Grilled Lamb Cutlets with Mint and Walnut Pesto
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Recipe serves:
4
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A Little Background
This recipe comes from Adam, an old friend and colleague of mine. I worked with Adam as a Sous Chef to his Head Chef in the early to mid 90’s. As I’m sure you’ll recall that was a time when “fusion cooking” was all the rage. A time when simply mixing wasabi through anything and everything made it French-Japanese fusion. A time when adding grilled vegetables to any dish made it modern Mediterranean. Now I know cooking is like fashion and the envelope needs to be constantly pushed in order to be tested, but I fear that what some chefs were passing off as “fusion” back then is the fashion equivalent of “fusing” Mr T’s jewellery and hair cut to Sophia Loren. This was not the case with Adam’s food and this simple recipe is a perfect example of the type of successful real “fusion” food he was doing at the time. Thanks for the recipe Adam, I owe you one.
What you'll need
- 12 Frenched lamb cutlets
- 50 grams (2 oz) toasted walnuts
- 1-2 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 bunch of mint leaves
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt flakes
- Black pepper corn mill
- Red wine or stock
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What to do
- Remove the lamb cutlets from the fridge about 1 hr prior to cooking.
- Very lightly colour the chopped garlic in a little olive oil over medium heat, set aside and allow to cool slightly.
- Combine the toasted walnuts, parmesan cheese mint leaves and garlic in a food processor and blend on slow while adding olive oil until desired consistency.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Place griddle or fry pan on high heat and add 1 tbsp of olive oil.
- Season lamb cutlets with a little salt and pepper and grill for 2 minutes on each side.
- Remove them from the pan and allow to sit covered.
- Return pan to high heat.
- Once pan is hot deglaze with a touch of red wine or stock and reduce.
- Pour reduction on plated lamb and top with mint and walnut Pesto.
- Serve with grilled polenta or a nice eggplant risotto and a solid bottle of South Australian red.
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Recipe By
Paul Hegeman
Styling By
Paul Hegeman
Photography By
Jason Hamilton
© Chef's Pencil 2007
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