This recipe was one I learnt at Ashburton Cookery School whilst doing their 5 day Intermediate Cookery course in October last year. I took photos of the course which you can see on the photo pages. It was pretty much my favourite dish from the week, with the pink juicy lamb perfectly complemented by rich dauphinause potato and sweet madeira sauce.
The lamb:
3 x bone best end of lamb
sea salt for seasoning
corn oil
Seal the lamb by frying it over a high heat fat side down and allow the fat to colour and go golden. Turn the meat over and seal it quickly to keep the flavour in. Put the lamb in the oven at 220 C, fat side down, and cook for 10-15 minutes depending on the size. Take it out of the over and rest for at least 5 minutes, or half of the cooking time ideally. Once its rested the meat should be about 55 C on a meat probe and be pink and juicy inside.
Dauphinause potato:
3kg maris piper potato
500ml double cream
500ml milk
4 crushed cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to season
Slice the potatoes with a mandolin, and bring the cream and milk to the boil before adding the crushed garlic. Grease a suitable tray (a little Le Cruset dish did the trick for me – I made enough for a couple), and layer the potato slightly overlapping. Cover the first layer with the garlic cream, and add another layer. Season this with salt and pepper and continue adding alternate layers with cream and seasoning. Once finished, put some button on the top to melt and give colour to the dish.
Cook in the oven until golden and the potatoes are soft. A large dish will take 1 1/2 hours, and the smaller ones I did took about an hour.
Madeira sauce:
1 finely chopped shallot
100ml Madeira
300ml beef stock
30g butter
Sweat the shallots in butter and a pinch of salt until soft. Add the madeira and reduce until it has almost entirely disappeared. Now add the stock and reduce by two thirds. Continually reducing like this leaves just the flavour behind and creates a sauce rich and deep in flavour. Whisk in the remaining butter but do not let it boil. Season with a little salt a pepper to taste.
The finished dish, served wish fresh vegetables:
