Grilled Lamb cutlets, New season Potatoes, Asparagus and Beernaise sauce. For me Spring conjures up a host of golden daffodils. New born foals in the fields. Sorry I got a little carried away there. Spring is the season of renewal and there are lots of fresh exciting things to cook and eat. This recipe includes four of mine so is pretty much a winner. Lamb, asparagus, delicious Jersey potatoes and a beer flavoured sauce. Yum.
What ho chef, is that a mistake, Beernaise? No, this recipe is bought together with my beer flavoured sauce. A Beer Béarnaise sauce to be precise. Béarnaise is a derivative of Hollandaise sauce. This is one of what the French call a ‘Mother Sauce’. These are used to create a multitude of sauces. For fish, meat, poultry, pasta, and vegetable dishes. Béarnaise is a rich emulsion of melted butter and egg yolks flavoured with tarragon.
Beernaise – Why cook with Beer?
Traditionally Béarnaise is flavoured with a reduction of tarragon and white wine vinegar. By reducing beer, we can add some more flavours to this sauce. Depending on your choice of beer will vary the resulting sauce. When you are dramatically reducing beer, it is best not to choose one that is too bitter. This can overpower the finished sauce. The reduction is made with shallots, tarragon, black pepper. I add a little vinegar is added to balance out the richness.
To compliment the slightly citrus, aniseed flavours of tarragon I have chosen Oakham Ales – Bishops Farewell. This is a smooth, drinkable, medium-bodied golden ale. Made with Cascade and Challenger hops. There are lots of sweet, floral and citrus aromas and a nicely balanced hoppy bitterness. This reduces down to a delicious, flavoured syrup.
The Asparagus and Jersey Royals
We are now right in the middle of the English Asparagus season. Fresh, local asparagus is a joy look for small thin spears the thickness of a pencil. These shouldn’t have any woody stem and barely need cooking. Jersey Royals have already been available for a few weeks and are a beautifully flavoured potato. If you cannot get hold of Royals, Cornish early potatoes are an excellent substitute.
Grilled Lamb cutlets, New season Potatoes, Asparagus and Beernaise sauce is the next recipe to be cooked on the Pubs. Pints. People podcast.
Grilled Lamb Cutlets, New season potatoes, Asparagus and Beernaise sauce
Equipment
- 3 Mediums Pans
- 1 Heavy-bottomed sauté pan
- 1 Large Glass bowl
- 1 Balloon Whisk
Ingredients
For the Lamb Cutlets
- 6 Lamb Cutlets
- 2 cloves Garlic crushed
- 3 or 4 sprigs fresh Thyme
- 25 ml quality Olive Oil
- 50 gr Jersey Butter
- Sea salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
For the Jersey Royal Potatoes
- 300 gr Jersey Royal Potatoes
- 50 gr Jersey Butter
- 1 large sprig fresh Mint
- Sea salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
For the Vegetables
- 1 small bunch Asparagus
- 8 pieces Tender stem Broccoli
- 50 gr Frozen Peas
- 50 gr Jersey Butter
- Sea salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
For the Beernaise
- 2 fresh free-range Egg Yolks freeze the egg whites for meringues
- 150 ml Bishops Farewell
- 1 large Banana Shallot peeled and very finely sliced
- A splash White Wine Vinegar
- 200 gr unsalted Jersey Butter
- A pinch Caster Sugar
- 3 large sprigs fresh Tarragon
- Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
Instructions
For the Lamb Cutlets
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan. Generously season the lamb and crush the garlic with the back of a cook’s knife.
- Carefully place the lamb, garlic and thyme in the oil and sear the lamb for four minutes.
- Turn the lamb over and add the butter. Continue to cook in the pan for four more minutes basting continuously with oil and butter.
- When cooked remove the lamb from the pan and cover in foil and keep warm and allow to rest for five minutes before serving.
For the Jersey Royal Potatoes and Vegetables
- Wash and clean the potatoes, halve or quarter if large in size. Place the potatoes in a pan of cold, salted water. Add the mint.
- Bring to a boil and simmer until cooked. They should fall off the point of a small, sharp knife.
- Drain the potatoes, add the butter and season.
- In a separate pan bring two litres of salted water to the boil. Carefully add the broccoli and simmer for two to three minutes depending on the thickness.
- Add the asparagus and the peas and bring back to the boil. Simmer for two more minutes.
- Drain add the butter and season.
- For the Beernaise Sauce
For the Beernaise Sauce
- You will need a pan that comfortably supports a glass bowl without it falling in.
- Melt your butter in a small pan or the microwave and skim off any milk solids or impurities.
- Remove the tarragon leaves from the stems and set aside. Place the tarragon stems, shallot slices, beer, sugar, a generous grind of black pepper, and the vinegar into a small pan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the volume by half and remove from the heat. Strain into the glass bowl.
- Fill your pan a third full of water and place on the heat. Bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add the egg yolks to the reduced beer and place the bowl on top of the pan of simmering water. THE BOWL SHOULD NOT TOUCH THE WATER . Start to whisk immediately, I use a balloon whisk, but you can use a motorised version.
- The mixture will start to thicken and lighten in colour. Do not over cook or you will be left with a beery version of scrambled eggs.
- When your whisk starts to leave a trail in the egg mixture, very slowly start to pour in the butter fat, whisking continuously. You can turn off the heat at this point.
- Incorporate all of the butter but try to leave out the runny buttermilk at the bottom of your pan. The sauce should thicken considerably. If it gets too thick add a splash of freshly boiled water.
- Once you have added all of the butter, check the seasoning and finally chop and add the reserved tarragon leaves. Cover with foil and a tea cloth and the sauce will keep warm while you grill the lamb and cook the vegetables.
Notes
Check your choice of beer for gluten and sulphites
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