A favourite Sunday roast is a lamb shoulder slow-roasted on top of sliced boulangere-style potatoes. The lamb juices and the potatoes come together marvellously - yet that dish takes approx 5 hours to do well. This is a quicker, more elegant take on the same idea - parboiling potatoes first, using lamb cutlets, and adding in some blackberrie quick-pickled in apple balsamic to pep it up.
Servings - 4
600g waxy potatoes, such as Desiree or Pink Fir
20 blackberries
75ml apple balsamic vinegar
1 large aubergine
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sumac
8 lamb cutlets
knob of butter
small handful of rocket
Par-boil the whole potatoes for 10 mins in salted water until they are just barely becoming tender. Drain and set aside to cool for a few mins. While the potatoes are boiling, quick-pickle the blackberries by sitting them in a small bowl with the vinegar and 50ml water. Stir round and do that occasionally through the recipe time.
While the potatoes are cooling, slice the aubergine into rounds approx 3mm thin. Heat 3 tbsp of the olive oil in a large frying pan or sauté pan, and sit the aubergine rounds in the oil. Give a good sprinkling of salt and cook for 3 mins, turning occasionally. While the aubergines are cooking, slice the slightly-cooled potatoes on their long side, approx 3mm thin. It is up to you whether you take their skins off or not at this point. Add the potato slices to the aubergine, add the sumac and mix round. They will need approx 15 mins in the pan, turning occasionally, for the potatoes and aubergine slices to cook through and crisp up.
10 mins into that cooking time, start the lamb cutlets. Season the cutlets on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the butter and the remaining 1tbsp of olive oil in another large frying pan. Sit the cutlets into pan, firstly on the fat edge to crisp up, then for 3 mins on each side.
To serve: divide the crisped potato and aubergine mix between plates; scatter over a few rocket leaves, place two cutlets on top of each and pour over the juices from the lamb-cooking pan. Arrange the blackberries around the edge, drizzling over a little of the quick-pickle juice. Give it a grinding of pepper and serve.
(This recipe originally featured for Borough Market.)