Peppered Loin Of Lamb Recipes

LAMB LOIN - GRILLED OR ROASTED TO PERFECTION

Steps:

• Let roast come to room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat grill or oven.
• Rub roasted garlic inside of roast, all around.
• Sprinkle inside with herbs. (see post for suggestions)
• Roll up tightly.
• Truss with kitchen string. (see post)
• Brown roast on all sides. If doing inside, add a bit of olive oil to pan.
• Once browned move to the side of the grill without a burner on. (indirect grill)
• If roasting in the oven, once roast is browned, place roast in a large roasting pan on a roasting rack in oven to finish (or use cast iron or oven safe pan to sear).
• Cook until temperature is about 125°F for medium rare.

WHOLE BONELESS LAMB LOIN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• On a large cutting surface, lay out lamb, cut side up so that it folds open. Sprinkle the inside with salt and Essence. Place a rosemary stalk inside. Tie lamb up with another rosemary stalk so that it is rolled and secure. Season the outside of the lamb with more salt, and the coriander and cumin.
• In large saute pan over high heat, add olive oil and heat until hot, but not smoking. Add lamb and sear, on all sides until golden brown, about 5 minutes, being careful not to let the rosemary burn. Transfer to oven and continue cooking for another 20 minutes, or until medium rare. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes while preparing couscous.
• Slice into 1-inch pieces. Serve atop couscous.
• Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
• Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch, published by William Morrow, 1993.
• In a large bowl, combine the couscous and salt. Pour the boiling water over the mixture, cover, and let stand until the water is absorbed and the couscous is puffed, about 6 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Add the pistachios, mint, and oil. Adjust seasoning, to taste. Serve hot.

LOIN OF LAMB MARINATED IN MERLOT, GARLIC AND PARSLEY WITH PIQUILLO PEPPER PESTO

Steps:

• Whisk together the wine, thyme, oil, garlic, black pepper and parsley in a baking dish. Add the lamb and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to marinate.
• Remove the lamb from the marinade 20 minutes before cooking. Heat a grill pan or saute pan over high heat. Season the lamb with salt on both sides and cook until golden brown and seared on both sides and cooked to medium-rare doneness (internal temperature of 135 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer). Place on a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve slices with a dollop of pesto on the side.
• Combine the peppers, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. With the motor running, slowly add the oil and process until emulsified. Add the cheese, salt and pepper and pulse a few times to combine.

SAUTEED SICILIAN LAMB

Steps:

• Set a large saute pan over high heat and add the oil. Sprinkle the lamb with salt and pepper. Add the lamb to the pan along with the garlic and saute until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the oregano and pepper flakes and stir. The lamb is done when browned all over but still tender. Transfer to a dish and set aside.
• Set the pan back over the heat and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, roasted peppers and mushrooms to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until the vegetables begin to soften, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
• Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the olives, capers and lemon zest. Bring to a simmer and reduce by two-thirds, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Return the lamb to the pan and stir together to incorporate the flavors and heat through.
• Serve the lamb with rice pilaf and garnish with the parsley.

LAMB CHOPS ON A BED OF PEPPERS

Steps:

• Combine the parsley, lemon peel and garlic and set aside for later as a garnish for the lamb chops.
• In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add onions and cook gently until golden and brown (be sure not to burn them). Add peppers and continue to cook for about 10 minutes or until tender, but still with some crispness left. Season with salt and pepper.
• When onions and pepper are tender, cook the lamb chops. Dry them, season at last minute with salt and pepper and either grill or broil them for 3 to 4 minutes a side or not beyond medium rare.
• Spoon peppers and onions on plate; top with lamb chops and sprinkle lemon parsley mixture over lamb. You'll have "planned leftover" peppers and onions for the following night.

PEPPERED LOIN OF LAMB

Steps:

• With a sharp slender blade, separate the 2 thin tenderloins from the sides of the 2 larger loin pieces. Separate the 2 main loin halves, if the butcher has not done this for you. You will have 4 pieces of meat. Carefully trim away all fat, tendon and tough silvery skin.
• Combine the marinade ingredients in a shallow dish just large enough to hold the lamb snugly. Add the lamb and massage the marinade into the meat. Seal air tight and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours, turning occasionally. Bring the lamb to room temperature.
• To make the lamb coating, heat a small heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the coating ingredients and stir gently until the Sichuan peppercorns crackle and become fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes, adjusting the heat so they toast without scorching. The Sichuan peppercorns will smoke; do not let them burn. Coarsely grind the mixture in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Position the rack in the center of the oven. Remove the lamb from the marinade, wiping off excess marinade with your fingers. Spread the pepper coating on a plate or baking sheet. Press the lamb pieces into the spices, coating thoroughly on all sides.
• Heat a large heavy skillet over high heat until hot enough to evaporate a bead of water on contact. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Heat until nearly smoking. Add the lamb in a single layer with room between the pieces. (Brown the lamb in batches if necessary, cleaning the pan and adding more oil between batches.) Sear the lamb to golden brown on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
• Place the lamb on a rack set in a roasting pan. Roast until an instant-read thermometer registers 115 degrees in the thickest part of each piece, 6 to 7 minutes for larger pieces, 3 to 4 minutes for the smaller pieces. Promptly remove the lamb to a cooling rack. Let stand 10 minutes before carving. Serve hot, tepid or at room temperature, thinly sliced against the grain.

CHEF JOHN'S ROASTED LEG OF LAMB

Steps:

• Stir 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses, garlic, rosemary, kosher salt, black pepper, Aleppo pepper, mint, and cumin together in a bowl.
• Arrange the butterflied leg of lamb onto a work surface with the fatty side facing down. Cut 2 deep slashes in each of the the fleshy ends of the meat. Flip the lamb and cut 10 to 20 shallow slashes across the surface of the fat.
• Spread 3/4 the pomegranate molasses mixture onto the meat-side of the lamb to coat completely. Fold meat together and turn into a large bowl. Spread remaining pomegranate mixture over the fatty side of the meat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place a roasting rack in the bottom of a roasting pan.
• Remove lamb from marinade and discard excess marinade. Gather roast and place onto a work surface with fatty side facing upwards. Tie the center section of the roast with kitchen twine to cinch the roast together. Repeat ties four times along the length of the roast.
• Season roast with salt and transfer to prepared roasting pan. Pour water below the rack to cover the bottom of the pan.
• Roast in the preheated oven until hot and slightly pink in the center, about 1 3/4 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 135 degrees F (57 degrees C). Rest for 15 minutes, transfer to a plate, and brush with remaining pomegranate molasses.

LAMB CHOPS ON A BED OF PEPPERS AND ONIONS

Steps:

• Thinly slice the peppers and onions. Separate onions into rings.
• Mince the garlic.
• Heat the oil in large skillet and saute the peppers, onions, garlic and rosemary until the peppers and onions are very soft, about 15 minutes. Season with black pepper.
• Add 4 tablespoons vinegar; cover and cook over low heat about 15 minutes longer.
• Meanwhile, preheat broiler and place chops in broiler pan and place broiler pan about 4 inches from source of heat, depending on thickness of chops. Broil chops about 12 minutes for thin chops, about 15 minutes for double-rib chops, turning once.
• Sprinkle each chop with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar.

SPANISH LAMB WITH SHERRY, HONEY & PEPPERS

Steps:

• Make sure your lamb isn't too damp - pat it dry with kitchen paper if you need to, otherwise it won't colour well. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole dish and brown the lamb over a high heat in batches (if you crowd the pan the meat will sweat and not brown). Remove with a slotted spoon as you go. When all the lamb is browned, add the remaining oil and cook the onion and peppers over a medium heat until the onion is golden and the vegetables are softened. Add the garlic and paprika, and cook for a further 1 min, then add the sherry and bring to a simmer.
• Put all the lamb back in the pan, along with the stock, saffron, sherry vinegar and honey. Season and bring to just under the boil. Turn the heat down, cover the pan and leave to cook very gently for 2 hrs, turning the meat every so often.
• In the last half hour of cooking time, remove the lid so that the sherry and stock can reduce. You want to end up with completely tender meat in a flavoursome gravy - how long this takes will depend on how wide your pan is so you may need to give it longer than 30 mins. Check the seasoning. You're unlikely to need to adjust the vinegar or honey but you might want to sweeten the dish slightly. Scatter the parsley or almonds on top (or use both). Serve with the couscous.

GRILLED LAMB LOINS

Steps:

• Preheat grill for direct-heat cooking, or build a fire and burn down wood until only red coals and gray ash remain.
• Score fat caps on lamb in 1/2-inch intervals with a sharp knife, cutting entirely through fat but not into flesh. Repeat in opposite direction to create a crosshatch pattern. Pound coriander and cumin seeds in a mortar and pestle just to crush (do not grind to a powder). Add cinnamon, thyme and rosemary leaves, oil, 4 teaspoons salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper, pounding and stirring just until combined. Rub spice mixture evenly over lamb. Let stand at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours, or wrap in plastic and refrigerate up to 1 day, returning to room temperature 1 hour before grilling.
• Preheat a large cast-iron skillet on grill, or place directly on hot coals. Place loins in skillet, fat-sides down; scatter rosemary sprigs around them. Cook, undisturbed, until some of fat is rendered and lamb is browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until a thermometer inserted into thickest parts of meat registers 125 degrees to 130 degrees for medium-rare, 6 to 8 minutes more. Transfer to a cutting board; let stand 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

PEPPER-CRUSTED LAMB WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. On a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and toss. Roast about 15 minutes. Flip potatoes and move them around to the perimeter of the baking sheet. Add Broccolini to center and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil; season with salt and toss. Roast until vegetables are tender, 20 minutes more.
• Season chops on both sides with salt and crushed peppercorns. Heat a large skillet over medium-high; swirl in 2 tablespoons oil. Add 4 chops and cook until a thermometer registers 130°F, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate; repeat with other 4 chops.
• Wipe skillet clean and reduce heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon oil and shallot and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Sprinkle with flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add wine and any leftover juices from plate; bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat and stir in butter and season with salt. Serve lamb with vegetables and sauce.