A heart-warming love story as old as time, minty lamb meets rich red wine and get to know each other intimately over the course of a few hours. The veg just like to watch. Everyone knows parsnips are perverts.
Lamb neck fillets recently made an appearance on my local supermarkets shelf. This cut of lamb is surprisingly affordable and extremely versatile. Due to the connective tissue present a lamb neck fillet can be tough unless cooked extremely quickly or extremely slowly. Slow cooker saves the day again!
This recipe requires reduction of the jus after the lamb has finished cooking. I would highly recommend doing this however, you could always swap the wine out for stock then use this stock to make a gravy instead. I was also making a veg soup the same weekend (see recipe here) so I had a big selection of veg that I used a little of each, just use whatever is easily available to you and that you like!
Ingredients
Serves 4
500g Lamb neck fillet, room temp
Approx. 500ml Red wine (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
500g Assorted Winter Veg, roughly chopped (squash, turnips, carrots & parsnips)
2 medium white onions, quartered
10 cloves garlic
few sprigs of thyme
couple of sprigs of rosemary
2 Tbsp mint sauce + more to serve (not mint jelly)
1 Tbsp neutral oil
Directions
heat the oil in a heavy based pan until starting to smoke
coat the lamb in the mint sauce, season with salt & pepper
Sear each side of the lamb in the pan then remove and place to one side
chuck about a glass of the wine into the pan and scrape the bottom so any of the flavour from the lamb gets dissolved in the wine. Turn off the heat.
throw everything into the slow cooker, ensuring everything is almost covered (the veg and lamb should stick up a couple of cm from the liquid, adjust the amount of wine to match this).
cook on low for 6-8 hrs
strain the veg & lamb and let rest for 20mins while you reduce the jus
take the cooking wine you just strained and boil down on the hob until it is about 1/4 of the original volume. It should be thick and syrupy and coat the back of a metal spoon well.
carve the meat, serve with the veg, usual roast trimmings then drizzle the just over the lamb.
Comments