Wild Garlic Soup and Pan-Roasted Lamb Rump
CHEF TONY SAYS: Welcome back to my Ramsons/wild garlic special. Remember this is a short season and is normally over by June.
Wild Garlic Soup
Ingredients
25g butter
2 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 litre vegetable stock
4 big handfuls of wild garlic leaves, chopped
100ml double cream
Instructions
Melt butter in a pan, add onions and potatoes, season then simmer over a low heat till soft.
Add stock and bring to boil, add the wild garlic and cook for two minutes. Blitz with a hand blender, add cream and season to taste.
Divide into bowls and, if you’d like, for a real garlicky kick put some homemade ramsons pesto on top of soup. Serve with crusty bread.
Pan Roasted Lamb Rump with Wilted Ramsons, Fondant Potato and Red Currant Gravy
I love mini roasts – getting a whole cut of meat to yourself, cooked to perfection, can’t be beaten in my opinion.
Ingredients
2 lamb rumps square cut 8-10oz
2 large potatoes
Chicken stock
A small knob of butter
Red current jelly
Rosemary and thyme
Salt and pepper
4/5 large bunches of wild garlic
Dare I say it – bisto gravy granules. “Boo, hiss” I hear chefs cry ( other gravy granules are available)
Any leftover red wine or open a bottle to drink – but spare a glass or two for the gravy
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180
Scour the fatty side of the lamb season with salt and pepper.
Put a frying pan on the stove and heat up, add a little oil and seal the lamb on all four sides making sure you do the fatty side first til its golden brown. Remove from pan and place on a roasting tray.
Peel your potato and cut the top and bottom off. Using a a metal ring cutter which is almost as big as the potato, push the ring into the potato and out the other side to create a perfect circle of potato. You want the thickness of the potato to be about an inch to an inch and a quarter thick.
In the pan you sealed the lamb in place the potato flat side down and cook till golden. Turn over and repeat, add butter and enough stock to almost cover the potato. Place in oven for 15 mins.
Add lamb to oven and cook for 18-22 mins for rare with an internal temp of 60c. For medium, cook for 22-26 mins, internal temp of 65-70c. For well done, cook for 26-30 mins, internal temp of 75c plus. It’s worth noting all ovens are different so times can vary dramatically.
Remove lamb from oven and rest. Check potato to see if it’s cooked. If cooked, turn off oven.
In a saucepan, reduce the red wine, add rosemary and thyme in half, pour the stock from potatoes into pan and any lamb cooking juices from the tray and add red currant jelly to taste. Pass through a sieve and use gravy granules to thicken to your choice. Put a knob of butter in a pan, add washed ramsons to pan and cover with lid. Cook for two minutes until soft and tender, season to taste.
Put fondant potato on a plate with the ramsons, slice the lamb rump into three and present on the plate. Pour gravy around the lamb.
Enjoy with a full bodied red wine – Bordeaux, Cabernet, or a Rioja would work well.
Next week: sun dried tomato and spicy roast pepper goats cheese spread and warm goats cheese and grilled vegetable salad.
PROPER FOOD FOR PROPER APPETITES
Each week, discover recipes to nourish the soul, all compiled and concocted by Chef Tony, a gastronome with 15 years’ of experience cooking across the North West. Chef Tony has worked in some of the region’s best kitchens, including the award-winning Nutters in Rochdale and The Lowry at Salford Quays.
