# Rack of lamb with beans; perfect combo!



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

I still remember the first time I had beans with lamb. It was in Paris, some 35 years ago in restaurant "Le mouton à cinq pattes" where we had very, very underdone slices of lamb leg (gigot) with green "flageolet" beans. Since then I would say there's no better match with lamb than beans! BTW, does anyone has the english translation for the french "flageolets"?

Found a nice rack of lamb and made it with simple white beans, rösti, mustardsauce.

Marinated the lamb first in olive oil garlic and rosemary for around 30 minutes. Also, binding it will keep the shape.

The meat is simply panfried all the way. First sear at high temperature, then reduce fire to low and cover the pan loosely with a sheet of auminiumfoil. When done, wrap the meat in the aluminiumfoil to rest. This gives you ample time to make the sauce.

Get rid of nearly all of the frying fat in the pan. Deglaze with some veal stock. Loosen all frying residu stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let reduce. Add a little cream and let thicken. Taste for seasoning. When done, get the pan from the fire and add a generous tbsp of grainy mustard (moutarde à l'ancienne). Don't let the sauce cook with the mustard! Delicious sauce with lamb!

The rösti is made from grated potato. Squeeze moist out of the grated potatoes; there's a lot of it, it has to go! I added a little red onion that burned on the surface while frying; optimists could call it caramelized. Also added a very tiny amount of flour, s&p. Put a serving ring in a hot pan with oil. Fill around 10 mm thick. Make as many rounds as your pan allows. Don't touch the first minutes! Turn a few times. Not my favorite potato recipe, but hey, once in a while.

Beans; cooked beans, just warmed in olive oil with a little very mild chili, some fresh herbs and a little shallot. Serve beans luke-warm.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I know those green beans you used, I find them here in NY at Fairway.  They're tasty but I think I overcooked them and they came out a little slimy for my taste.  I know that french cooking advocates beans and lamb as a perfect pairing but I'm not convinced of it.  In greece beans are considered the poor man's meat so we never pair them with meat and since lamb is the richest of all meats it's probably the furthest from our mind to pair it with.  Nice trimming on your rack!


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

ChrisBelgium

I always thought that flageolet were the slightly under-ripe version of haricot beans - but am prepared to be proved wrong!  We have no other name for either in English, we just pinch the French name, as we have done for many, many things, including courgette instead of the Italian zucchini, aubergine instead of eggplant!


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## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

KKV, the connotation of beans being food for poor people is probably gone in many other western countries. Same with potatoes, also considered in older times as food for the poor.

And as you know, many wonderful dishes came out of the very inventive poor kitchens. We have dozens of recipes involving potatoes, very few involving beans. I know in France there are famous dishes with beans, like cassoulet. Even Spain and I presume Italy are fervent bean-eaters.

Anyway, interesting to notice how different people look at food.

Ishbel, I also guess flageolets are the young beans from haricot verts. They are quite small and seem to exist in a green and a white version. Very difficult to find in my own country and expensive. A good 20 kilometer further from where I live, I'm in France and I can buy them there in an Auchan hypermarket. I remember eating in a french restaurant, they were also served "à la crème" (obviously in a cream sauce) or "Provencale" (in tomato sauce).


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

ChrisBelgium said:


> KKV, the connotation of beans being food for poor people is probably gone in many other western countries. Same with potatoes, also considered in older times as food for the poor.
> 
> And as you know, many wonderful dishes came out of the very inventive poor kitchens. We have dozens of recipes involving potatoes, very few involving beans. I know in France there are famous dishes with beans, like cassoulet. Even Spain and I presume Italy are fervent bean-eaters.
> 
> Anyway, interesting to notice how different people look at food.


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