Lamb

With parshnip purée and mint crust

Ingredients:

FOR THE LAMB:

  • Oil
  • A rack of lamb (around 250-300g)
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Some oregano and rosemary
  • 25g Butter
  • Salt to taste

FOR THE MINT POWDER:

  • 15-20g mint
  • 100g breadcrumbs

FOR THE LAMB SAUCE:

  • 150g white wine
  • a couple shallots (or a small onion)
  • 120g heavy cream (35% fat)
  • salt to taste

FOR THE PARSNIP PURÉE:

  • 150g parsnips (peeled)
  • 15g butter
  • 250g cream
  • 120g water
  • salt to taste
  • additional water to adjust purée consistency

Tools:

  • Pan
  • Small pot
  • Oven
  • Thermometer
  • Parchment paper
  • A paper towel
  • A pair of tongs
  • A spoon
  • Wooden spoon or heatproof spatula
  • Blender
  • Sieve
  • Knife
  • Squeeze bottle
  • A wide glass with a flat bottom (ex. whisky glass)

Execution:

FOR THE LAMB:

  • Place a pan on high heat and let it get very hot.
  • Pat the lamb with a paper towel until it’s completely dry on the outside.
  • Season it well with salt and make sure it goes everywhere.
  • Put enough oil to the pan to thinly cover its bottom and add the lamb with the bones facing down.
  • Sauté well from one side until a very brown crust starts forming then turn it. Repeat until all sides of the rack are well browned.
  • Turn the heat down to low, flip the rack so that the bones face up and add the butter, garlic, oregano and rosemary to the pan.
  • Tilt the pan and use a spoon to contiguously poor the melted aromatic butter over the rack. This is called arroser. Repeat for a couple of minutes.
  • If the rack is small you can continue doing this until the center of the rack reaches 52C.
  • Else, you can place it in a baking sheet with parchment paper and transfer to the oven until it reaches the target temperature (around 5 mins in 180C).
  • Remove the lamb from the pan or the oven and place it in a container along with the garlic, oregano, rosemary and most of the butter.
  • Cover with aluminium foil and let rest for at least 10 mins.

FOR THE MINT POWDER:

  • Put the breadcrumps and mint in the blender and process them until well mixed.
  • Pass the mixture through sieve and store in a container.

FOR THE SAUCE:

  • Cut the shallots in very small cubes (brunoise)
  • After removing the lamb from the pan, put the shallots in and cook them for a couple minutes in medium-low heat.
  • Deglaze with the wine and scrape off everything that might have stuck in the bottom of the pan.
  • Reduce the wine to a glaze consistency.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and add the cream.
  • Stir everything together until fully homogenized, then return to the heat and reduce it to the desired consistency.
  • When the sauce is thick and emulsified, pass it through a sieve and store in a container.

FOR THE PURÉE:

  • Cut the parsnips into small cubes.
  • Put the parsnips, cream, water and salt into a small, cold pot.
  • Put the heat to medium and simmer with the lid off until a knife can pierce through the parsnips without any resistance. Most of the liquid should be evaporated.
  • Add the mixture to the blender and blend until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, adjust it with some extra water.
  • Add the cold butter to the mix and continue blending until fully emulsified.
  • Adjust the salt and store in a container.

Platting:

  • Transfer the purée into a squeeze bottle.
  • Make a big dot with the purée in a little offset from the center of the plate.
  • Take the glass and press down the dot, then carefully remove it. You should end up with a tree looking design.
  • Poor the sauce in the gaps created inside the circle.
  • Carve the lamb rack between the bones and holding them from the bone, pass toss them inside the mint powder until fully coated.
  • Place two lamb chops on top of the purée and sauce.
  • Make little dots with the purée on the side of the plate as shown in the picture above.

Theory, tips:

  • Depending on the final level of doneness you want your meat to be cooked at, you can vary the internal target temperature. My personal preference is to stop cooking at 52C and let it rise to 54-56C while resting.
  • To take the temperature of the meat, pierce it with the thermometer in its thickest part. In this case, as the meat’s shape is quite uniform, place it at the center of the rack.
  • The suggested order to prepare the different components of the dish is: purée, mint powder, lamb, lamb sauce.

Acknowledgements:

  • Parsnip purée technique by (my absolute favorite chef of all time) Thomas Keller.
George Fotiadis
George Fotiadis
Software, Data and Business

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