Lamb short loin with warm potato salad

Serves 4

Warm potato salad

16 baby new potatoes, (I used Wilcox Perlas) 250ml chicken stock

¼ cup white wine

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

1 Tbsp finely chopped French tarragon leaves,

if available

1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley leaves A few chives, snipped

2 lamb short loin (backstrap), trimmed of any

silver skin and at room temperature Olive oil for rubbing

1 Cook the potatoes in lightly salted boiling water until tender, about 15 minutes, depending on their size. 2 Meanwhile, boil the stock and white wine in a heavy-based saucepan until reduced to a scant ½ cup.

3 Place the Dijon mustard in a small bowl with the vinegar. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and season. 4 When the potatoes are cooked, slice in half lengthwise and place in a shallow serving bowl. Drizzle over the reduced stock and wine and leave to sit until the potatoes absorb all the liquid. Season. 5 Sprinkle over the herbs. Whisk the vinaigrette to emulsify and drizzle over the potato salad.

6 Heat a large frying pan or barbecue hot plate over medium high heat.

7 Rub the lamb short loin with a little oil and place in the hot pan or on the hot plate. Cook for 4-5 minutes on one side then turn over and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. Remove from the pan or hot plate to a plate, season with sea salt and black pepper, cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

8 Slice the lamb and divide between 4 plates. Serve with the potato salad and a green salad.

Potato and sausage salad

Make a larger quantity of the warm potato salad. Add some cooked and sliced Italian-style sausage to the potatoes with some very small cubes of your favourite Swiss-style cheese. Serve a green salad alongside.

Look out for New Zealand spring lamb in your local New World. While lamb is available all year round, new spring lamb is extra tender and flavourful. Talk to your New World in-store butcher about the best cuts for your dish.