Trader Joe’s is one of my favorite grocery stores. I always find lots of cool, reasonably priced items such as Valrhona Le Noir Extra Amer 85% cocoa chocolate bars, Kerrygold butter, broccoli slaw, and ready-to-cook prepped produce. Once in a while, I find a dud but those are few and far between.
The other day while I was rummaging through TJ’s freezer section, I came across vacuum-sealed packets of seasoned Frenched lamb racks.
Not only were all the ingredients Paleo-approved but I bet I could dunk these packets straight from the freezer – and still in their packaging – into my SousVide Supreme. Score!
(No SousVide Supreme? No problem! Serious Eats shows you how to make perfect lamb racks with a DIY beer cooler sous vide contraption.)
Time to make Sous Vide Rack of Lamb!
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 2 packs of Seasoned Frenched Rack of Lamb from Trader Joe’s
- 2 tablespoons of lard or your fat of choice
Equipment:
- All of my recommended kitchen tools are listed here.
Method:
Today, I finally tested my hypothesis. Before going to bed this morning, I filled up my water oven and set the temperature at 130 F (for medium rare chops). The night before, I’d transferred the lamb racks from the freezer to the fridge but they were still pretty solid. I asked my mom, who was babysitting the kids, to add the two packets of lamb racks to the SousVide Supreme at 4:00 p.m.
I let the lamb racks cook for about 2 hours and then I removed them from the bath and dried them off with paper towels.
Then, I heated a couple of tablespoons of lard in a large cast iron skillet over high heat and seared off each rack.
I sliced them up and they were uniformly pink and moist throughout.
The seasoning wasn’t bad but it was a little heavy-handed with the rosemary. Also, unlike roasting or grilling, the blobs of fat don’t render away when you sous vide so I just eat around them.
Enough complaining already! Overall, the results were great because you can get perfectly-cooked yummy lamb chops on the table with minimal work! I’ll definitely keep a rack or two in my freezer as emergency back-up protein.
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Sous Vide Rack of Lamb
Ingredients
- 2 Seasoned Frenched Rack of Lamb packages from Trader Joe's
- 2 tablespoons lard or your fat of choice
Instructions
- Transfer your racks to the fridge 24 hours before you want to cook them. Set your water oven to 130°F for medium rare chops.
- Once you're ready to cook the lamb, put the lamb into the water oven and let them cook for about 2 hours.
- Remove the lamb from the bath and dry them off with paper towels.
- Heat a couple tablespoons of lard in a large cast iron skillet over high heat and sear off each rack a few minutes each side.
- Slice them up and serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
