Recipe: Spring Lamb Cutlet with fondant potato and broccoli

Recipe by Middletons Hotel Senior Sous Chef, Chris Hudson.

This is a tasty recipe, perfect for springtime dining. Get your chops around this…

Ingredients:

• 4 lamb cutlets 
• 1 pack broccoli 
• 2 large potatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 1 white onion 
• 1 celery stick 
• 1 large carrot 
• 60g butter 
• 150ml veg stock 

Method:

Start by trimming back any fat from the bone of the lamb, keeping all trim for the gravy later and pop your prepped lamb back in the fridge.

For the sauce:

Roast the lamb trim in an oven at 200°c, allowing the lamb the brown off.

•In the meantime, roughly chop the carrot, celery, and onion. Smash the garlic clove and then add all to a medium-sized saucepan that is heated to a high heat (you want to get a golden colour to the vegetables).

•Add the roasted lamb trim to the pan with a splash of red wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Then, cover this with around 200ml of water just do it covers the vegetables and lamb. 

•Leave to simmer and reduce for around 2-3 hours (aim to reduce the liquid by half). Once reduced, pass off the vegetables, making sure you keep the liquid. 

•Place the liquid back into the pan on a low heat. Add corn flour to thicken (you can always use granulated gravy powders), thicken to your liking and remove the pan from the heat. 

For the fondant potato: 

Start by peeling the potato. Then, chop off the round part of the longest side of the potato giving you two flat sides to work with.

•Take a ring cutter size of your choosing, place the potato flat-side down, and push the ring cutter down, making sure it goes through the potato cleanly (you can always clean up the edges with a peeler). 

•Get a deep-sided oven-safe frying pan (if you don’t have an oven-safe pan you can always transfer it into an oven tray), get the pan to a high temperature, and aim to get a golden covering on the top and bottom of the potato.

•Once you have this, add the garlic and rosemary, allowing the butter to melt, and then add the vegetable stock. Then, place the pan into a 180•c oven for 20-25 minutes.

For the broccoli:

Heat a saucepan with lightly salted water. Once the pan has reached a soft boil, add the broccoli for 3-5 minutes (you want to do this just before serving to avoid the broccoli from overcooking).

For the lamb:

Heat a frying pan to a high heat with a splash of oil. Once the pan and oil are hot, gently place the lamb in the pan, allowing each side to get a lovely brown char to it, you will know the lamb is cooked when it is firm but had a light spring to it.

For plating:

Grab your best dish and some artistic flair and plate up as you like.