Lamb Tartare dish inspired after Pigeonhole restaurant in Calgary. Tartare is served with a shallot crema, burnt soy vinaigrette marinade, green olives and pickled red onions.
Ingredients:
Tartare: Lamb Tenderloin (as many as desired), Castelvetrano olives (or any green, unstuffed olive, ideally smoked). Optional: Parmesan
Shallot Crema: 6 Shallots peeled and halved, 1/4 cup creme fraiche, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Burnt Soy Vinaigrette: 1/4 cup green onions, 1 tbsp lime juice, 1/2 cup dark soy sauce, 1 cup olive oil
Pickled Shallots: 1 scallion peeled and cut into rings, 1 1/4 cups red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup water
Directions (Shallot Crema):
Preheat oven to 425 F. Place the shallots for the crema halved side down on a baking sheet and put in the oven until slightly caramelized. Blend with creme fraiche, mayonnaise and apple cider vinegar. Once done, set aside until plating.
Directions (Pickled Shallots):
Heat red wine vinegar, sugar and water to boil while stirring occasionally to ensure the sugar dissolves. Once boiled, pour over cut shallot rings. Set aside to cool until plating.
Directions (Burnt Soy Vinaigrette):
Char green onions on a cast-iron pan or in the oven until burnt on all sides. Blend with soy sauce until smooth (if unable to blend properly, use mortar and pestle to grind green onions, then mix with soy sauce). Strain out solids and mix with lime juice and olive oil. Set aside until Lamb is cut up.
Directions (Tartare):
Place lamb in freezer for ~10 mins prior to cutting to increase ease of handling the meat. Additionally, chill a bowl in the freezer to place meat once it’s cut. Once tartare has chilled, cut it into pieces slightly smaller than bite sized. Note: a very sharp knife will help for this step. Also try not to over-handle the meat so it maintains its consistency. Once the meat has been cut, slowly pour the burnt soy vinaigrette over the meat until the tartare is moist however not dripping wet (will probably be vinaigrette leftover).
Plating:
Pit and tear up green olives for plating. If using parmesan, feel free to peel bigger pieces off the block for use in plating as well. Place meat on the plate in a circle, placing dots of shallot crema throughout the meat as desired. Follow with torn olive pieces and pickled onions throughout the dish. Parmesan can be added on top. Note, if you have a smoke gun, smoking the olives prior to plating adds an additional element to the dish and tastes quite nice.
