Rack of Lamb With a Merlot Glaze and Cherry Reduction Sauce Recipe

Submitted by MarieRynr

"This is a truly special dinner entree. A bit labor intensive to start off with, but once you have the glaze and cherry sauce done the rest of the preparation goes together like a dream, and the taste is out of this world. If you really have some special guests you want to impress, then this is the perfect choice. I accompany mine with sea salt roasted baby potatoes and green beans."

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photo by Probably This

Ready In:: 1hr 20mins
Ingredients:: 15
Serves:: 6

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ingredients

CHERRY REDUCTION SAUCE
2 cups merlot or 2 cups other red wine
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted (I have very successfully substituted bottled morello cherries)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
4 cups lamb stock or 4 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
salt & freshly ground black pepper
MERLOT GLAZE
1 (750 ml) bottle merlot
1 ¹⁄₂ cups good quality balsamic vinegar
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
LAMB
4 lamb racks, excess fat trimmed and bones frenched (1 1/2 to 2 lbs. each)
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
rosemary sprig, for garnish

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directions

To prepare the sauce; combine the wine, cherries, garlic and shallot in a saucepan over high heat and reduce until the mixture is almost dry, about 10 minutes.
Add the stock, decrease the heat to medium, and reduce until the sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon, 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the butter and stir until melted.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Keep warm until you are ready to serve.
Preheat oven to 300*F.
To prepare the glaze, combine the wine, vinegar, shallot and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat and reduce until about 1/2 cup liquid remains, 20 to 25 minutes.
Set aside until you are ready to use it.
To prepare the lamb, season the racks well with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat until smoking hot.
Add as many of the racks as will fit without overcrowding the pan, meat side down, and sear well, 3 to 4 minutes; transfer to a sheet pan.
Continue searing the remaining racks.
Baste the racks well with the glaze.
Set the pan in the oven and roast, basting every 5 minutes, until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 135*F for medium-rare doneness about 20 minutes.
Remove the racks from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes, then slice.
To serve, place the slices on a warm serving platter and drizzle with some of the sauce.
Garnish with rosemary sprigs and serve warm, with any extra sauce on the side.

Questions & Replies

Are these sweet or tart cherries?

cathyroland77
Would this work with a butterflied leg of lamb? I had to freeze one as the quarantine changed my plans.

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judysproperty
This sounds so delicious and I definitely want to make this! I would love to do what you said with the potatoes and green beans but I was wondering how you make your?

Zalexxa B.

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Reviews

I have never made lamb before, so after speaking with a couple more experienced chefs, I decided to tweak this recipe a bit. I let the lamb soak in the Cherry Merlot sauce for 24 hours. Then, I baked the lamb at 350 for 30 minutes. I flipped halfway through. This made it much easier and it turned out AMAZING. I was so impressed with this recipe. I will 100% be making it again!!!!

aubreyrdrake
This a such a show-stopper! It look longer than mentioned to make the reductions and glaze, but that was fine with me, because the amount of taste and flavor was outstanding. Even a non-lamb eater was digging this. I didnt have cherries, so I used a cup of frozen mixed berries (blueberry, cherry and blackberry) It turned out great! I would be curious to try this with other types of berries or fruit!

Meghan

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This takes waaaaay longer than the time mentioned for all the reduction, and the oven temp is too low. At 300F following these directions the meat is absolutely raw still. Probably want 350 for medium rare. Recipe is solid with tweeks, I am just disappointed I wasted about $70 of meat with guests on this recipe. My own fault, should have gone with a known recipe. But I would avoid trying to "show stop" with this recipe until you have piloted it once

Skye C.
There was a lot of reduction here! We don't eat mammals but this would go with chicken. As it happens I had already froze a nut roast for Easter Sunday but decided to try both as I had time. I used jarred Morello cherries as suggested, I am not sure if I used the suggested type as they were sweet & had a picture of pie & custard on the front - perhaps meant for a pudding-pie filling but it was next to red peppers/olives/antipasti etc; I rinsed them & they were fine. Made triple quantity sauce so didn't have the intended gravy. I tossed my cooked roast potatoes in the glaze while still in the tin & will do that again as it was scrumptious.

Lavender1638Fawn
This recipe was very tasty and came out perfectly! My boyfriend absolutely loved it and the place smelled phenomenal! The only thing I didn't like was the time estimates. It took about double the time to prepare and cook everything. Otherwise, this recipe is golden!

Stephani C.

see 2 more reviews

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Tweaks

It should be either 1/4 or 1 cup of stock not the 4 stated in the recipe. This is a very expensive dish in Australia which is ruined by the jus. Please change the recipe!

Annette F.