Lamb fillets with Wild Garlic Risotto

Wild garlic leaves are a wonderful seasonal herb that can be used in so many ways. For this dish, I made a pesto sauce with wild garlic and mixed it into the risotto. It not only tastes delicious, but it also looks very nice with its bright spring-green colour. This dish is mouthwatering served with slices of a lamb fillet and a rich Jus d'agneau (lamb jus) by Le Saucier.

Lamb jus by le-saucier.ch

 

Ingredients | Serves 4
500 g
Lamb fillets
350 g
Risotto rice (e.g. Arborio)
Bunch
Wild garlic leaves
  Olive oil for the pesto and cooking
100 g
grated Pecorino cheese
200 ml
 Dry white wine
1,5 litre
 Vegetable stock
100–200 g
 Jus d'agneau (Lamb jus) depending on how much sauce you like
 
Salt and black pepper for seasoning
  Dried blue cornflower petals for decoration

 

Preparation | Serves 4

  1. Wash the wild garlic leaves and shake them dry. Chop them roughly into smaller pieces so they fit into a blender.
    Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil and the grated pecorino cheese and blend to a fine pesto. Adjust with some more olive oil if the pesto is too dry and season with salt.

  2. Prepare 1,5 litre of vegetable stock and keep it warm on the stove.

  3. In a large saucepan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and roast the rice in it. Keep stirring until the rice is coated with the oil.
    Pour in the white wine and keep stirring until the alcohol is almost evaporated. Reduce the heat to medium-high and continue to ladle the vegetable stock into the rice. Stir to make sure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepan.

  4. Once the rice is nice and creamy, after about 10–15 minutes, add 3–4 tablespoons of the wild garlic pesto into the risotto and blend it in. If you like the flavour to be more intense, go ahead and add more. Finally season with salt and maybe some more pecorino cheese. Set the saucepan aside and warm.

  5. Season the lamb fillets with fresh ground black pepper and salt on all sides. Fry the fillets with a little oil in a heated skillet. Brown them nicely for 3-4 minutes on both sides. Then take them out of the pan and wrap them in aluminium foil to rest for 10 minutes.

  6. In a small saucepan warm the lamb jus. Make as much sauce as you like.  

  7. Finally, slice the lamb fillets into nice bitesize slices.

    SERVING | Spoon the risotto onto deep plates and top with slices of the lamb. Drizzle with the sauce and for the final touch sprinkle with some dried blue cornflower petals.