Reconstructed Lamb Roast Deconstructed
Rebuilding or recreating an object that has been deconstructed sounds impractical. Especially when you intend to pull it apart into smaller pieces again. Complicated? There is method to my madness- trust me on this one.
Mike brought home some very fine lamb chops from the market, this weekend. The chops were from the loin and cut thicker than usual. My original plan was to remove the small bone and tie them with string to turn into “noisettes”. Which is what Mike did to them, upon my request.
But then, I became uninterested with the idea, and I couldn’t get the motivation or find enough inspiration to carry out cooking them. I had decided already to roast some red skinned potatoes, fennel wedges and rosemary stalks with duck fat to serve along side. I also planned to put together a lemony salsa verde to accompany the lamb. Both of those ideas still appealed to me. What wasn’t appealing to me was cooking the noisettes “a la minute”. What I was really craving to eat was a succulent lamb roast, not pan fried noisettes.
So, that’s exactly what we did. Well actually, it was Mike’s idea and he did all the butch construction work of tying together the individual noisettes to reform a loin roast. It was my idea however, to anoint the slices of lamb with salsa verde before rebuilding them together. It worked unexpectedly well. The outcome was juicy and moist lamb meat infused with citrus herbaceous-ness. The fat surrounding the meat was particularly excellent to eat- slightly crisp, meltingly tender and with an unpredictably clean flavour. I have to admit that of all the animal fats, lamb is not a favourite of mine- I often find it overpowering and pungent. But not the fat from this young creature.
I am aware this does sound ridiculous. Why would you buy individual lamb noisettes to then put back together, when you can buy a whole loin etc to roast? This was just one way out of a culinary predicament and it turned out to be an excellent solution. I am not one to usually play about with food. In fact, I hate fiddly kitchen tasks but this is an exception. I would be very pleased to do it again if the outcome was the same.
Reconstructed Lamb Roast with Herbs, Lemon and Nutmeg
Ingredients
5 lamb noisettes, about 600g (of course you can use any amount. That’s just what I had)
Cooking string
300ml rich, homemade meat stock
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice, to taste
A combination of the following fresh herbs, all finely chopped
Mint, Parsley, Rosemary, Rocket
Dried Greek oregano
Lots of freshly grated nutmeg
Sea salt
Freshly ground peppers, both black and white
A pinch sugar
Build your Salsa Verde. Combine the garlic with your chosen herbs. Use the proportions that feel right to you. You can use other herbs. I used this particular combination, because that’s what I had in the fridge and in the garden. Add an appropriate olive oil. It must be green and fruity and of excellent quality. Don’t use an aggressive, peppery oil- this oil is good for other dishes (like bean soups) and it will clash with the herbs in this receipt, making the sauce disagreeably bitter. Again let your taste buds guide you- you can have a thick paste or a fluid sauce. I prefer the fluid kind. Whisk in the lemon juice and season to taste with salt, two peppers and plenty of nutmeg. I like to add a pinch of sugar to my salsa verde. This is not usual practice, nor is the addition of nutmeg. But as the entire dish is a reconstructed /deconstructed affair, you may as well break the rules.
Preheat the oven to 220c.
Anoint the noisettes of meat with spoonfuls of salsa verde. Reconstruct the lamb roast by placing the noisettes together and tying with string. Spread salsa verde all over the reconstructed roast as well. The acidity from the sauce will help the fat to become crispy. Set aside any remaining sauce.
Weigh the roast and calculate the cooking time. For every 500g, roast for 15- 20 minutes. Add a splash of water to the baking dish before placing the meat into the oven.
Remove from the oven. Double wrap the roasted lamb with foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
While the meat is resting, combine the juices from the baking dish with stock, and reduce until you have a syrupy jus. Strain into a small jug or a sauceboat.
Unwrap the meat and cut the strings. Obviously the will be no need to cut the meat. Serve with the “jus gras” and reserved salsa verde. Enough for 2 or 3 serves.
