Serves 4.
Please note time! Lamb neck takes 24 hours in a water bath. Therefore, you will want to plan ahead. It is a very easy recipe but you need to be home and watching over your lamb while it roasts in a bath. But it is always lovely to eat the off cuts of animals, as they get discarded often. If you do choose to eat meat, this is at least a more democratic way of doing it, and certainly inexpensive. If you are vegetarian, or your partner/friend is, just cook the celeriac and cabbage, and marinate some tempeh or tofu “steaks” in the same marinade recipe and marinade time as the lamb (different bowls of course) and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes at 200C when your neck is almost ready. Butter and yoghurt is used here, so this dish is not vegan.
Slow Roast Lamb Neck
Ingredients:
1 lamb neck
Marinade
Ingredients:
1 cup of Yoghurt/ Greek
1 tbsp Zha’tar
2 tbsp Cumin ground
1 Tbsp Sumac
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 bunch of chives (to finish)
2 tbsp butter to finish
Mix the marinade in a bowl and add the neck. Transfer to the fridge for a minimum of one hour, however longer is better. After marinating, take off some of the marinade, leaving a small amount, and vacuum pack. Set your water bath to 55C and cook for 24 hours. Meanwhile make the sauce and sides. These steps take about an hour and then you leave the rest to the next day. Keep an eye on your water bath and refill with water periodically if need be. Cover with foil overnight to avoid evaporation.
Yoghurt Harrisa Sauce
Ingredients:
2 cups of Yoghurt/ Greek
2 tbsp Cumin ground
1 lemon, juiced
½ tsp salt
3 gloves grated garlic
3 tbsp harrisa
Add all of the ingredients except the harrisa and mix well. Add the harrisa in chunks and DO NOT mix well. Leave it loose and spiraled by spoon into yoghurt. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.
*I would begin roasting the side vegetables about 2 hours before the lamb is ready.
Salt Baked Celeraic
Ingredients:
1 Celeraic
300 grams flour
200 grams flaked sea salt
½ cup water (add more if needed)
4 whipped egg whites
1 handful Marjoram
1 lemon (to finish)
Olive oil (to finish)
Preheat oven to 180C. After whipping your egg whites, add everything to a bowl and mix well into a dough. Cut the bottom off your celeriac and wash very well, removing any rough areas. Leave the skin on. Place on foil on a baking sheet and put a small bit of dough at center. Place celeriac on top. Cover completely in dough. Bake for 2 hours and 10 minutes in the lower half of the oven. Let it cool and take of crust gently with a serrated knife in chunks. Cut into thick round steaks. Heat a grill pan on very high heat. When smoking hot, add the celeriac rounds and grill both sides. Can make a crisscross design if desired by turning once on the same side during grilling. Sprinkle with lemon and olive oil and set aside.
Black Garlic roasted Red Cabbage
Ingredients:
1 red cabbage
150 grams black garlic butter
2 cups chicken broth
Preheat oven to !80C. Cut cabbage into quarters. Roast on a dry very hot grill pan on all sides until browned. Place in a deep baking tray and add your chicken broth. Melt the butter and the pour carefully and evenly over your cabbage wedges. Season lightly. Cover with foil and bake for two hours in the oven.
You can place the cabbage on top of the celeriac in the oven and roast at the same time. When ready set aside.
OPTIONAL
Crispy Leeks
Ingredients:
1 leek
2 tbsp corn flour
1/5 tsp salt
3 cups rapeseed oil
Finely slice your leeks and place in a bowl with the corn flour and mix well. Heat the oil. Test the oil with a single leek. It is ready for frying when the leek floats to the top and sizzles. Add the rest of the leeks. Fry until golden. Lay on paper towels to cool and sprinkle with salt.
When the lamb is ready, Take out of bath and pack, and dry very well with paper towels. Heat a hot pan with 2 tbsp rapeseed oil, and roast the neck in the pan until all the sides are browned. Finish with a little butter at the end, spooning it quickly over the meat as it browns. Let it rest a few minutes. Chop some fresh chives very fine and set aside. Now slice your neck into 3 inch rounds.
Place your celeriac at the center of the plate. With a spoon, take large spoonfuls of the harissa sauce and circulate around the plate. Add one wedge beside the celeriac. Place three or four rounds over the celeriac and cabbage. Sprinkle with olive oil and chives. Crispy leeks to finish, if desired.
