Rosemary Had A Little Lamb

My Christmas Eve recipe for Crown Roast of Lamb with stuffing. I found that the secret to an amazing dinner is to put too much fresh rosemary in everything.

As I stated in my first entry, one of the reasons for producing this blog is keep a record of recipes that are important to me. Every Christmas Eve we have Louise's brother Maurice, his wife Jan and their kids Dylan and Sammi over for dinner. We ALWAYS have lamb. It's a tradition and it is always a lot of fun.

Rosemary Crown Roast of Lamb with Wild Rice Stuffing


Makes 6-8 servings

1 triple-crown lamb roast, bones frenched
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
8 cups chicken stock
3 cups mixture of wild rice and other brown rices rinsed
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 medium onions, chopped
3 large stalks celery, chopped
3 cups seedless green grapes, halved, plus more for garnish
1-1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped
1 cup white wine
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Papillotes, for garnish (little white,paper crowns for the bones)

Pick leaves of 3 sprigs rosemary and chop. Rub roast with olive oil and chopped rosemary, inside and out. Weave remaining rosemary sprigs between rib bones. Set aside, and allow roast to come to room temperature.

Using a medium saucepan over medium high heat, bring 8 cups chicken stock to a boil. Add rice, return to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium low and cook until tender, about 18 minutes. Drain rice, return to pan, and cook over low heat until dry.

Heat oven to 350°. Using a large saute pan over medium heat, add the butter. Saute onions and celery until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add grapes, pecans and thyme, cook until heated through. Add wine and simmer 2 minutes. Add rice, season with salt and pepper.

Place rack in roasting pan and cover with foil. Transfer roast to rack and fill with rice stuffing, mounding high but not tightly packed. Extra stuffing can be cooked in a buttered baking dish, covered with buttered parchment paper, just until heated through, about 20 minutes.

Roast lamb until internal temperature reaches 145° to 150° for medium-rare meat, about 45 to 55 minutes. Turn off oven and allow roast to rest in oven with door ajar for 10 minutes.

Decorate tips of rib bones with papillotes (little paper crowns) and garnish platter with grapes and rosemary sprigs. To carve, remove papillotes, and transfer stuffing to a serving platter. Using a sharp knife, slice in between bones and place on platter.

Other Notes:

I bought the 3 racks and leg of lamb from Costco. I held the racks together with string.

There is not a lot of meat on lamb racks so I also served a medium sized leg of lamb.

Vegetables were sliced root vegetables including Carrots, sweet poptatoes, butternut squash, rutabaga, onions etc covered in olive oil, oregano, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper and baked for approximately 1 and half hours along with the lamb, stirred frequently.

What a wonderful, succulent aroma.