Recipe: Baked lamb with a rose petal crust

Serves two

Two 200g pieces of rolled saddle of lamb or fillet or two decent size lamb chops

A heaped teaspoon of dried rose petals

One slice of slightly stale bread

A handful of chopped pancetta

One medium leek – cleaned and chopped

Potatoes – enough for two, peeled, boiled and kept warm

A glass of red wine

A glass of good beef stock

A little olive oil and butter for frying

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 210°C (gas mark 7)

Blitz the bread and rose petals together in a food processor or liquidiser until you have a fine crumb. Pour onto a plate and roll or press the lamb into it until coated all over.

Heat a frying pan (preferably oven-proof if you have it) and melt a knob of butter with a little olive oil. Seal the lamb on all sides and then place in the oven for around 15 minutes, possibly a couple of minutes fewer for chops. Remove and allow to rest while kept warm.

While the lamb’s cooking, heat another frying pan but don’t add any oil or butter. Add the pancetta to it and, once oil starts to ooze out, add the chopped leek and sauté the whole mixture until the leek’s soft.

Mash the potato and mix in the pancetta and leek mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Pour the wine into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce by half over a high heat and add the beef stock. Reduce by around two thirds until you have just two or three tablespoonfuls of intense tasting liquid.

To serve, place the pancetta and leek mash on the centre of warmed serving plates. Slice the lamb (or leave whole if chops), place on the top of the mash and drizzle the red wine reduction around.

Recipe: Fillet of lamb with Asian pear and mint risotto

To make a real risotto means that the rice has to be stirred continuously, adding the hot liquor bit by bit thus cooking and disturbing the starch on the outside of each grain which then thickens the dish.

As the rice cooks, the grains also absorb the flavoured liquor and swell to become soft and plump. The result is a dish from heaven and the process very therapeutic.

It takes about 30 minutes and I recommend its preparation to anyone who likes cooking - and a glass or two of wine to hand seems to help things along.

Fillet of lamb with Asian pear and mint risotto

(To serve two)

Two fillets of lamb

One medium onion - peeled and roughly chopped

One stick of celery - chopped

One handful of arborio rice

One glass of white wine

Hot vegetable stock - around a pint. But if you use it all, supplement with boiling water.

One Asian pear or, if not available, standard pear - unpeeled and chopped into chunks

One handful of mint leaves - shredded

Olive oil

Cooking oil

Butter

Pre-heat oven to 200°C (gas mark 6)

First, make the risotto. In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan melt a knob of butter with a tablespoon of olive oil. Gently sauté the onion and celery until tender. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until the rice is well coated with the oil and butter. Add the white wine and, stirring gently, bring to the boil until the liquid has almost disappeared.

Next add a small ladleful of hot stock, bring to a simmer and continue stirring until that almost disappears, then another ladleful of stock, continuously stirring, and so on. Stop adding stock when the rice is tender but still has a ‘bite’ inside. You can only gauge this by tasting as it depends on how high your heat was, how much stock you added each time and so on as to how long the process takes, but it’s generally around 25 to 30 minutes.

To finish the risotto add around 50gm of butter and stir until melted. Add the pear and the mint and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove the pan from the heat, put on a lid and it should keep warm while you do the rest of the dish.

Heat an oven-proof frying pan and add a little cooking oil. Season the lamb, seal it on all sides and place the pan in the oven for around 15 minutes for medium pink. Remove from the oven and allow it to rest whilst warming and preparing the plates.

To serve, place the risotto in the centre of the plate, thickly slice the lamb and place it on top. Fantastic.

Lamb was the order of the day with my commis chefs!

Neil, Michael and Jess have done well, not bad for a first attempt!

Recipe: Herb marinated lamb leg steak, aromatic tomato Quinoa, chargrilled aubergine, roast garlic, and Kale crisps

For the lamb

Marinate the lamb chop steaks in olive oil, thyme, rosemary, garlic and cover, the lamb is best left to marinade in a fridge overnight.

For the tomato base sauce

Firstly make the tomato sauce, Chop one clove of garlic and add it to the chopped tomatoes, pour into a pan, add 1 clove, half a star anise, six leaves of fresh basil.

Bring the mix to the boil and remove from heat, check the seasoning, blitz the sauce and set to one side.

For the Quinoa

Quinoa can be prepared much like rice. It should usually be rinsed or soaked before use to remove its bitter coating, the cooked germ should have a slight bite to it (al dente).

175g quinoa, rinsed and drained

475ml chicken stock

Half of the tomato sauce that you made earlier

Salt and pepper to taste

Bring the quinoa and chicken stock to the boil in a saucepan; cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until the moisture is completely absorbed, about 15 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and set to one side.

For the garlic

Split the garlic in half, rub with salt, chopped rosemary and oven bake until cooked

For the aubergine

Slice them along the length and rub with olive oil, season with sea salt and pulled thyme.

Heat and chargrill or griddle pans until red hot, chargrill the aubergines on both sides until tender. Once cooked keep them hot.

For the lamb

In the same griddle pan cook the lamb, season as you go.

Cook the lamb pink and remove from the pan, at this point be sure to allow the lamb to rest.

To serve

ensure everything is hot, place the Quinoa on the service dish, add the chargrilled aubergine, slice the lamb and add it to the plate, deep fry some Kale, season and add to the dish, finish with the left over tomato sauce and the roast garlic