Lamb and Vegetable Tower
Roasted lamb and vegetable tower, served with tomato sauce and herbs
Ingredients
Lamb leg meat (cut into small cubes)
to taste
Lamb fat (cut into small cubes)
to taste
Zucchini (cut into strips and rounds)
6+2
Eggplant (cut into strips)
to taste
Tomato (peeled, seeded, diced)
to taste
Bell pepper (peeled, seeded, diced)
1
Onion (chopped)
to taste
Garlic
to taste
Olive oil
1 tbsp + to taste
Lamb aspic
to taste
Curry powder
to taste
Cumin
to taste
Flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
to taste
Thyme
to taste
Bay leaf bundle
1 bunch
Basil leaves (chopped)
to taste
Breadcrumbs
to taste
Butter (for greasing molds)
to taste
Instructions
1
Prepare the vegetable strips
Peel 6 zucchini and eggplants, keeping the skin on, and cut into about 48 strips, each 8 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. Quickly blanch in salted boiling water, then shock in cold water and drain.
2
Prepare the vegetable rounds
Cut 2 zucchini into 60 rounds 1 mm thick. Quarter the tomatoes and cut 64 rounds 2.5 cm in diameter from the outer sides.
3
Prepare the molds
Line four 13 cm diameter baking trays with parchment paper, place a 10 cm diameter stainless steel ring on each, and grease the inside walls. In each ring, alternately arrange 12 zucchini and 12 eggplant strips so they extend 1-2 cm beyond the bottom edge. Refrigerate.
4
Make the tomato sauce
Peel, seed, and finely dice the tomatoes. Prepare the bell pepper the same way and dice. Sauté the chopped onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt until soft (do not let it brown). Add the garlic cloves, bay leaf bundle, diced tomatoes, and diced bell pepper. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer over low heat until the moisture has completely evaporated. Remove the garlic and bay leaves, add the basil, and adjust the seasoning.
5
Prepare the vegetables and lamb
Separately sauté the diced zucchini and diced eggplant in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper, then drain off the excess oil. Cut the lamb and lamb fat into small dice.
6
Mix the filling
Place the sautéed zucchini and eggplant in a large bowl. Add the diced lamb, lamb fat, onion, lamb aspic, curry powder, cumin, flat-leaf parsley, and thyme, and mix thoroughly until evenly combined.
7
Assemble the towers
Divide the filling into 4 portions and place each into one of the molds, pressing down firmly. Fold the overhanging zucchini and eggplant strips inward. Evenly spread the tomato sauce over each portion and press down.
8
Decorate the surface
Place 10 slightly overlapping tomato and zucchini rounds on top. For the second layer, alternately arrange 5 tomato and zucchini rounds in the opposite direction, with 1 tomato round in the center. Press down gently, season with salt, pepper, and thyme, and drizzle with a few drops of olive oil.
9
Make the persillade
Combine the breadcrumbs, parsley, crushed garlic, and thyme in an electric grinder and pulse to a fine crumb, then sift.
10
Bake
Sprinkle the persillade over the towers and bake in a 180°C oven for 30 minutes until golden.
11
Plate
Once baked, gently tilt the towers to drain off the excess fat. Slide each tower onto a plate and remove the stainless steel ring. Drizzle lamb jus around the towers and sprinkle with flowering thyme.
