Rex's Recipes: Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb, with a Little Help from Perrotti's Butcher in Far Hills, New Jersey

Way back when Rex and I were first living together in NYC's West Village, we would occasionally attend a "celebrity chef" cooking class at Macy's DeGustibus program. Rex paid close attention to the recipes and preparation, while I enjoyed one delicious meal after the next. On one such occasion, we had the good fortune of cooking with Patrick O'Connell, the chef and proprietor of the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia, and taking home one of my all-time favorite recipes: Pistachio Crusted Grilled Baby Lamb Chop with Carrot Ginger Essence.

This past Saturday, as part of our weekend-long celebration of our tenth anniversary, Rex decided to prepare a rack of lamb for our Bay Head neighbors, Jango and Dorothy Parker, who provided the wine (including an amazing 30 year old cabernet) for our festive evening. After a perfect anniversary dinner at the Bernards Inn in Bernardsville, NJ on Friday night, we started our Saturday in the Roxiticus Valley. Rex usually gets his racks of lamb from Louie at the Chester Meat Market, but since we were travelling through Far Hills to get to the beach, I reminded him to give Perrotti's a try.

So I'm going to start with Patrick O'Connell's "incredibly sophisticated" recipe (Rex's notes on the recipe from 1996), and take you through step-by-step, along with lots of photos, how Rex applied it to a beautiful rack of lamb from Perrotti's Butcher Shop in Far Hills, New Jersey.

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