Black Lime Rack of Lamb with Cured Olive Pan Sauce

This recipe was originally published in the award-winning cookbook Eat, Habibi, Eat! Fresh Recipes for Modern Egyptian Cooking by Shahir Massoud (Appetite by Random House, 2021). You can purchase Eat, Habibi, Eat! here

Ingredients:

Lamb

• 1 tsp black lime powder, plus extra for garnish (see note)
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1⅓ lb rack of lamb
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Cured Olive Sauce

• 1 cup beef stock
• ¼ cup cured black olives, pitted
• 2 Tbsp cold butter, cubed

To Serve

• ½ cup Greek yogurt

Note: To make black lime powder, take a few black limes, place them in a spice grinder, then pulse well to form a fine powder. Transfer to a resealable plastic container, as this powder keeps for up to 1 month.

Method:

1. To prepare the lamb, mix the black lime powder, paprika, and cinnamon together, then rub the mixture into the meat on all sides and refrigerate for 1 hour. When you’re about 30 minutes away from being ready to cook, bring the lamb out of the fridge to let it come to room tempera­ture (a cardinal mistake is to start cooking meat that’s stone cold from the fridge!). Season the lamb very lightly with salt—the cured olives in the sauce are quite salty and will carry the heavy lifting in this dish.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the lamb for 2 minutes without moving it, then flip and sear on the other sides, another minute or two in total. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for 18 to 19 minutes (adjusting this roasting time according to size).
3. Remove the lamb from the oven and take out of the skillet, allowing to rest for at least 10 minutes on a cutting board. I prefer my lamb to be pink but not too rare. For me, a great rule of thumb is to roast the lamb for about 14 minutes per pound after searing.
4. To make the olive sauce, drain the skillet of excess oil, then add the stock and the olives. Heat on high and reduce the stock for 4 to 5 min­utes. Once reduced by about half, turn off the heat and swirl in the cold butter, allowing it to emulsify into a sauce. Keep moving the pan as you incorporate the butter or it may split and the sauce will become greasy. Even without salt, you may feel that the sauce has a touch too much saltiness from the olives, but remember you’ve barely seasoned the lamb, so it will all work together.
5. Serve the lamb with the sauce and some thick yogurt, and top the whole dish with another dash of the black lime powder.