Get ready to salivate. Chef Johannes Richter, the culinary mastermind behind the renowned LivingRoom at Summerhill Estate – crowned Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant of the Year – has generously shared his mouthwatering recipe for a show-stopping rack of lamb. Brace yourself for a true flavour fest!

LivingRoom Cafe de Paris and chef Johannes Richter’s rack of lamb. Image shot by Shavan Rahim

Ingredients

For the compound butter:

• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fresh turmeric
• 1 tsp fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary
• 250g butter

For the lamb:

• rack of lamb, French trimmed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and black pepper, to season
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 whole cloves of garlic
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• jus or lamb stock

For the salad:

• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• salt and black pepper, to season
• 1 tsp sugar
• wild rocket
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• sheep cheese, grated

Method

For the compound butter:

Toast coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a hot pan to freshen up their flavor.

Grate in fresh tumeric and ginger.

Clean all herbs off stalks.

Place all ingredients in a food processor (Thermomix) and planned until smooth and homogenous.

Wrap in cling wrap and form rolls, then refrigerate.

Cut discs of rolls and serve with fresh herbs as garnish.

For the rack of lamb:

Leave rack of lamb out of refrigeration to attain room temperature (approximately 2h – 3h before cooking).

Pre heat oven to 180°C and heat large pan on stove.

Pour olive oil in pan and place rack of lamb in pan skin side down to render fat and crisp up fat, turn once caramelised and add butter to pan.

Let butter dissolve and caramelise and pour butter over skin side of lamb using a spoon.

Once butter starts changing colour into golden brown, take off heat and remove Lamb.

Add whole garlic gloves and herbs and turn gently using tongs place lamb on top of herbs (skin side up) and put in oven

Leave lamb in oven for (approximately 20 minutes depending on size) and take out of oven to rest for 10 minutes.

Remove Herbs (keep to serve lamb on) from pan and gently heat up lamb in butter skin side down until skin is crispy.

Turn lamb, add jus and boil for 1 minute.

Remove lamb from pan, slice down ribs and serve on crispy herbs (lightly salt as butter is already salty). Pour herbed lamb jus into saucier for serving.

To make the salad:

Zest and squeeze lemon and add to mustard, olive oil, salt and sugar in a bowl and blend with stick blender to emulsify.

Toss wild rocket and red onion in vinaigrette.

Garnish with roughly grated sheep cheese.