This recipe calls for duck fat, which adds a very refined, rich flavour to most dishes. At West, we render duck fat from our organic ducks and use it where you would clarified butter. It’s easy to make but is also available from most butchers or specialty food stores.
Ingredients
Herb-Crusted Lamb
- 3 oz fresh bread crumbs
- 1 sprig thyme, leaves picked off and chopped
- 1 oz parsley, chopped (about ¼ cup)
- 1½ oz Gruyere cheese, grated
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 saddle of lamb, about 4lbs
- ½ onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 rib celery, sliced
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 5 tsp white wine vinegar
- 2 Rom a tomatoes, cut into eighths
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 egg white
- 0.66 cup whipping cream
Sweet And Sour Shallots
- 1 Tbsp duck fat
- 18 large shallots
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 3½ Tbsp sherry vinegar
- 0.33 cup chicken stock
How to Make It
- HERB-CRUSTED LAMB: Make a herb crust by combining bread crumbs, thyme and parsley in a food processor. Let the machine work for 2 minutes until the bread crumbs turn bright green. Add Gruyere, then slowly add butter and season with salt. Place this mixture between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to 14 inch in thickness. Place in the freezer for at least r hour.
- Remove as much fat as possible from the saddle of lamb without breaking through and exposing meat. Remove the tenderloins and set them aside, then remove the backbone very carefully, using a sharp boning knife. You should be left with one piece of boneless saddle and two loins. Refrigerate the loins.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut all of the bones, trim them into 216-inch pieces and place them in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Add onion, garlic, celery and carrot and roast for another 20 minutes, then deglaze the pan with white wine vinegar. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and rosemary and roast a further r o minutes, then drain off excess fat. Place roasted bones in a large pot and cover with chicken stock, topping off with water until the bones are just covered. Simmer for 2 hours, strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a medium saucepan, and continue heating until reduced by four-fifths, about r hour.
- In a food processor, puree tenderloins with egg white and slowly add cream. Pass this mixture through a fine sieve, season with salt and pepper and set this tenderloin mousse aside.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Season the saddle of lamb with salt and pepper and place fat-side down in a heavy-bottomed pan. Cook slowly on medium heat for about 9 minutes to melt the fat, then pour off the excess fat. Remove the saddle from the pan and cover the two loins fully with the tenderloin mousse. Place the lamb in the oven and cook for 14 minutes. Remove from the oven, cut a sheet of herb crust the exact shape of the lamb and place it on top. Allow the lamb to rest on the stove for 10 minutes.
- SWEET AND SOUR SHALLOTS: Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat duck fat on medium heat. Add shallots, thyme, bay leaf and salt and roast until shallots are golden brown all over, about 15 minutes. Deglaze with sherry vinegar and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Place in the oven for 15 minutes or until the shallots are soft to the touch. Strain the liquid into a small saucepan and simmer on medium heat until reduced to a glaze, about 3 minutes. Add the shallots to the glaze and keep warm.
