

Serves 2+ Ingredients: Rack of Lamb (2-3 cutlets per person) 50g Slice of Bread 1 tsp Fresh Rosemary ¼ tsp Fresh Thyme ¼ tsp Fresh Parsley 1 tsp Dried Lavender (Flowers) 1 clove Garlic 1 tbsp Olive Oil (or rapeseed oil) 2 tsp Runny Honey 2 tbsp Three Counties Gourmet's 'Delia's White Wine & Chilli Mustard'

Preheat oven to 220° Celsius and prepare the lamb:

Coat rack of lamb with the mustard.

Blend all other ingredients in a blender until you have a lovely, aromatic breadcrumb mixture.

Pack the breadbrumb mixture onto the mustard to form a crust.

Season rack of lamb with salt and pepper and roast for 20-25 minutes. This is based on a small rack cooked rare; add 10-20 minues for well done/larger racks.

Remove and carve into cutlets. Serve with Potatoes Anna and Purple Sprouting Broccolli - the perfect Spring dish!

Note: We think this dish tastes best with Delia's White Wine & Chilli Mustard, but you can substitute one of our other mustards.

Lavender was a much-used herb during medieval times and a key part of not just the 'physic' garden, but also the kitchen garden. I used the lavender flowers for this recipe rather than the leaves. If you use lavender straight from the garden, just remember that you usually need to add about four times as much when using fresh herbs as they are less pungent than the dried ones.

I usually dry some lavender from our own garden at the end of the summer for use throughout the year. To dry your own, simply cut the flower stems off with a good length of stalk, tie with some string and hang up in an airy dry space for a few days. Once completely dry, flake off the flowers into a clean sterilised jar and seal tightly.

If you are drying your own lavender, make sure it hasn't been sprayed with chemicals (you should wash it first) and don't use lavender bought from a shop unless it specifies it is 'food grade', (for the same reason). If this all seems like too much hard work, then we can sell you some dried (food grade) lavender flowers for £1.50 per 55ml jar plus postage. Click here to order and pay by Paypal.

© Delia Swift (April 2009)