sybilkapoor

Rack of lamb with black olives From 'Simply British' by Sybil Kapoor
Rack of lamb with black olives
		Serves 6
2 short cut pairs of best end lamb (also sold as 4 French trimmed racks of lamb), boned and stripped of fat and sinew salt Marinade 8 tablespoons olive oil 10 sprigs thyme 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped freshly ground black pepper Sauce 140ml/1/4 pint dry Martini 285ml/1/2 pint reduced lamb stock (see below) 12 black olives, stoned and cut into strips 115g/4oz cold unsalted butter, diced		This recipe depends on a well-made lamb sauce as suggested below. Thus prepared it makes superb dinner party dish, as very little work is required to take it to the table yet it tastes divine. It is particularly good served with a potato gratin. Rack of lamb is one of the easiest meats to bone, although if you are worried any butcher will do it for you. If you wish to bone it yourself, run your knife down along the bones, following their line, until the tiny ribs come away. Trim the lamb fillets of any fat and remove the fine blue skin by running a sharp knife just underneath it. Mix together the marinade ingredients and coat the lamb fillets. Cover and chill for 12-24 hours. Preheat the oven to its highest setting. Shortly before you are ready to serve, reduce the dry Martini to 3 tablespoons by boiling it vigorously in a non-corrosive saucepan. Add the reduced lamb stock, bring to the boil, then add the olives and set aside.

Remove the fillets from their marinade and season with salt. Place a frying pan over a high heat and sear the lamb in this, colouring every side, before transferring to a roasting tray. Spoon over any excess marinade and roast for 10 minutes for medium rare. Allow to rest while you finish the sauce. Return the black olive gravy to the boil, then reduce the heat and whisk in the butter. Check the seasoning then serve immediately with the lamb, which should be carved in thick slices. Note: If you are in a rush and need to prepare the lamb quickly, cut the fillets into thick slices and marinate (covered and chilled) for 1-2 hours. Then, when you are ready to serve, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a hot frying pan, season the slices and fry in batches, searing each side until just coloured. Keep warm until all the lamb is cooked.

a good lamb gravy
		Serves 6
Lamb bones, e.g. leg or shoulder 2 small unpeeled onions 2 leeks, roughly chopped 3 trimmed carrots, roughly chopped 4 cloves garlic 2 outer stems celery, roughly chopped or 1/2 small peeled celeriac, roughly chopped 2 ripe tomatoes, halved 1/2 bottle good red or white wine 2 large sprigs parsley 1 bay leaf 1 sprig thyme 3 black peppercorns 3 cloves		Known in some circles as 'jus' there is only one way to produce a truly superb lamb gravy and that is by making a good lamb stock. To quote the Hermit in Lady Llanover's extraordinary book on Welsh cookery, The First Principles of Good Cookery (1867): 'No one can have a gravy properly prepared from the same leg of mutton which is just roasted, because there is not time for the fat and gravy which are necessarily mixed together to cool, which process must take place before every particle of the fat can be removed from the gravy.' Although it has become unfashionable to make home-made stock, it is well worth the small amount of effort required. If you are ever in any doubt I suggest you read the ingredients list on a packet of stock cubes, which invariably includes monosodium glutamate, a taste enhancer.

When it comes to stock it is not necessary to worry about exact quantities - rather it is a matter of what you have in the fridge and how large your saucepan is. Naturally the more vegetables you add the more complex the final flavour of your sauce, but treat the following ingredients list as a guide rather than a rule. In the past I have resorted to using the bones and trimmings of 4 lamb racks, omitted the onions and added some dry martini instead of wine and it still tasted good. However, it will taste all the better if you can persuade a friendly butcher to give you some extra bones. If he is particularly kind, ask him to break them into several pieces Preheat the oven to its highest setting. Arrange the lamb bones in a large roasting pan and roast until their fat begins to run and the bones are beginning to colour. A wonderful smell of roast lamb will fill the kitchen. Wash the onions and remove their roots before roughly chopping, skin and all. Add al the vegetables, including the tomatoes, to the lamb bones and mix thoroughly so that they are well coated in fat. Continue to roast, stirring occasionally, until they have turned a beautiful golden brown and the lamb is well coloured. On no account let anything burn, as this will make your stock taste bitter. Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the lamb bones and vegetables to a large non-corrosive saucepan, leaving as much fat as possible in the bottom of the roasting tray. Pour this off and save for roast potatoes or lambs stews. Add the wine to the roasting tray and place over moderate heat. Using a wooden spoon, vigorously scrape off any caramelised bits from the bottom of the pan as the wine comes up to the boil. Tip this into the stock-pot along with the herbs, peppercorns and cloves. Finally, add enough cold water to fill the saucepan. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil, skimming off any scum. Then reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 3 hours. As the stock cooks it will reduce and intensify in flavour. If you have only a relatively small saucepan you may need to replenish the water as it reduces to ensure that you have plenty of well-flavoured stock. The broth is ready once it tastes good. It is important to simmer stock, as boiling can make it cloudy by suspending tiny particles of fat or debris throughout the broth, rather than letting them float to the surface. Once cooked to your satisfaction, carefully strain the stock through a fine sieve into a clean container. Allow to cool, then chill. Once cold (and set) a thin layer of white fat will cover the surface of the stock. Remove this, then pour the stock into a non-corrosive saucepan and boil vigorously until it has a wonderfully rich lamb flavour. Do not over-reduce to a syrupy consistency as this will make it taste like Marmite. Chill and freeze what you do not need. Otherwise your gravy is now ready for use.

Not only is Sybil the author of several excellent books, such as Simply British from which the above recipe is taken, but she is also a food journalist, and wrote an article about us for the Independent.
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