Poached Fillet of New-season Lamb with Summer Vegetables and Minted Broth

Serves 4
Created by Herbert Berger

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Poached Fillet of New-season Lamb with Summer Vegetables and Minted Broth

Ingredients:

1 pair of best ends of lamb - ask your butcher to remove the fillets (tenderloins) and trim them; keep all the trimmings and bones, but not the fat, for the stock (see cuts below if waste is not required to produce your own stock)
16 asparagus spears, trimmed
50g shelled broad (fava) beans
50g shelled peas
12 baby turnips, trimmed
12 baby carrots, trimmed
8 baby leeks, trimmed
12 small jersey Royal (or other new) potatoes, scrubbed
12 button (pearl) onions, peeled
50g girolle mushrooms, trimmed
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the lamb stock

the bones and trimmings from the lamb
1 tablespoon oil
2 litres water
200ml white wine
a bouquet garni, made up of 2 parsley stalks, 1 bay leaf, a sprig each of thyme and rosemary and 5 white peppercorns, all enclosed in 2 pieces of celery and tied with string
1 small onion, cut into quarters
1/2 small carrot, chopped
1 garlic clove, bashed with the side of a knife

For the mint oil

6 tablespoons mild virgin olive oil
a small bunch of mint

Method:

Prepare the lamb stock. season the lamb bones and trimmings lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy roasting tin (pan), add the bones and trimmings and cook until beginning to colour. Then transfer to an oven preheated to 200 degC/400 degF/Gas Mark 6 and roast until golden brown. Drain off the fat and transfer the bones and trimmings to a small stockpot. Put roasting tin on hob (stove top), pour in a few tablespoons of water and stir over a medium heat to deglaze the tin. Add these juices to the bones. Pourin the water and wine and add the bouquet garni, onion, carrot and garlic. Bring tot eh boil, skim any scum from the top, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 3-4 hours, letting it reduce to about 1 litre. Adjust the seasoning and strain through a piece of muslin or a very fine sieve.
For the mint oil, blend the oil and mint together in a food processor. Let it infuse for about 30 minutes, then pass through a fine sieve and set aside.
Put one-third of the stock in a pan and bring to the boil. Cook all the summer vegetables separately in it until just tender (this can be done well in advance).
To finish the dish, season the lamb fillets with salt and pepper. Put the reminaing stock in a pan just big enough tp hold the fillets and bring to the boil. Add the fillets (they must be covered by the stock) and simmer gently for 6-8 minutes (do not allow the stock to boil); the lamb should be pink in the centre. Take out of the pan and leave to rest in a warm place for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, reheat the summer vegetables in the stock in which they were cooked, if necessary.
To serve, cut the lamb in four portions and place in the middle of 4 deep plates. Arrange vegetables around the meat and then flood the plates with stock in which the lamb and the vegetables were cooked. Drop a few pearls of mint oil into the stock.