Ginger & Lemongrass Marinated Lamb Cutlets With Verjuice Oven Roasted Vegetables & Served With Boiled Potatoes
By: Sophie32
Published: Thursday, December 3, 2009 - 3:59am

Ingredients




Recipe: For 2 persons

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

2 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely cut up
2 stalks of lemongrass, peeled & thinly sliced
2 centimeters ,5  of fresh ginger, peeled & finely cut up
1 teaspoon of sea salt
3 tablespoons of fresh coriander leaves ( cilantro ), finely cut up
3 tablespoons of fresh mint leaves, finely cut up
40 ml of fruity olive oil
for the meat:

8 lamb cutlets, I removed the bones & fat & cut the meat loose from the bone
1 large plastic Ziplock bag
For the vegetables:

3 mediums sweet bell peppers: I used 2  red & 1 yellow, cleaned, pits & white bits removed
2 large sweet onions, peeled & cut into wedges
3 fat cloves of garlic, peeled & finely cut up
100 ml of Verjuice
a few grinds of black pepper

a pinch of sea salt

Potatoes for 2 persons, peeled & cut up into 2, placed into cold water

Preparation

1 First, make the marinade for the meat. Take a pestle & mortar. If you do not have that, take a foodprocessor. 2 Add the chopped up garlic, the cut up lemongrass, the cut up ginger & sea salt in the pestle & mortar. Using the pestle, grind into a rough paste. 3 Add the chopped up coriander & mint leaves. Grind again well. Stir in the olive oil, bit by bit until you have a looser paste. I used 40 ml because I had too. Maybe, you do not have to use all the oil, just wait & see if you need to put in extra. 4 Clean your lamb cutlets, if necessary & place into the Ziplock bag. Pour the marinade into the bag. Divide the marinade well over the cutlets!!. Close the plastic bag & massage the meat on the outside with your hands. Place the closed bag into a bowl in case of leakage. Put into the fridge for about 1,5 hours. You can marinate the meat up to 2 or 3 hours. 5 When you are ready to make dinner, 40 minutes before eating, take the bag with the meat in it out of the fridge. 6 Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. for 10 minutes. Take a large bowl & place all the vegetables in it. Mix well with a spoon. Now, add the 100 ml of Verjuice. Mix well. Pour those vegetables into a baking dish, evenly divided. Add a pich of sea salt & a few grinds of black pepper. Mix well. Place into the hot oven for 20 to 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, stir the vegetables round with a spoon to prevent burning on the top. The vegetables will be cooked trough after 20 to 30 minutes. So, check that out. 7 In the meantime, I cook the potatoes. They take about 15 to 20 minutes. 8 After 15 minutes, until the potatoes & vegetables are nearly ready, I preheat a large heat & place my large grill- pan on it. When hot, add the marinated lamb pieces. Put some marinade on top of the meat. Cook for about 2 minutes per side until " rosé " on the inside. Check that out by cutting 1 trough. The meat has to be rosé otherwise it will be tough & hard! You want moist & delicate meat! Put the meat off the grill & put it into a warm plate & cover to keep warm. Turn the heat off. Let it stand for about 5 minutes. 9 Now, plate up!! 10 This is lovely ! This is so good enjoyed with a glass of red Shiraz-Cabernet wine from Jacob's Creek  vintage 2006!!!

About


Recently, I discovered Verjuice.  Verjuice ( coming from the word: vertjus= green juice), meaning a very acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes. Sometimes lemon or sorrel juice is added or herbs & spices to change the flavour.
Wikipedia explains verjuice really good. 
Here is the link: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verjuice
Australians use verjuice a lot in cooking & baking. The famous author Maggie beer has written a book on it, it is a cookbook with lovely recipes in it, using verjuice in nearly everything.
I marinated lamb cutlets in a mix of  coriander leaves, mint leaves, ginger, garlic cloves, cut up lemon grass, a bit of olive oil & sea salt. They were marinated for 1,5 hour.
 To the oven roasted vegetables , I added 3 cloves of garlic & 100 ml of Verjuice.
I served this with boiled potatoes.
The meat recipe is from Neil Perry!! The rest is from me!! He is an outstanding Australian cook!!