Lamb Cutlets with Walnut Spiced Cous Cous

   The inspiration for this dish came from a meal that my Chef step-brother cooked for me a few months ago. He slow cooked lamb in a water bath to keep it moist, and served it with Moroccan spiced cous cous and dried apricots.

   My variation of this dish uses an apricot jus rather than whole dried apricots, and I also used toasted walnuts in my cous cous to give it a strong savoury flavour, which would contrast with the sweetness of the apricot.

   The first thing I did was what I always do, I had an idea for a dish, and straight away realised that I had absolutely NONE of the ingredients that I needed. So I went to Morrisons down the road and grabbed a load of stuff.

   I went with lamb cutlets, rather than neck fillet or a shank, because I find them a much more tender cut, and the fat is much more controlled, all in one place, which I just find much neater to work with.


   The first proper stage of making this dish was to make the dry mix to add to the cous cous. The ingredients for this were;

1/2 cup of walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted until golden brown in a dry pan
3 tsp Lebanese 7 spice
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp fresh coriander, coarsely chopped

      To this mixture, I added approximately 100g of dried cous cous and mixed it well.

      Next it was time to prepare to apricot jus. The ingredients for this were;

20 dried apricot pieces
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold water

   First, put all of the ingredients apart from the water into a small blender or food processor, and blend until nearly smooth. Then transfer to a small saucepan and add the cold water, and heat slowly for around 15 minutes.

   Next, pass the sauce through a fine meshed sieve, making sure to press all of the juices through with the back of a wooden spoon. This should leave you with a smooth shiny sauce.

   Now it's time to cook the lamb. Drizzle some olive oil into a non-stick frying pan, and put it on a medium-high heat until it's smoking. This technique is called searing, it should literally sear the meat closed, keeping it nearly raw on the inside but making sure that it's still juicy when it's cooked in the oven. You're looking for a really dark brown colouration, due to a process called Maillard reactions, which create the colours and tastes of browned meats.

   Note that I also trimmed off all of the meat around the tips of the bones, I find that while this creates a more sophisticated looking end result, it also allows you to place the extra pieces on top of the lamb while it's in the oven, and tends to keep it moist during the cooking process.
   Once the pieces of meat have been seared, place them on a baking tray with the extra pieces of spare meat on top of them, and put them into a preheated oven at 170C for 10 minutes.


   Next, prepare the cous cous by adding around 200ml boiling water to the mixture, and a small knob of butter, stir, and cover for 10 minutes.

   Once the cous cous is finished, fork it through to give it a light airy texture, and place some in a small bowl or ramekin, upturning it onto the final serving plate, creating a very neat finish.

   Now, balance the three lamb cutlets around the cous cous pile, and place the three off cuts or meat in the spaces around them, finally drizzling with the reduced jus and garnishing with some fresh coriander, and enjoy!

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Thanks, Anthony