Char griddled lamb fillets

Ingredients (serves 4-6 as a main dish)

• Lamb fillet, boned, trimmed, and wrapped in pancetta, tied with string (If you're smart and lazy your butcher will have boned the lamb and given you back all the bones for stock. Trim all remaining fat from the lamb fillet, and add to bones and any meat trimmings from butcher. Or get a decent knife and have a go yourself.)
• Sugar snap peas
• 3-4 good handfuls of mushrooms — say a mixture of oyster and field, or some ceps (whatever is available in the market is cheapest and usually much better that supermarkets)
• 225 g arborio or risotto rice
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 fat garlic cloves, crushed
• 5-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 to 1.2 ltr weak lamb stock (see below)
• assorted vegetables for lamb stock (see below)
• a handful of marjoram and rosemary stems
• a knob of butter
• ground salt and pepper

Preparation

The lamb stock:

1. Salt and cook off bones and trimmings (about 20 mins - but don't over-brown the bones).
2. De-glaze pan with some red wine.
3. In a large stock pan, cook indiscriminate amounts of leek, onion, carrot, celery, garlic - whatever you like really, in some butter, and add the de-glazed pan juices and the bones. Throw in some peppercorns and some water to cover it all, and simmer slowly for about 2 ½ hrs. Don't cover it and don't salt it!
4. Skim off any residue, cool and strain.

If you're lucky and live near a big Sainsbury's they do sometime have fresh stock in the better stores. They are still a bit too reduced and salty, but just add a bit of water and a splash of red wine and it will do the job. There isn't one near BMC anyway!

The lamb fillet:

1. Chop onion and crush garlic. Heat half olive oil in large, flat saute pan and fry onion and garlic until clear.
2. Add rice and rest of oil, turning until all rice is coated. Season. Finely dice pepper, chop mushrooms and add to pan.
3. Gradually add ½ litre of stock, stirring constantly. Bring to boil and reduce to slow simmer - keep adding stock until it reaches saturation. Don't stir it any more or it will go cloudy and break up - just shake the pan frequently, and add stock as required.
4. Rub trimmed and wrapped lamb fillet with oil and some garlic. Sear in a very hot pan. Roast in pre-heated oven at max. temp for about 7 mins. Take out and leave to rest for 10 mins before slicing diagonally.
5. In a saucepan reduce the remaining stock down and finish by whisking in butter to make a sticky sauce.
6. Season rice and add fresh herbs. Throw in sugar snaps just to heat them through - don't over cook them! It all should now be ready, more or less.
7. Pile up the sticky rice, place the sliced lamb on top, pour over the juices and serve with the rest of the sauce.

	Copyright © 1999-2000 Anne-Wil Harzing and Ron van der Wal. All rights reserved. Legal notices and colophon. This page was last modified on 7-11-99 19:03