Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
For the preserved lemon risotto:
- 500 ml veal stock
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium brown onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 200 g arborio rice
- 250 ml white wine
- 2 quarters of preserved lemon, rind only,
- finely chopped
For the Moroccan spiced lamb:
- 4 x 150 g baby lamb rump
- 1 tablespoon Bitton Moroccan Spice or your favourite Harissa spice paste
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt, to season
- 2 tablespoons preserved lemon, finely sliced, to garnish
- Small handful of coriander leaves, to garnish
METHOD
Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F).
To make the preserved lemon risotto, heat veal stock in a saucepan. In a heavy-based deep frying pan, add the oil over gentle heat. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking until the onion is soft. Add the rice and raise the heat to moderate. Stir to ensure rice is evenly coated with oil and begins to look slightly translucent.
Add the wine while continuously stirring the rice and the vegetables. When the wine is absorbed by the rice, add a ladleful of hot stock. Turn down the heat to a high simmer. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next one. This will take about 20 minutes.
Taste the rice to see if it is cooked. Continue adding the stock until the rice is cooked to your taste. Check the seasoning. Stir through the preserved lemon rind and check the seasoning as the preserved lemon can be quite salty. Place the lamb in a bowl with Bitton Moroccan Spice or Harissa paste, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Mix well until the lamb is coated with the spice.
Place a large, ovenproof, non-stick frypan over high heat and add the remaining olive oil. Heat until smoking. Add the lamb and seal well on both sides. Season with salt. Transfer the lamb to the oven and cook through. Generally 8 minutes will give you pink lamb and 16 minutes will give you lamb that is well done. Remove the lamb from the oven and rest for 3 minutes. Carve into thick slices.
To serve, place spoonfuls of risotto on each serving plate and top with slices of lamb. Garnish with preserved lemon and coriander. Lightly steamed beans or a green salad are all that this dish needs as an accompaniment.
