Due to the pandemic I can’t visit wineries, but thankfully sometimes a winery sends over some samples. I will write more about the wines of Bisci from Matelic from the Marche region in Italy in my next post. Their 2017 Rosso is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Sangiovese, and reminded me of a Merlot from Chile because it was fresh and fruity and smelled of mint. Kees suggested to pair it with lamb and mint, and that turned out to be a perfect pairing. Neck of lamb, cooked for 24 hours at 57C/135F, is my favorite lamb, but you could prepare this with other cuts of lamb like leg of lamb or lamb cutlets, and cook the lamb in the oven (for the leg of lamb) or frying pan (for lamb cutlets). As I did not use the juices from the sous vide bag for the sauce, I decided to use them to serve green asparagus in fondant style. That turned out great as well.
Ingredients
Serves 2
300 grams (.66 lb) neck of lamb, or other lamb
400 grams (.9 lb) green asparagus
15 grams (1/2 cup) fresh mint leaves
60 ml (1/4 cup) good extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot
salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil or clarified butter
Instructions
Season the lamb with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then vacuum seal. To prevent an unpleasant smell, it is important to scald the lamb for 10 to 20 seconds in hot or boiling water (at least 75C/180F).
It is done as soon as the outside of the meat has lost its raw color. Then cook the lamb sous vide for 24 hours at 57C/135F.
Remove the tough fibrous bottoms of the green asparagus.
Season them with salt, and vacuum seal.
Cook the asparagus sous vide for 10 to 15 minutes at 85C/185F.
Instead of using sous vide, you could cook the asparagus completely in the juices from cooking the lamb sous vide. That will take longer however, and you may have to add some water if it becomes too dry before the asparagus are tender.
Remove the stalks from the mint.
Combine the mint leaves with 60 ml of good extra virgin olive oil…
…and use a blender to create the mint sauce. Do not make the sauce too long in advance to prevent discoloration.
Take the lamb out of the bag and pour the juices into a bowl or jug.
Pat the lamb dry with paper towels.
Heat olive oil or clarified butter in a frying pan and brown the lamb…
…on all sides.
Take the lamb out of the frying pan and allow to rest while you finish the asparagus. Wrap the lamb in aluminium foil to keep it warm.
Pan fry the asparagus in the drippings left from browning the asparagus…
…until they are partly browned.
Mix 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch or arrowroot with the lamb juices, until there are no more lumps. Then add this mixture to the asparagus.
Bring to a boil, and stir until the juices have thickened and coat the asparagus.
Slice the lamb.
Serve the lamb with the mint sauce and asparagus on preheated plates.
Wine pairing
As mentioned in the introduction, this is fantastic with a Bisci Rosso. Another fruity Merlot with a hint of mint, such as from Chile, would also be an excellent choice.
Flashback
Oxtail with portobello mushroom and spinach.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
Living in Australia lamb with mint sauce naturally is almost a retro national staple tho’ not quite prepared your way 🙂 ! Quite like neck chops but have not prepped them for a long time . . . must remember. Have never had asparagus in fondant style and must try if jus corresponding to the meat served is available . . . and you are the ‘neat’ one in cutting the vegetable – I always just snap, stalk by stalk !!!
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Looks lovely!
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Tu conosci più vini italiani di me 🙂
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I’ve only just begun to enjoy lamb, I usually find it a little too gamey but recently I discovered that the gamey lamb is Australian and New Zealand lamb which tends to be less expensive than Ontario lamb. Ontario lamb is much more milder in flavour so I prefer it but believe it or not, it is terribly difficult to find and if you do find it, it is very expensive! I am in the process of considering an InstaPot with a Sous Vide function, would you recommend it?
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I do not have personal experience with the InstaPot. As far as I know it is a pressure cooker with automated programs. I doubt that with your experience the automated programs would be useful? For less money you could get a regular pressure cooker and an Inkbird sous vide stick. They are less than $100 and very good. For sous vide use, a drawback of the InstaPot may be that the size is limited, so doing ribs or other larger cuts may be impossible. A stick can go into any container (up to 40 liters or so).
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I have the instapot with sousvide and air fry and would recommend it. I also have an anova stick and a sousvide supreme. There were times I used both sous vide supreme and the stick when doing different temp dishes. I got the instapot to replace electric pressure cooker that died and wanted an air fryer as well. Sous vide was a bonus but I use it regularly.
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