Date Night #1

Yes, yes, I know I love Italian food... But for tonight's date night with the boyfriend, I decided to do something French... rosemary and dijon rack of lamb, garlic and balsamic oven roasted broccoli, and onion rings (ok, that's not French but every guy needs fried foods with their dinner)
I looked to one of my favorite cooks, the Barefoot Contessa (or, Ina Garten) for inspiration. Her recipe for rack of lamb is INCREDIBLE but a little too salty, so I only added a tiny pinch of kosher salt.
NO NO NO! Don't be scared!!! Lamb is NOT difficult to make. It's delicious, a good source of protein (or so says my personal trainer, so I trust him) and it's easy, I swear!!!

This is what you'll need for the marinade (FYI, this yields 2 racks, so split it in half, or play around with it, as I did, if it's just for two people):

1/2 cup dijon mustard
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbs. FRESH rosemary (dried just doesn't have the same flavor and/or consistency. You don't even have to buy it, you can find it on the side of the road)
2 tbs. balsamic vinegar

1. Mince the garlic, salt and rosemary in a food processor for a minute until it's as small as you can make it.
2. Add the balsamic and dijon and process for another minute.
3. Place your rack (of lamb!!!) in a baking dish curved down and cover it with the marinade (use your hands, they're the BEST tool any chef could ever want!)
4. Let stand a room temperature for about an hour.

Now it's time to cook!!!
5. Preheat your oven to 450*
6. Place the rack of lamb on a baking sheet UNCOVERED. For for rare meat, cook for 20 minutes exactly, and for medium rare, cook for 25 minutes.
7. Cover with foil and let cool for about 10 minutes.

Roasted Broccoli:
1 bag of broccoli from Trader Joe's
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1. Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. As the lamb is resting, put the broccoli in the oven, lower the temperature to 375*.
3. Let cook about 7-10 minutes (your nose will know when it's ready)

enjoy :)