Pesto Double Lamb Cutlets with Smoked Pumpkin Risone

This is a recipe by food stylist, writer and chef Naomi Crisante who appears every now and again as a guest presenter on the Australian day time cooking show Alive and Cooking. The recipe caught my attention because while it seemed relatively straightforward, it also looked stunning!

With gorgeous Aussie lamb this dish is great to present as it scrumptious!

Preparation Time 15 minutes
Cooking Time 20 minutes

Ingredients: 500g butternut pumpkin, diced (1 cm wide), 1 small red capsicum; diced, 1 red Spanish onion; diced, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; to taste, extra virgin olive oil,
3 teaspoons smoked sweet paprika, 200g pesto, 12 double lamb cutlets*, 250g risone or orzo pasta**

Method: Combine pumpkin, capsicum, onion, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons oil and 1 teaspoon of paprika together, place on an oven tray. Rub 1/3 of the pesto into the cutlets, place on top of the vegetables and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon paprika and pepper. Roast at 200°C for 20 minutes for medium (or until done to your liking). Cook risone in a large saucepan of boiling water until ‘al dente’***. Drain and toss immediately with roasted vegetables, any pan juices from the lamb and season to taste. Arrange pumpkin risone on a large platter, place lamb cutlets on top, sprinkle with remaining smoked paprika and serve with remaining pesto.

*Ask the butcher for two-chop lamb cutlets, or simply cut a rack of lamb into double cutlets.
** Risone or orzo is rice-shaped pasta available in supermarkets and delis.
*** Since the risone pasta is in the shape of rice grains it doesn’t take as long as regular pasta to cook.

Note: I did a couple of things differently, one was I made my own pesto using the recipe that is mentioned on this blog. Seconsly, since I prefer red meat medium to rare and my veggies nice and smoky when roasting them the other thing I did was roast the pumpkin mixture for about fifteen minutes minus the lamb cutlets, adding the lamb on top later, and popping it back in the oven for another twelve to fifteen minutes.

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Pesto from scratch

Ingredients: 1 bunch basil leaves, 1 handful flat leaf parsley, 100 g Parmesan, 85 g toasted pine nuts, 1 garlic clove, 170 g olive oil

Mehtods: Blend all the ingredients in a food processor, or use a mortar and pestle, adding the olive oil gradually in a steady stream until you have a spoonable consistency.

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