Homegrown Lamb Rump with Pinoli Pine Nuts

An ideal summer recipe as it is perfect served with Eggplant which has been charred on the BBQ as well as Creamy Feta and a simple and tasty Sesame Dressing. Homegrown Farm Fresh Meats was the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards Supreme Champion 2021 and Pinoli Pine Nuts is a multi-year Gold Medal winner.

Serves 4

2 x 400g Homegrown Lamb Rump with fat cap

2 medium eggplant, trimmed

2 tablespoons Pinoli, premium pine nuts

extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

½ telegraph cucumber or 2 Persian cucumber, thinly sliced

250g chip cherry tomatoes, cut in half horizontally

4 thin spring onions, trimmed

1 small handful basil leaves, torn if large

1 small handful mint leaves, torn if large

1 lemon

4 flat bread, such as pita, naan, roti or other sliced crusty bread

6-8 large handfuls crisp green salad leaves

Creamy feta

about 200g block cow’s milk feta

125g natural, unsweetened yoghurt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sesame Dressing

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

125g homemade or store bought mayonnaise

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Remove the lamb rump from the fridge to bring to room temperature.

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise then sprinkle cut side with a little flaky sea salt and leave to sit for 30 minutes (or up to an hour). (Salting is no longer required for bitterness but deters eggplant from soaking up too much oil as it cooks).

Put the Pinoli Pine Nuts in a shallow baking tray, put in the oven and toast for about 3 minutes. Keep an eye out as they will burn easily. Remove to a plate and leave to cool.

Put the sesame seeds for the dressing in another shallow baking tray, put in the oven and toast for about 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and leave to cool.

Make the creamy feta; break the feta into pieces putting in a food processor as you go. Add the yoghurt and process until the mixture is creamy and smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor bowl a couple of times. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and a drizzle of cold water to thin, if needed. Process until very smooth. Taste for salt but you shouldn’t need any. Spread the creamy feta in a wide shallow bowl and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Cover and put in the fridge until ready to serve.

Make the sesame dressing, coarsely grind the toasted sesame seeds and mix with the remaining ingredients. Season with a little salt and put in a small serving bowl.

Meanwhile, heat a barbecue hot plate until medium-hot. Or alternatively, use a large heavy frying pan. Put a shallow roasting tray in the oven to heat.

Brown the fat cap side of the lamb rump on the hot plate until a dark honey colour and most of the fat has rendered. Turn and quickly brown the meat, then transfer to the hot roasting tray in the oven and roast for 15 minutes for lamb that is still pink. Remove from the oven and season with salt. Cover loosely with compostable foil and a clean tea towel and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Wipe the eggplant dry with kitchen paper then cut each half into 5 thick slices.  In batches, so as not to over crowd, put on the hot plate or frying pan that you browned the lamb on, drizzle with a little olive oil and cook for 5 minutes on each side until the eggplant slices are meltingly tender. Remove and put in a shallow serving bowl and straightaway drizzle generously with extra olive oil to make them extraordinarily luscious.

Warm the flatbread on the hot plate or in the frying pan. Put the green leaves in a salad bowl.

Remove the creamy feta from the fridge. Top with cucumber, cherry tomatoes and spring onions. If the spring onions are tiny, leave them whole, otherwise finely slice them. Scatter over the herbs then finely grate over the zest of the lemon. Top with the Pinoli premium pine nuts.

Slice the rested lamb rump across the grain of the meat and serve with the eggplant, creamy feta, sesame dressing and green leaves. Cut the zested lemon into wedges and pass.

Tips

·      Replace the flatbread with a bowl of cooked new potatoes.

·      Add some steamed or blanched green beans to your meal.

·      You can replace the sesame dressing; dress the green salad leaves in a lemon vinaigrette instead.