Every now & then my Whole Foods has lamb tenderloin. I’ve picked it up a few times and enjoy the texture, but am curious as to how others would go about prepping. My best method so far was rosemary sprigs, olive oil, and chopped garlic in a bag for a few hours then a quick pan sear to a warm pink middle. I ate this plain, but could see it being chopped & tossed into a pasta perhaps.
Any thoughts or experiences?
Why mess with a good thing? Other than grilling it, I don’t know what’s to improve or change.
Philip,
I enjoy those cuts too. In fact, pan seared four in cast iron skillet earlier this week to pair with Cabot’s '06 Kimberly. I sprinkled some of the Whole Foods Mediterranean seasoning on and dropped in pan with hot grapeseed oil. Yum!
Mark
I like to butcher my own…
we tend to grill these whole or slice and skewer them as well.
now and then I’ll prepare them like this
the tenderloins are in the middle surrounded by the loins
Mel, what you bought looks to me like a selle d’agneau or saddle of lamb.
I have struggled to get butchers to understand what I was asking for, it is an extremely elegant dish and one of the best pairings with a great old Bordeaux.
I think that is a Kirkland sticker, you got it at Costco, right?
Typically for selle d’agneau you leave the meat on the bone and present the entire piece as packaged at table. After roasting.
There is SO little meat on it. But one way I have carved it is to cut lengthwise, like “bacon” strips. Normally we have had a fancy rice dish (a pilaff with pine nuts and raisins etc) and you can lay the strips over the rice. You can also give everybody a “wine cork” shaped piece of meat. You have to have other courses to make up for the skimpy servings, a saddle really doesn’t go for 4 people very well.
I think I remember following recipes from the old Julia Child books and maybe Gourmet’s Easter Dinner from April 1984…
Yes, purchased at costco. This is what the store cuts into loin chops I just asked them for the whole section,
I’m not up on my Lamb cuts but could this be more of an upper (closer to the shoulder) portion of the the backbone
(and what lies below) the Lamb saddle images I remember did not have the loin portion of meat. I’ll have a look in
one of my older French books and report back…
Julia Child, “Mastering” Vol 2, page 197.
The saddle of lamb is the loin. On a beef carcass it would be the whole Porterhouse and T-bone steak section on both sides, and on lamb it is the whole loin-chop area. It is, in fact, a giant butterfly loin chop 8 to 10 inches thick, consisting of the 2 meaty loin strips that run along either side of the backbone on top, and the 2 smaller tenderloin strips that run its length underneath. What would constitute the tail of the chop is the flank, or flap of meat attached to each side.
She has a drawing with the thirteenth rib at front and then going back 7 more vertebrae. I think that’s what is in your picture. What follows in MTAOFC 2 is a recipe for Selle d’Agneau Rôtie. I would suggest getting out your dustiest bottle of a nice left bank second growth and preparing Selle d’Agneau for a very fancy party.
If you are going to marinate, try adding green peppercorn mustard to the one you describe. Dijon is OK. I do it more like a wet rub/paste and wrap it in plastic.
Lamb Wellington is a great way to use them too.
I like to dust lamb loins and tenderloins in flour, dip them in an egg wash, and then roll them in porcini powder. They can be left in the fridge for an hour or two before dinner to let the porcini flavor permeate the meat. I then sautee them and then throw them in a hot oven until they are medium rare. It’s one of my favorite go-to dishes. Paired with a mushroom risotto, it’s always a winner.