Saturday, October 25, 2008

Cooking class- How to French and cook a lamb rack

This past week I was hired to teach six people how to French ( the process of making the lamb rack bones all clean and shiny) lamb rack and cook it.
Also included in the class was two side dishes of their choosing. They picked handmade butternut squash ravioli with a sage butter sauce and sugar pumpkin risotto with arugula.
After cleaning the lamb we assembled our topping for the lamb. Chopped roasted pecan, currants and blood orange zest. After browning, we packed our topping onto our lamb racks and popped them in the oven. We served our lamb on a bed of mixed endive and radicchio. We drizzled our pomegranate sauce that we made from scratch with a lamb stock base over our platter of lamb rack which made a beautiful presentation. Delicious!
The best thing about teaching classes like this is to watch people learn. One gentleman learned he had been cooking his risotto to long while another woman learned the importance of cooking off and preparing certain ingredients before the assembly of the dish. All of them learned the importance of timing when it comes to planning and preparing a menu.
What a great group of people to be able to teach something I love!
Next class is the preparation of Sable fish.
Pictures to come!