This is a firm favourite in our home, and perfect for this time of year. In fact if you head to one of our local farmers’ markets, I am sure that you’ll be able to pick up most of the fresh ingredients, including the lamb, directly from the people who grow them. You know me, I love to support local, to have a chat to the people who grow the food that we eat, and then to bring the produce home, cook it and eat it.
I discovered this recipe in one of my French cooking magazines, Cuisine Actuelle, some time ago, and then promptly forgot about it. Flicking through my lamb scrap book recently, I was delighted to rediscover the recipe.
Here, beautiful lean lamb backstrap (from Forge Creek Lamb) is coated in a simple blend of olive oil, sumac and crushed garlic (fresh from our garden) and then set aside to marinate for a couple of hours before being cooked in a hot pan. Once rested, the lamb is sliced to reveal the succulent, rose coloured centre, ready to become the star of the show in this delicious salad.
As usual, I just can’t help myself, and have adjusted the recipe to suit our tastes, including the addition of olives and capers. I also swap the cherry tomatoes out for slow roasted Roma tomatoes if I feel like it.
- 2 lamb backstraps/eye of loin each approx 20cm/8 inches long
- 2 tbsp 40ml olive oil
- 2 tsp sumac
- 1 clove of garlic
- 100 ml muscat
- 12 chat potatoes washed and quartered
- 250 g green beans
- 10 cherry tomatoes halved
- 10 kalamata olives pitted and halved
- 2 tsp baby capers rinsed
- 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 1 lemon
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
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Combine the sumac, garlic and olive oil in a dish, add the lamb and toss to coat. Cover and place in the refrigerator for two hours.
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Place the yoghurt together with 2 tsp lemon juice into a small dish and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
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Steam the chat potatoes for 15 minutes, adding the beans for the final 7 minutes, seasoning with a little salt to taste.
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Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium high heat, add the lamb and cook for 8-10 minutes, turning half way through the cooking, until cooked to your liking. Remove the lamb from the pan and set aside to rest.
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Deglaze the pan with the muscat and keep warm.
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Cut the lamb into 1-2 cm slices
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Arrange the potatoes, beans and cherry tomatoes on individual serving plates, top with the lamb and drizzle over the muscat sauce. Scatter over the olives and capers and serve with a flourish of the yoghurt sauce.
- Inspired by a recipe from Cuisine Actuelle No 268, April 2013, p.47
Until next time…
Bon appétit!
Links & Sources:
- Cuisine Actuelle
- Fernglen Farms
- Forge Creek Lamb
- Sale Producers Market
- Warm Salad of Sumac Marinated Lamb Backstrap with Chats & Green Beans
