' DORPER LAMB CUTLET & FENNEL .'

Grilled Dorper Lamb cutlet , Braised Fennel , Brined mustard seed , Honey turmeric yoghurt , Persian cucumber , Mint leaves and fennel fronds. 

           When a mate of ours that lives over the highway from us started rearing sheep it was a small project and a few years on, his flock is now healthy and large. With a couple of breeds in the paddock Warren went for a breed called the Dorper, which is a long haired sheep rather than a fleece like most sheep. This breed comes from South Africa and I've tried samples of the Buchanan s dorper produce over seasons now and its a fantastic strong flavoured, good quality lamb. How ever this lamb was purchased at a shop, also the Dorper variety and sparked the making of this dish in honour of Warren and his fathers quality animal husbandry.                                                                                                      
            To make this I first grated some fennel into a saucepan with olive oil and cooked the fennel down until soft, adding a little caster sugar and cooking further more until the fennel showed colour. The braised fennel was then removed from the heat and set aside for plating. In a small bowl I mixed together plain yoghurt, turmeric powder and honey to form a sauce. Next I prepared the persian cucumber into three preps the tight ribbon scroll, the loose ribbon loop and brunoise, of which were dressed in olive oil, salt and lime juice. In a small saucepan I put equal parts of water and rice wine vinegar with a little sugar, salt and black mustard seeds. These were simmered on a low heat for about 40 minutes until the seeds were soft before being strained and set aide for plating. Last of all on hot grill I cooked the Dorper cutlet for roughly 5 minutes each side in olive oil, and seasoned with Himalayan salt and cracked black pepper. Once cooked the lamb was rested for 5 minutes before plating.                  
              To plate this dish I spooned the braised fennel in a mound in the centre of the plate, I lent the dorper cutlet on top of this. I spooned the yoghurt in circles on the plate accompanying each with various preparations of cucumber, a spoon of brined mustard seed, mint leaves and fennel fronds. The cutlet was garnished with a small teaspoon of brined mustard seed and micro mint leaves.