I have to confess I’m font of lamb, also of less renowned piece. Even if lamb’s chests have not a great delicacy, the presence and the power of the flavour can make me turn to crazy. In this case, I’ve searched to counterbalance the meat’s power by a sous-vide cooking ; I didn’t want to exacerbate the taste but I prefered to play on the structure of the chest’s grain.
The Mozzarella Cornelissen (belgian Bufflone Mozzarella, which has the advantage to be local and fresh when buyed) and different herbs from my gardenhave been chosen to carry on the meat, with a vegetables stock aromatized with the cooking juice. All these ingredients are there to enhance the taste of the meat, which is undoubtedly the masterpiece of this receipe.
Lamb’s chest, polenta and Mozzarella Cornelissen
I really like to use sage’s flowers on lamb : in addition to have color qualities, the flower’s and lamb’s tastes accomodate themselve in perfection !
Ingredients
2 lamb’s chests slices
6 black olives
1 small Mozzarella
1 rosemary’s sprig
sage, sage’s flower
300ml of vegetable’s stock
150gramme of polenta
35cl of full cream milk
2gr of Espelette pepper
30grammes of fresh green peas
2 sprigs of santolina virigis
40grammes of rucola
Olive oil
Receipe
Lamb’s chest
Roll the 2 slices of lamb’s chest separately, place them in a vacuum bag.Add 6black olives, 15 sage’s blades, 1 prig of rosemary, 1 coffee spoon of salt and a little bit of black pepper. Make vacuum and cook in water at 63°c during 6hours. After these 6hours, open the bag, set the olives and the cooking juice aside, cut 2 mozza’s slides and put them on rolled chests. Put them under the grill at full power (in my oven, 300°c during around 3minutes)
Lamb’s chest
Polenta
Cook 150 grammes of Polenta in 35cl raw full cream milk with talt, during 35minutes. Mix regularly during this time. Diminish the polenta on a baking blade, and cook a few minutes in the oven at 220°c until crusted appearence.
Stock
Make a vegetable stock during the lamb’s cooking. Take 30cl of stock, 10cl of mozzarella’s juice (be careful of the freshness of the mozzarella), 2 grammes of Espelette pepper and add the cooking juice. Increase slowly the temperature (it should not go up to 70°c).
Vegetables, finishing
Parboil quickly the young green peas. Mix the rucola with a bit of strong olive oil and salt. Put polenta in the center of a (warm) plate, add stock, then meat and finish with sage’s flowers, santolina virigis and a bit of black pepper.
Wine Pairing
The perfect wine to go with this receipe, for me, is a Côtes du Roussillon “Les Sorcières” 2012 from the estate Clos des Fées, owned by Hervé Bizeul. The duality of the dish is well reflected into this wine, between power and lightness. If the alcool is present (14%alc.) the balance is well found : great fruit (from red bees to black ones, never candied), some touches of licorice and spices. The olive taste of the lamb’s sauce is clearly in the continuity of the wine, the length in mouth is reinforced by the lamb power and is correct, and the acidity prevents any alcool taste. For that, for the spicy pairing and because the wine is good, I’m sure it will be appreciated!
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