Lamb fillet with herb butter, radishes & peas
SERVES 4
Sticking frozen peas in the oven? As Nigella Lawson has shown us (she has a genius recipe for baked chicken thighs with leeks and peas in her book, At My Table), it works. The colour of the peas and the radishes together is beautiful. The butter is the gilding of the lily here, so just leave it out if you don’t want to make it and, instead, throw herbs into the tin with the vegetables just before serving.
FOR THE HERB BUTTER
75g unsalted butter, at room temperature 3 tablespoons chopped chervil or flat-leafed parsley leaves mixed with chives 1 tablespoon dry white vermouth
FOR THE LAMB AND VEGETABLES 500g frozen peas
25g unsalted butter
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 150ml dry white vermouth 150g spring onions, trimmed 300g radishes, halved lengthways 2 x 225g lamb loin fillets, trimmed squeeze of lemon juice handful of mint leaves, torn
Preheat the oven to 190°C fan.
To make the butter, just mash it with the herbs and some seasoning , then slowly mash in the vermouth. You can put this in the fridge if you’re making it in advance, otherwise it’s fine to leave it at room temperature. Put the peas into a 30cm shallow casserole or sauté pan with the regular butter (not the herb butter), 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the vermouth and some seasoning. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes. After 10 minutes, toss the spring onions and radishes in another 1 tablespoon of the oil and season. Stir the peas, then throw the spring onions and radishes on top and return to the oven for their final 15 minutes.
Season the lamb with pepper and heat the last tablespoon of oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a very high heat. Brown the fillets all over, then transfer them – in the pan – to the oven for 10 minutes. Take them out, cover with foil and keep warm to let the meat rest for 10 minutes. Squeeze some lemon juice into the peas and radishes and add the mint leaves.
Slice the lamb and serve it – with a knob of herb butter melting over the top – with the peas and radishes.
To cook this way – using very simple methods – you do need a well-stocked cupboard. You're not doing much to the food you're cooking, so you need big flavours.