<font color="orange">
Pepita Pistachio Encrusted Rack of Lamb with Glazed Roasted Pumpkin and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds </font>
New Zealand Frenched Rack of Lamb
Pepitas (these are hulled pumpkin seeds, I used the term pepita for alliteration's sake)
Roasted and Salted Pistachios
Emperor's New Clothes Garlic
Whole peppercorns
Dried Thyme
Fresh Thyme
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil
2 small baking pumpkins
butter
brown sugar
Rub the rack of lamb with kosher salt and sear in a frying pan on high heat in a little oil, a few minutes each side. Meanwhile put equal amounts of pistachio and pepitas in the food processor and process until finely chopped.
I bought this new garlic from Trader Joe's. I think it was called Emperor's New Clothes Garlic. Each head of garlic is just one enormous clove. It comes in this basket.
It was fun to try, but a generous quantity of regular garlic would work just as well. I chopped it fine and put the pepita/pistachio mixture and the garlic in a mortar. I added 10 or so whole peppercorns and crushed them with the pestle. I added some kosher salt, dried thyme, and also some fresh thyme from the garden. I added some olive oil and mixed it up.
Then I put the mixture on the seared lamb:
I tossed the whole pan into the oven at 400 degrees until medium rare. (This should have taken maybe 15-20 minutes or so but took a bit longer because I was doing the pumpkins in the same oven and kept opening the oven to baste.)
I halved and cleaned 2 small pumpkins and put a tablespoon and half of butter in each with a few tablespoons of brown sugar. I put these in the oven at 400 until tender, basting with the buttery-sugary goodness often until the pumpkin was tender and golden. Then I removed them from the oven and cut them in half again basted them again and put them back in the oven until the cut side became golden. A few minutes.
I also roasted the seeds from the pumpkins and served them by sprinkling some on the plate.
This was excellent and I'm definitely doing this again. I was really helped by having really good meat. I've been really happy with the lamb at Trader Joe's. It has a nice subtle lamb flavor without being too gamey. My in-laws are in town and they loved this. Everyone was disappointed there wasn't more of the lamb. I was very pleased.