Lamb with roasted pear and fig
This dish shows how sherry vinegar can work with fruits, and marry their flavours into savoury dishes. Lamb is a meat that often works well with fruit, but needs the flavour bridge that sherry vinegar provides.
(Note: you could choose either a 6 or 8 bone rack of lamb, depending on whether or not you think everyone will want to eat two cutlets.)
To serve: 4
Time: 40 mins
1 rack of lamb (see note above for size), trimmed and scored
2 tbsp olive oil
4 oregano sprigs
3 tbsp honey
50ml Barbadillo Vinagre de Jerez Reserva or Barbadillo Vinagre de Jerez Reserva al
Pedro Ximenez
2 tsp salt flakes + extra for finishing
250ml Manzanilla (or white wine)
1 pear, preferably not fully ripe
2 figs, halved
1 tbsp Barbadillo Barbadillo Vinagre de Jerez Reserva al Moscatel
1 tbsp creme fraiche
20g rocket
whole nutmeg
Preheat to the oven to 200C
Rub the underside of the meat with the olive oil. Put the oregano sprigs into a roasting tin and sit the lamb on top, fat-side up. Mix together the honey and Reserva or Pedro Ximenez vinegar. Smear that mix over the lamb fat, scatter over the salt flakes and then pour 150ml of the Manzanilla (or wine) into the dish but taking care to not pour it over the lamb. Put the roasting tin into the oven for 10 minutes
Towards the end of that initial roasting time, cut the pear into quarters and remove the core. Don’t peel it. When the 10 minutes is done, add the pear quarters to the tin, basting them with the juices. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes.
Then add the halved figs, turn the pears over, baste the fruit, and drizzle over the Moscatel vinegar. Add a little water to the tin if it looks like it might be getting too dry. Put the tin back into the oven for 5 minutes for pink meat, 10 minutes to have it more well-done.
Set aside and cover the lamb rack to rest. Discard the oregano sprigs. Set aside the figs, and check the pears for tenderness. Give them another 5 minutes roasting if they are not yet tender, then set those aside too.
Now sit the roasting tin on the stove on a high heat, adding the remaining 100ml Manzanilla (or wine). Use a whisk to delglaze into the sauce all the juices and sticky bits of flavour in the roasting tin from the lamb and fruit. Let it bubble and reduce for about a minute then whisk in the creme fraiche and check the sauce’s seasoning.
Sit the lamb on top of the rocket, arrange the fruit around, give it all a grating of nutmeg, a grinding of black pepper and a sprinkling of salt flakes. Serve with the sauce, carving
the rack into cutlets.