While standing at my farmers’ market stall, I am often surprised by how many customers completely overlook the lamb riblets.  While riblets do, admittedly, make for some messy eating (a fact I find quite delightful), they happen to be one of the most flavorful cuts on the animal.  In my fat-loving estimation, they are the very best cut, since nearly every morsel of meat comes paired with a morsel of rich, filling, buttery fat.

The fat covering on lamb riblets is what makes them so easy to cook.  Like the spareribs on other animals, the meat contains connective tissue that requires breaking down in order to make it tender (hence the reason pork spareribs are so often smoked).  But the lambs generously lay down a layer of buttery fat over their collagen-rich spareribs.  This fat melts during the cooking process, and tenderizes the meat all on its own, without the need for additional moisture.

If you can’t eat all you prepared in one sitting, they also re-warm beautifully in a 200 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  They’ll taste equally delicious the second time ‘around.

Serves 4-5

4 lbs lamb riblets (also called lamb spareribs or breast of lamb)

2 cloves peeled garlic

2 tablespoons coarse unrefined (Celtic gray) sea salt

1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Combine the garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, rosemary and mustard in the small bowl of a food processor.  Purée to make a paste.  Pat the lamb riblets dry with a towel, then rub the paste all over the bone and flesh sides of the slabs.  Place them, bone-side down, in a large roasting pan.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and roast for 1 1/2- 2 hours, until the meat is tender and starting to pull away from the bone.