One of the new restaurants to scoop a coveted Michelin star this year was chef-patron Jun Tanaka's The Ninth, in Fitzrovia. His brand of Mediterranean-influenced cuisine is exquisite: delicate, flavoursome and irresistible – and now you can try it at home, sort of, with Tanaka's recipe for rosemary salt-crusted lamb. You can thank us later.
Make The Ninth's lamb with a rosemary salt crust
How do you make rich, juicy lamb meat even better? By giving it a rosemary salt crust, that's how. Jun Tanaka, we salute you
Serves 1
Preparation time 60 mins
Cooking time 15 mins
Ingredients
- 150g lamb loin, trimmed
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 1 small cup of couscous
- 1 lemon
Salt crust
- 250g coarse sea salt
- 1 egg (white only)
- 75ml water
- 200g plain flour
- ½ bunch thyme, chopped
- ½ bunch rosemary, chopped
Method
- To make the salt crust, add the salt, egg white, water and herbs in a bowl (keeping a small amount of herbs to the side). Add the flour little by little and knead using your hands to form a dough.
- Rest the dough for one hour then roll out to ½ cm in thickness.
- In a very hot oiled pan, sear the lamb all over. Roll in the remaining herbs and place on the salt crust.
- Cut a cross in the salt crust and gently fold the edges around the lamb. Flip over, place in an oven-proof dish, make a small hole in the top of the crust and cook in the oven for about 5 mins at 225°C. To test, insert a metal skewer into the hole at the top of the salt crust and leave for 10 seconds. Place the skewer on your lips, it should feel warm (for medium rare).
- To cook the couscous, add a small cupful to a pan with one cup of boiling chicken stock and cook for 5mins before fluffing up with a fork. Add a squeeze of lemon juice.
- To serve, crack open the salt crust, wipe the lamb with a clean towel and slice. Serve on a plate with couscous.
22 Charlotte St, W1T 2NB; theninthlondon.com
