Punchy Lamb Radicchio Cups
There’s few things I love more than lamb with cilantro, mint and lemon. Radicchio and lamb is a classic pairing, too. These radicchio cups filled with crispy lamb, pomegranate, fried shallots and a green sauce poured over top are an exquisite snack that make me feel very much like Meryl Streep in It’s Complicated.
Pair with a glass of chilled red, you’ve got a classy, elegant and flavor punch kind of experience. I called them punchy lamb radicchio cups because there’s so much flavor and texture that it’s like a big punch!
What I particularly love about this recipe is that it’s transeasonal so it’s suitable for a range of seasons. If you can’t access pomegranate, substitute with chopped dates or apple. Radicchio can be substituted for a beautiful butter lettuce leaf, or anything you would normally use for a lettuce cup.
Ingredients:
Fried shallots:
2 shallots, thinly sliced into rounds
3-4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Green sauce:
225g cream cheese
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch mint
3-4 garlic cloves, choose your destiny
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
big pinch of salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Crispy lamb:
500g lamb mince
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
big pinch of salt and cracked black pepper
reserved shallot oil to fry
Garnishes:
radicchio, best leaves used as cups
pomegranate arils, about 1/2 cup
fresh mint leaves, chiffonade
lemon rind, sliced into thin strips
Method:
Marinate the lamb: add lamb mince to a mixing bowl and sprinkle over the seasonings: sumac, cumin, chilli powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Mix until evenly coated. Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but the longer the better. Overnight if you can! If you press your hand down on the plastic wrap after you’ve wrapped it, pushing down further than you think you should aka until you can no longer push down, you will create a vacuum seal and it will marinate faster.
Prepare the garnishes: organize radicchio leaves for use as cups, slice a lemon rind into thin strips, chiffonade mint leaves and prepare pomegranate arils by removing from rind.
Fry the shallots: add shallots and enough olive oil to generously coat them to a small pan off the heat. Adding them to a cold pan before the oil gets hot helps fry them from the inside out rather than just frying the outsides of them.
Turn the heat on to low and stir occasionally to prevent burning and sticking. Fry for 7-10 minutes or until they turn a light golden color. The switch can happen fast from light golden to burnt. As soon as you see them light-medium golden, remove from heat, strain the oil out, reserving the oil to fry the lamb in and place the fried shallots on a paper towel lined plate to absorb extra oil and crisp up.
Make the green sauce: add all the ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth and perfectly blended. Add water to thin and help the blender out a bit if needed, but only a splash at a time.
To fry the lamb: add the shallot oil to a large fry pan and bring to a very high heat. We want the lamb to get a nice crispy dark sear once it hits the pan, so it must be very hot. Add the lamb and let sear for 1-2 minutes, then stir occasionally, once or twice throughout the entire cooking process, only to ensure it sears the other sides. After 5 minutes or so, remove from heat.
Assemble: take a good looking radicchio leaf that can serve as a cup and fill with 2 spoonfuls of crispy lamb, followed by 2 spoonfuls of green sauce, pouring over the lamb. Add 1 spoonful of pomegranate, then a pinch of fried shallots, lemon zest and fresh mint. Enjoy straight away! <3
