Home-smoked lamb rack with lamb jus, apricot-walnut couscous, blue cheese-lamb tikki
This is a complicated, many-faceted dish but is well worth the time and patience it takes to make. The rich, meaty lamb is complemented perfectly by the sweet apricots and sour blue cheese. Vineet Bhatia has come up with an unusual flavour combination that is sure to tickle your taste buds.
Ingredients
Home-smoked tandoori lamb rack
First marinade
Second marinade
For smoking
Cinnamon lamb jus
Apricot-walnut couscous
Blue cheese lamb tikki
Equipment
Instructions
  1. For the home-smoked tandoori lamb rack, lightly pierce the lamb racks all over with a knife, then place them in a bowl
  2. Add all the ingredients for the first marinade and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Rub them into the meat and set aside for 30 minutes
  3. Add the ingredients for the second marinade and massage them into the lamb
  4. Place the lamb in a large, deep roasting tin and make a space in the centre. Put a small steel bowl big enough for 1 piece of charcoal in the centre making sure it is not touching the lamb
  5. Heat the charcoal over a gas burner until red hot then use tongs to transfer it to the steel bowl. Put the cinnamon and cardamom on the charcoal, melt the ghee or butter and over it
  6. As it begins to smoke, immediately cover the roasting tin with foil to trap all the smoke. Leave to marinate for 6 hours
  7. .
  8. For the cinnamon jus heat the oil in a pan and add the whole spices, bay leaf, garlic, ginger and green chilli. Sauté for a minute, then add the banana shallot and tomato and sauté for 2 minutes
  9. Add the lamb trimmings, raise the heat and cook until seared. Pour in the lamb stock. 5 Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and add the coriander stalks and some salt
  10. Cook gently for 10 minutes, remove from the heat. Add the cinnamon powder and leave to infuse for 5 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve and check the seasoning. Warm to serve
  11. For the apricot-walnut couscous, bring the vegetable stock to the boil in a saucepan and add half the oil and some salt
  12. Remove from the heat, add the couscous and butter, then cover with cling film and leave for 15 minutes. Remove the cling film and break up the couscous with a fork
  13. Gently stir in all the remaining ingredients and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
  14. For the blue cheese lamb tikki, place the minced lamb, garlic, ginger, garam masala, chilli powder, green chilli, coriander stalks, leaves and salt in a bowl
  15. Knead with the palm of your hand for 5 minutes, until the spices are evenly distributed. Chill for 1 hour to firm up. Mix the stilton with the remaining ingredients and chill
  16. Shape the meat into 4 burgers, chill for 30 minutes to allow the burgers to firm. Heat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3.Cook on a grill till ¾ cooked and place on a roasting tray.
  17. Divide the blue cheese mixture between the lamb tikkis and cook for 4 minutes until the tikkis are cooked and the cheese has melted. Keep warm while the lamb cooks
  18. To cook the lamb heat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5. Transfer the racks to a clean roasting tin, roast for 9 minutes, basting regularly with the excess marinade
  19. The lamb should be pink in the centre. Remove from the oven and leave to rest on a wire rack for 2 minutes
  20. To plate, press each portion of the couscous into a circular steel ring, then gently remove the ring, leaving a neat mound of couscous on the plate
  21. Place a lamb burger on top of the mound
  22. Settle the lamb rack next to the couscous, and then sweep the cinnamon jus around the edge of the meat. Serve immediately