Lamb rump and faggot, three-cornered leek, beach vegetables and gutweed potatoes

  • medium
  • 4
  • 1 hour 30 minutes
Not yet rated

Alyn Williams celebrates the best of Wales in this refined dish, with lamb rump and beach vegetables proving perfect flavour partners. The lamb faggot is a thing of beauty, using the less glamorous (yet dazzlingly delicious) offal cuts for a flavour-packed morsel that is well worth the extra effort.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Lamb rumps

Lamb faggots

Gutweed potatoes

Beach vegetables

  • sea beet, rock samphire, sea purslaine and sea kale
  • 100ml of white chicken stock
  • 100g of unsalted butter

Three-cornered leeks

Equipment

  • Hand blender

Method

1
Marinade the lamb rumps for 24 hours in olive oil with lightly crushed garlic cloves, thyme and rosemary
2
To prepare the gutweed butter for the potatoes, clean the gutweed of any grit and wash in plenty of cold water at least 3 times. Blanch for 1 minute in boiling salted water, refresh in iced water and squeeze out any excess liquid
3
Blitz the gutweed into the butter and lemon juice in a food processor until well incorporated and set the butter aside until needed
4
Pick and wash the beach vegetables, removing any dirt and brown stems
  • sea beet, rock samphire, sea purslaine and sea kale
5
Boil the white chicken stock and blitz in the butter and a pinch of salt with a stick blender to emulsify. Reserve until needed - this will be used to cook the sea vegetables
6
For the faggots, mix all of the ingredients (except the caul fat, lamb stock, pomace oil and butter) together well. Lay out a sheet of cling film and lay a 15cm square of caul fat on top. Weigh out 4 x 100g balls of the faggot mix, put one ball on the caul fat and wrap. Wrap tightly in the cling film, repeat with the other faggots and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to set
7
Preheat the oven to 170˚C/gas mark 4
8
Once set, heat the pomace oil in a casserole dish. Brown the top of the faggots for a couple of minutes, then turn over and seal the bottoms before adding the butter and allowing to foam. Add the warm lamb stock to come 1/5 of the way up the faggots, cover with a tight-fitting lid and place in an oven for 25-30 minutes
9
After 15 minutes, baste the faggots and add a little more stock if needed. Once cooked, remove from the oven to rest in the casserole dish
10
While the faggots are cooking, cook the rumps. Heat the pomace oil and butter in a frying pan and season the rumps with salt. Place the rumps fat-side down in the pan. Slowly render the fat and caramelise to a deep golden brown, turning regularly and basting for 8-10 minutes
  • 2 tbsp of pomace oil (1)
  • 20g of butter
11
Position a trivet of rosemary in the pan under the rumps and place in the oven alongside the faggots for another 8-10 minutes. Remove and rest (the rumps should be cooked to medium)
12
Wash the potatoes and cut into slices. Place in a pan with 75g of gutweed butter and enough water to come 1/3 of the way up the potatoes. Season with a little salt, cover with a cartouche and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the water has almost evaporated and you have a creamy emulsification of the seaweed butter. Once cooked, leave in the warm butter until ready to serve
13
Bring the reserved chicken stock and butter emulsion to a gentle boil and cook the beach vegetables for 2-3 minutes until tender
14
To cook the three-cornered leeks, heat a frying pan with the butter to beurre noisette and stir-fry the three-cornered leeks for a matter of seconds, deglazing with a spoonful of chicken stock. Drain to serve
15
Spoon a little of the emulsified gutweed butter onto the plates and then arrange the lamb, potatoes and beach vegetables on top. Place the faggot to the side and spoon over some cooking juices
16
Warm through the rumps and faggots just prior to serving. Carve the rumps and season with a little Maldon salt

Alyn Williams has worked at some of the very best kitchens in Britain, training for many years under Marcus Wareing and Gordon Ramsay. His plates display his own unique culinary personality – brilliantly accomplished, playful and with remarkable interplay of flavours.

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