Adam Liaw’s lamb backstraps with rosemary butter
Lean backstraps are very easy to cook and pairing them with a dark rosemary butter bestows a richness they sometimes lack.
Ingredients
800g lamb backstraps (3 or 4)
salt and black pepper, to season
1 tbsp vegetable oil
100g butter
3 garlic cloves, bruised
3 sprigs rosemary
Method
Step 1
Pat the lamb backstraps dry with paper towel and season them very well with salt and pepper. Heat a medium frying pan over high heat, add the oil and sear the backstraps all over, two at a time, for about 2 minutes per batch. Alternatively, heat a barbecue to high and sear the lamb on the hotplate. Remove the backstraps from the pan.
Step 2
Reduce the heat under the pan to medium and add half the butter, the garlic and the rosemary sprigs. Place two backstraps back in the pan and tilt it on an angle to baste the lamb all over with the hot butter. Cook for about 4 minutes until the lamb is medium rare. Remove the lamb to a tray to rest, add the rest of the butter to the pan(you don’t need to remove the first lot of butter) and cook the remaining lamb. When the lamb is cooked and the butter a deep brown, pour the butter over all the lamb and rest the backstraps for 10 minutes.
Step 3
Return the pan to the heat, sear the lamb again to reheat the outside, then cut into slices 4 centimetres thick. Reheat the butter and any resting juices in the pan and pour over the lamb with the garlic and rosemary.
Adam’s tip: To drill home the importance of resting meat, have a dedicated resting tray as part of your regular kitchen equipment. I use a rectangular stainless steel tray about five centimetres deep.
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Adam Liaw is a cookbook author and food writer, co-host of Good Food Kitchen and former MasterChef winner.
