Lamb Rump with Fregula and Olive Salad paired with fresh Pinot Gris or Merlot

Get inspired by these recipe and wine suggestions or use Mitchell's tips and tricks to master the art of wine pairing yourself.

This autumn, We Love Our Lamb has teamed up with Giovanni Pilu, of Pilu at Freshwater and Mitchell Taylor, Third Generation Winemaker at Taylors Wines, to help inspire your next lamb dinner party.

Giovanni Pilu has curated two delicious lamb dishes perfect for any occasion a rich lamb ragu with pappardelle, and a zesty lamb rump with fregula and olive salad. Inspired by these dishes, Mitchell Taylor has suggested the perfect wine pairings to accompany, with red and white options.

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

 

Ingredients

Lamb:
4x 300g lamb rumps, trimmed
Salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig rosemary, leaves picked

Fregula Salad:
150g fregula pasta
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs mint, leaves chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 orange, zest finely grated
20 Bosane olives, pitted and chopped (or Sicilian green olives)

2 tablespoons aged red wine vinegar
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 

Cooking Tips

 

When choosing your lamb rump, look for a rump that is plump and lean with a layer of fat.
If you don't have a meat thermometer you can feel the lamb to see if it's cooked. Medium rare is soft to the touch, medium is springy and medium well is firm.
If you don't like olives, try replacing them with currants, slivered almonds or roasted peppers, finely diced.

Method

 

For the Fregula:
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add fine sea salt then fregula and boil for around 6 minutes until tender or al dente, Strain
well, toss with a little of the oil and spread out on a tray. Refrigerate until cold. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a large
bowl to make a dressing. When the fregula is cold, toss through the dressing, cover and set aside at room temperature.

For the Lamb:
Remove lamb from the fridge 1 hour before cooking. Cover and set aside in a cool place to come to room temperature. Preheat oven to
200°C. Season lamb well with salt.
Heat an ovenproof frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add oil and, when hot, add the lamb and cook on each side for about 3 minutes,
until browned all over. Place pan in oven for 15 minutes, until a meat thermometer shows 54°C (for medium). Remove from oven (but
don't turn oven off), cover dish loosely with foil and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.

Remove foil from lamb and return to oven for 4 minutes. Divide fregula between 4 shallow bowls. Remove lamb from oven and slice lengthways (with the grain) into 4 or 5 slices and plate with fregula. Place frying pan over a high heat to boil the cooking juices, stir in some pepper, then drizzle over the meat. Garnish with a few rosemary leaves.

 

The Perfect Wine

This dish will pair well with varieties that exude bright fruit characters and aromatics - a balance of acidity and light tannin for a red or an aromatic variety for a white.

Taylors Estate Pinot Gris 2016 – RRP $19
Considering the secondary flavours of the fregula salad, the herbs and spices create a beautifularomatic freshness that the Pinot Gris complements perfectly, while also bringing a bright acidity to the pairing that will cut through the richness of the
lamb.

Taylors Promised Land Merlot 2017 – RRP $14
In this dish the lamb rump is rich, but the dish is still light and fresh when combined with the secondary flavours of the fregula salad. The Promised Land Merlot is a medium bodied wine with fleshy fruit flavours and a softfinish so it ticks all the boxes for this dish.

 

Mitchell Taylor's top tips for wine pairing:

Let the star of your dish shine - When pairing wine, firstly consider all the primary characteristics of the dish. With Lamb as the hero of
the dish, think about what will work well without overpowering the meat. Consider the flavour, acidity, saltiness, bitterness, sweetness
and weight, and how the wine will complement these.

Don't side line the sides - Next, focus on the secondary component of the dish, whether this is the sauce or side dish. For
example, a strong sauce is best accompanied with a fully bodied, bold wine.

Now match it up - Ensure both primary and secondary characteristics of your dish marry up with the wine.
Match up the five tastes; sweetness, acidity, saltiness, bitterness, and umami.

Visit We Love our Lamb for more recipe inspiration.