Spring Lamb is upon us and Chef Tom Walton has been inspired to create a simple and delicious forequarter dinner to enjoy with the Skigh Wine Cabernet from Margaret River. The soft tannin and ripe fruit of Wilyabrup are perfect with the herby chops and mouth filling mixture of eggplant and butterbeans. Thanks again Tom, the absolute best.
Serves 2
Ingredients
4 lamb forequarter chops
Salt, freshly ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 sprig rosemary, roughly chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar
½ tsp smokey paprika
Zest 1 lemon
1 small eggplant
6 tbsp olive oil
salt
1 bunch asparagus
1 cup picked flat parsley
1/3 cup sliced shallots
1/3 cup picked coriander
½ cup pitted green olives, cut in half
1 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar
2 tsp za’atar to serve, optional
Method
Place the lamb into a shallow tray, season with salt and pepper.
Combine the next 6 ingredients and rub over the lamb set aside.
Preheat an oven to 190C.
Slice the eggplant into 5mm thick slices, brush with 3 tbsp of olive oil, season and bake for 10 minutes until golden but soft and juicy. Set aside to cool then roughly tear and add to a mixing bowl.
Preheat a grill pan over a high heat. Trim the bottom 4cm from the asparagus.
Toss the tops in 1 tbsp olive oil, season and grill until lightly charred then cut those in half and add to the eggplant along with the butterbeans, olives, herbs and dress with 2 tbsp olive oil, the vinegar and toss to combine.
Grill the lamb chops approx. 2-3 minutes each side, rest for 3 minutes and serve with the eggplant salad and za’atar to sprinkle if desired.