Quick cured lamb with pesto di fave

Lamb pencil fillet is a slender cut (about the size of two Mars bars laid end to end), from underneath the saddle. You’ll need to ask your butcher to cut them out for you. Lamb neck fillet is not as tender, but still has a great flavour and is much cheaper and easier to come by.

SERVES EIGHT INGREDIENTS

20g coarse sea salt

30g caster sugar

500g lamb pencil fillets or well-trimmed neck fillets 1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns 1kg broad beans in their pods 1 clove of garlic

15g pecorino, grated A small bunch of mint, leaves picked 50ml olive oil Juice of ½ lemon

METHOD

Mix together the salt and sugar, and sprinkle around half of it across the bottom of a non-reactive container. Place the fillets on top and sprinkle over the rest of the mixture, making sure that all of the flesh is covered. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, then rinse and dry the fillets.

Lightly toast the fennel seeds and peppercorns in separate pans, then grind together in a mortar or spice grinder and lay out on a plate to cool down. Roll the dried fillets in the cooled spice mixture and then cover and refrigerate until you want to eat them. As this is not a particularly long cure, they will last no more than a week, firming up a bit more in that time.

To make the pesto, you will need to double-pod the broad beans, first removing their padded jackets and then peeling them out of their tighter shells. In midsummer, your beans should be sweet enough to eat raw; if you find them a little floury, you can blanch them for a minute in salted boiling water, then drain and cool completely before making the pesto. (This will also make the skins much easier to remove.)

You can either use a food processor or a mortar and pestle to make the pesto. If using a food processor, you will need to crush the garlic completely with the side of your knife or grate it finely before adding it to the bowl; if using a mortar, you can chop it roughly and then crush it in the bowl with some salt.

Either way, add the beans to the crushed garlic with 100ml cold water and reduce to a coarse paste.

Stir in the pecorino, mint and olive oil, and season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. If not using straight away, cover the surface directly with cling film so it doesn’t oxidise.

Slice the cured meat thinly and arrange on a plate, with the pesto and some bread alongside.