It’s time for my monthly recipe from the RSVP section of Bon Appetit magazine. Some of you may have seen me on Twitter talking up my new website RSVP Redux; a compilation of recipes from RSVP that are made by myself and other food bloggers. I love trying recipes from RSVP; feeling a certain sense of comfort that they must be good if someone took the time to write Bon Appetit asking them to capture a recipe for them, sometimes even AFTER a restaurant has closed.
It’s new, it’s got some growing pains as I figure out how best to manage it…but join us if you like; hoping to bring synergy and energy and…oh well, this now sounds a bit too smarmy…we just want to have some fun as a group!
This dish appealed to me for two main reasons. I had a lamb roast AND a bottle of Pomegranate Molasses in the fridge! What’s on hand often inspires what I cook but to use those two ingredients I did do a pretty drastic modification from the original recipe. With some irony…or maybe just a bit of woo-wooness, Bon Appetit had a section on their site this month with posts from blogs who did recipes from RSVP. If interested in how the original is meant to be made, check out Cupcakes and Crablegs effort. This recipe is made true to the original and they do look great!
My version was significantly different in that I cooked the lamb to 145 degrees internal temperature covered in water and chicken broth flavored with the carrots, lemon and garlic. In lieu of slathering lamb ribs with the pomegranate sauce and putting them back into the oven, I chose to make the sauce as an accompaniment to the slices of roast lamb; thinking additional cooking would take the ‘just right’ steaks and simply overcook them. It worked beautifully; rare and juicy lamb with a flavorful sauce that is unique and unexpected.
I think lamb needs an element of sweetness to balance a certain gaminess the meat can have and there is no reason that mint has to be the ONLY method to achieve this balance. I served the dish with Lemon Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Chives that were posted yesterday; can I say…wonderful meal!
We loved it…and now I’ve got slices in the freezer for dinner in a couple of weeks too…so it made for a happy meal and a happy cook!
Lamb Roast with Pomegranate Molasses Sauce
Ingredients Sauce:
- 1/2 cup pomegranate molasses
- 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
Ribs:
- 5 pounds lamb roast
- 1 carrot, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
Ingredient Info: Pomegranate molasses is a thick syrup available at some supermarkets, spice shops, Middle Eastern markets or available online at adrianascaravan.com.
Preparation
Sauce
- Bring all ingredients to boil in medium saucepan, whisking occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
Ribs
- Place all ingredients in large pot. Add enough water to cover. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer until internal temp of meat is 145 degrees, adding more water as needed to keep ribs covered, about 1 hour 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat; let cool 30 minutes in broth.
- Slice into thick steaks, garnish with sauce.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Beautiful and what a perfect flavor combination. I adore the sauce and since I love cooking lamb I will certainly be trying this. I so love rich fruit sauces with meat. Gorgeous dish, Barbara!
Barb I liked the look of this already but I really like how you spun it to work for you. I love lamb – this is already clipped in my recipe folder for sometime soon!
Pomegranate sauce makes a much better accompaniment to lamb than mint any day of the week!
I like that you changed the recipe to a sauce rather than putting the meat into a bath of the stuff. A more subtle approach…much like the cook herself ;)
Well, thank you my dear!
Barb,
Looks delicious! Because it’s so hot in Southern CA, our RSVP Redux recipe is a nice and refreshing garden mojito. Hope it cools down soon!
[K]
This one looks delicious too! Lamb is my thing- love it!
Thanks Lori…I love it too; although had a bad first experience (probably overcooked) and avoided it for years so now have to make up for lost time!