Cooking meat is often a daunting task to me. I think it’s because when I started cooking independently, my room mate and dear friend whom I generally cooked with was a vegetarian. Later on, meat was a luxury that had little priority in my student budget, so I got creative with vegetables instead. To this day, my dad still teases me whenever we make dinner together: “We don’t need meat, do we, we can make a great meal out of carrots and onions!”.

Although I still love vegetables, I think that being able to cook meat as well is a skill I need to become a well-rounded cook. It is, however, always a bit daunting. And a bit awkward. My meat skills are sadly limping behind my other cooking skills. With most of things I make, I tend to rely on the intuition that builds with experience. But with meat, my intuition is very limited, so I’m forever double-checking my recipe and the cooking thermometer.

Still, it’s a nice challenge.

Recently, I got inspired by the Icelandic Lamb Dinner that our friends hosted, and I wanted to cook lamb too.

I made a spice and garlic rubbed oven roasted rack of lamb.

With oven roasted potatoes and carrots.

I cooked the lamb medium rare, but I should have let it rest a bit longer. At this point, I was too hungry to wait anymore, unfortunately.

Lamb, purple wax beans (surprise, they loose the purple when they cook!), potatoes, and carrots. All smothered in red wine sauce. I still have a ways to go in learning to cook meat, but at least practicing is delicious.