Spring lamb wellington

Ingredients

• 2 lamb loins – trimmed
• 4 large field mushrooms
• 1 large onion
• 20mls of brandy or whisky
• Zest of half a lemon  
• 1 tbsp cooking oil

• Bag spinach leaves
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• 6 sheets of spring roll pastry (wrappers)
• 1 litre of cooking oil for deep-frying
• 1 cup of hollandaise 
• ½ cup of fresh mint

Asparagus - enough for four servings

First prepare the hollandaise as this tastes better when the mint flavour has had time to mature. Commercial hollandaise is very good these days, so you can save yourself the hassle if you don’t want to make your own. Chopped mint leaves finely and fold in. Season and taste. Leave covered in the fridge until ready to serve.

For the duxelles peel the four mushrooms, finely chop the onion, grate your lemon zest and sauté the mixture with a little oil (or butter) until soft. Add a slug of brandy or whisky and sweat the mixture down until it is quite dry. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Place to one side.

De-stem spinach leaves and blanch in boiling water for a few seconds. Run cold water through them to keep their colour. Squeeze into a ball with your palms. This is important – you must get most of the moisture out. Spread out dry mixture and season.

Pat dry lamb loins, season and sear brown on all sides in a hot pan with a little oil. Don’t over cook at this stage; you are only searing the outside. Place each loin on three sheets of spring roll pastry, cover one side of each loin with a layer of duxelles and a layer of spinach leaf. Carefully wrap the loin with the pastry so the ends are tucked in. Seal pastry edges with a little water.

The deep-fryer oil temperature should be around 170 degrees. Deep-fry each loin for 4½ minutes. Let them rest 5 minutes while cooking your asparagus or preparing your greens.

To serve

Carefully trim off the ends of the loin with a sharp serrated knife (or bread knife) and disregard ends. You can get three portions from each loin or two generous servings, as pictured. Plate up with asparagus and hollandaise and your choice of carbo.