Mark Sargeant shows Downton Abbey actresses Lesley Nichol and Sophie McShera how to bring a Downton dish bang up to date!
Ingredients
1 head garlic, broken into cloves
150ml olive oil
5 sprigs thyme
600g new potatoes
2 sprigs mint
2 tbsp capers
12 anchovy fillets
25g pitted black olives, roughly chopped
Small bunch of parsley
4 rumps of lamb, about 250-300g each
8 sprigs rosemary
Method
1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Tip in the potatoes and mint and leave to simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender.
2, Drain and discard the mint and using a large fork, roughly crush. Mix in about 3 tbsp olive oil, the capers and olives. Crush again with the fork.
3. Chop the parsley and mix in along with some seasoning. Set aside and keep warm.
4. Trim any excess fat from the top layer of lamb, leaving a little on for cooking. Score the top in a criss-cross using a sharp knife then stab the knife into the lamb to make some small pockets.
5. With you finger push the anchovies into the lamb rump as far as you can so you have 4 anchovies per rump then season well. Heat a heavy based non-stick pan until very hot and add 2 tbsp of oil, then cook the lamb, fat-side down. Sauté well and turn on all four sides until nicely browned all
over (about 4 minutes) then remove from pan.
6. Arrange the remaining thyme, rosemary and garlic into the frying pan and place a piece of lamb on top. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked to medium, then let the meat rest for 5 minutes.
7. To serve, spoon a portion of potato onto each plate. Slice the lamb on the diagonal, fan out on top,
then drizzle with any meat juices. Place some garlic over the lamb and serve with green beans.