The night before, place your marinade ingredients (mint leaves, lemon juice, chopped garlic, cardamom and oil) into a food processor and grind. The marinade doesn’t need to be fine ground, but make sure everything is chopped up and mixed together. Spread the marinade over the lamb meat, leaving the bones clear. Cover in plastic wrap and place into the fridge.

The day of cooking, compile all crust ingredients (mint leaves, pistachios, gruyere, olive oil, and cardamom) and grind in a food processor until there are no more whole leaves or whole pistachios. Make sure the ingredients don’t get too fine. You want a coarse crust, but well mixed.

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Remove the lamb from the fridge and scrape off the marinade. Sprinkle the meat with some salt and pepper. Set a pan and some butter over medium-high heat. Heat until the butter is bubbling and you can feel the heat if you hover your hand over the pan. Place the lamb into the hot fat and sear for 3-4 minutes each side. Remove from heat.

Prepare a roasting dish with a roasting rack. (I just placed the lamb directly over my vegetables, you can do that as well.) Place the lamb into the roasting dish. Don’t allow the meat to touch the sides or bottom. The bones can rest on the pan.

Cover your seared lamb meat on all sides with the pesto. You should have enough to fully cover a half-rack of lamb (4 chops) with a ¼ layer all over. Double the recipe for a full rack. Place in the oven for 25 minutes. Check the internal temperature is around 130°F for medium rare. You’ll want to roast about 15 minutes more for medium-well at 145°F. (But don’t do that. No one wants to eat that.)