Janice Tripepi

Luscious Lamb and I have had an on-going love affair for as long as i can remember.   From looooong lovingly roasted legs and shanks – to crispy little riblets on the braai – to my all time faves – rack and rolled loin of lamb.  My girlfriend Carol is lovingly fattening up some darling little lambs on her farm up in the hills of Underberg.  They are munching away on all sorts of indigenous flora – and Carol assures me that she is feeding them fresh rosemary for an extra special bit of pre-cooking seasoning !!!  She can often be found running around in the late afternoons – trying to catch the little critters to go into their pen for a comfy, SAFE night away from any danger.  Short of naming them – A HUGE NO-NO in the farm world, Jan-Jan’s lamb is doing very well.  What could be more animal friendly and honouring of ones food than this?

This dish – I venture to say, would be perfect for the upcoming feast of St Valentino.  It’s cooked in a flash – and drenched in a sweet onion and red (the colour of luuuuuuuuuuurv) wine marmalade.  The juiciness and flavour of this cut – doen’t require much competition on the plate.  Here i served it with simple boiled organic baby potatoes napped with olive oil, maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – and a trio of mushrooms in garlic and butter.

Ingredients

For 2 people

2 rolled loin of lamb

1 jar of Woolies Onion Marmalade (for the quick and easy version – if you want

to make your own and you have the time – FAB!)

a dash – about 2 tbl spoons of balsamic vinegar

2 glasses of red wine – i used a Diemersfontein Shiraz Cab Sauvignon seen here below

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

maldon sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil – for browning the meat

Get your rolled loins to room temperature because they are not going to be cooked for very long

and there is nothing worse than biting into a piece of rare meat that is still ice cold in the centre.

Pre-heat your oven to 200d in a thermo fan oven or 220 in a normal oven

Insert sprigs of fresh rosemary into each end of the rolled lamb

In a pan brown the meat well on all sides in olive oil

Remove from the pan and transfer into a roasting pan

Place in the oven for 8 – 10 minutes

8 minutes of rare and 10 minutes for medium

While the meat is roasting

Deglaze the frying pan with the two glasses of red wine – making sure that

you get all of the caramelisation off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon

add 4 -5 generous table spoons of the onion marmalade with

salt and pepper and a dash of balsamic vinegar and reduce to a nice thick

gooey sweet and tart sauce.

Take off the heat and set aside.

Remove the meat from the oven and cover the pan with some tin foil and

leave the meat to rest for a good 5 minutes.  This will relax the meat and

make it tender.

Some juices will leech from the meat while it is resting – DONT throw them

away – add them to the sauce for extra flavour.

Slice the meat – one fillet or loin per person

and plate up with a generous helping of the sauce over it.

Add your veggies – this would go very nicely with a flvoured herbed mash and any

number of fresh veggies.

Buon Appetito!

xx

jan