Pot au feu with roast lamb rump and cockles
If you are a fan of lamb, this is the recipe for you. Lamb neck fillet and lamb tongue are cooked in a stew and then served with roast lamb rump.
Ingredients
For the pot au feu
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1kg/2lb 4oz lamb neck fillet, cut into large pieces
- 2 lamb tongues, cut into pieces
- 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 3 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 1 leek, roughly chopped
- 4 baby turnips, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 head of garlic, peeled but cloves left whole
- 1 bunch fresh thyme, roughly chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2–3 black peppercorns
- 25g/1oz kale, roughly chopped
For the lamb rump with cockles
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 500g/1lb 2oz lamb rump joint
- 20²µ/¾´Ç³ú butter
- 1 fresh thyme sprig, leaves picked
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 25ml/1fl oz Madeira
- 500g/1lb 2oz fresh cockles, cleaned
- 150ml/5fl oz dry white wine
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
For the pot au feu, heat the oil in a large casserole dish. Add the lamb fillet and tongue and cook for 2–3 minutes to seal. Add the carrot, onion, celery, leek and turnip and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns to the pot, cover with water and simmer for 2–3 hours. At about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time, stir in the kale.
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
For the lamb rump, heat the oil in a frying pan and season the lamb rump with salt and pepper. Seal the lamb on all sides for 2–3 minutes in the pan and then place in a roasting tin. Roast for 10–15 minutes and then remove from the oven. Place the butter, thyme, garlic and Madeira in the frying pan and cook until the butter has melted. Baste the lamb with this mixture and then cook in the oven again for 10–15 minutes, or until cooked through. Leave to rest for at least 15 minutes and cut into slices.
Discard any cockles with broken shells and any that refuse to close when tapped. Heat the wine in a saucepan and once simmering, add the cockles and celery. Place a lid on top and steam until the cockles open. Discard any cockles that remain closed. Remove the cockles from their shells over the pan. Strain the cooking liquor and stir the tarragon and cockles into this liquor.
To serve, spoon the pot au feu into bowls, add slices of the rump and spoon over the cockle mixture.