Off day cooking--Lamb

Fortunately another day-off after a stressed out week. These days I feel pretty stressed than before [Is it due to the onset of summer??] so this day-off will help me to rejuvenate myself for another tiring week!!!
A big question in the morning is what to cook???A problem with a life away from family is "What to cook?" or "What to eat???". It is a question & answer session with myself--not with my mother that I used to have back in India.
For many days I have been craving for lamb, in other words didn't have lamb for months now--though I cook mutton, once in a month & eat it very rarely, but I love lamb. So yesterday, I went to "Carrefour", a supermarket in Dubai & bought myself a steak of Australian Lamb Leg. Advantage of this meat is that it cooks pretty fast, compared to Indian Lamb. I dont prefer medium done lamb--I would go for well-done lamb---only for beef I would be little liberal to medium-well or medium done beef!!
Anyways, coming back to our topic of discussion i.e. on Lamb---another preparation of lamb I love is grilled lamb chops. There is no fuss in it---simply marinate with extra virgin olive, little salt & crushed pepper, some oregano & grill it & may finish in the oven...Voila!!!C'est Excellent!!!
Now my preparation for the day. It is slow roasted lamb steak with rosemary jus, ratatouille & grilled polenta. Its a pretty simple stuff. A thick slice of around 300 gm of Lamb Leg is marinated with garlic, some seasoning, some rosemary, some mustard, chopped garlic & olio di oliva extra virgino. Then it is seared in hot plate or a pan if you dont have hot plate & finish off in a very slow oven. Alternatively, you can do the complete process in an oven also.
For the polenta, it is very easy stuff. Make a polenta with water & put milk if you want. Finish off with butter & blue cheese. It will make your polenta a little sharp. Pour it in a flat container & allow it to cool. Once cold, put it in the refrigerator for cooling it down. When ready for plating, take it out, cut into desired shape & grill it, brushing with a little melted butter till heated through.
Ratatouille is another easy thing, which I used to love cooking & also to eat it along with grilled meats.
For dessert???Chocolate pot de creme with strawberry compote!!
So the menu...

Slow roasted Lamb steak

with Ratatouille, Grilled blue-cheese polenta & Rosemary Jus

--

Dark Chocolate pot de creme

Dark chocolate with a hint of orange & strawberry compote

Recipes:

Slow roasted Lamb Steak

Ingredients:

For the Lamb

Australian Lamb Leg slice- 250 to 300 gm

Seasoning- As required

Mustard, Dijon- 1 tsp

Oil- 15 ml

Rosemary, dried- 1tsp

Chopped garlic-1/2 tsp

For the Sauce

Brown stock- 50 ml

Rosemary- 2 sprig

Seasoning- As required

For the Ratatouille

Oil- 10 ml

Garlic, finely chopped- 5gm

Colored bell peppers, chopped- 50 gm

Carrot, chopped- 50 gm

Zucchini, colored, chopped- 50 gm

Fresh tomato puree- 50 gm

Seasoning- As required

Basil, chopped- 1/2 tsp

For the polenta

Polenta- 25 gm

Blue cheese, crumbled- 10 gm

Butter- 5 gm

Seasoning- As required.

Method:

For the Lamb

Marinate the lamb overnight with the required ingredients. Set the temperature in the oven at 150 deg C. 

Once ready to cook, sear the lamb on both sides & finish off in the oven.

For the sauce

Heat the stock with rosemary until a syrupy consistency is achieved. Adjust seasoning & keep hot.

For the ratatouille

Heat oil in a pan, & add in the garlic & all vegetables except peppers. Once the vegetables are well-cooked, add in the peppers & tomato puree. Adjust seasoning, finish off with freshly chopped basil & a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

For the polenta

Heat water until boiling[around 200 ml]. Add the polenta & cook until it leaves the sides of the pan. Finish off with blue-cheese, butter & seasoning.Put in a hotel pan & allow to cool. Cut into desired shapes & reserve.When ready to use, grill in a hot plate, until heated through.

Final assembling:

Put the grilled polenta as shown in the picture. Cut the lamb steak into two & put one on top of another. Put the ratatouille on the side & drizzle the sauce around.

Recipe of the Dessert??

Well, go through my previous posts & find out the recipe of Chocolate Pot de creme. Only difference is that I have put some orange zest in the mixture & served it with strawberry compote instead. Why strawberry compote??Some acid will help to cut down the rich & heavy dessert.

Buon Apetito!!!