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Oct 2010: Confit Lamb Neck with a Compote of Cumin Flavoured Aubergine
Confit Lamb Neck with a Compote of Cumin Flavoured Aubergine
Serves 4
Necks of Lamb x4 Table spoon of Cumin x 2
Duck Fat x ½ Litre Olive Oil
Rock Salt x 100g Table Spoon of Tomato Puree
Large Aubergine x 2 Cloves of Garlic x 2
Salt Vivaldi Potatoes x 20
Butter x 150g Packet of Green Beans x1
Lamb Jus x 100ml
Put the duck fat and melt down slowly, don’t boil. Cut the neck into even sized pieces, sprinkle rock salt on both sides and leave for about 45 mins to 1 hour. Then scrape the salt off and place in the duck fat, cook slowly in the oven at 150 – 160 degrees for about 1 ½ to 2 hours, then remove from the fat when cooked.
Take the potatoes either peel with a peeler or turn with a knife into barrel shaped. Put into cold water until needed.
Take the Aubergine, top and tail and then dice into even sized pieces. Fry lightly in a little olive oil until golden then place in a colander. Peel and chop garlic finely.
Put aubergine into pot and add garlic, cumin powder then tomato puree. Cook slowly, season, keep warm.
Top and tail green beans, blanche in boiling salted water then refresh in iced salted water, drain as soon as cold.
Take a pot and put on heat, allow it to become very hot then add some oil. Then add your potatoes, make sure they are dry so the oil doesn’t spit at you. Add some butter and cook slowly over a heat keeping the butter frothy. The potatoes should be golden brown but cooked all the way through.
When dressing the plate put the aubergine compote at the bottom of the plate lamb on top, potatoes top left or around, green beans top right and sauce over.
Enjoy!!!
What to drink with it?
The deep aromatic flavours and rich texture of the confit lamb demands a full bodied wine of warmth and matching spice.
Here are two to look for:
2008 Torbreck ’Woodcutter’s’ Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia - £14.00
This wine represents the best value Australia can offer, the vines are approaching a hundred years of age, the fruit is picked by hand and cared for in the cellar by gentle, traditional methods - rare indeed!
The wine is an explosion of soft ripe dark fruits, firm and mouth feeling.
Juicy acidity and perfectly integrated tannins give length and freshness and higlight the black olive and earthy spice the Barossa provides at its best.
2008 Bierzo, Descendientes de J. Palacios ’Petalos’, Castilla y León, Spain - £22.00
From the mountain country near Galicia in Northwestern Spain, the wines of Bierzo have until recently been fairly uknown outside local circles.
Made from the Mencia grape (found nowhere else) Bierzo wines offer a complex contrast of flavours - intense dark fruit, deeply grounded in mineral, earthy flavours yet lifted by aromas of wild flowers, dried herbs and ground spice. The ’Petalos’ is a benchmark for the region and is a great wine to ’discover’ Bierzo with.
Both of these wines are available online from our friends at
Woodwinters Wines and Whiskies, www.woodwinters.com or on 01786 834 894
They will happily deliver them to your door!
Cheers,
Steven
