/ˈsakrəˌfīs/

Okay, well a sacrifice didn’t exactly happen. We did bless the food to the nourishment of our bodies and thanked God for all of his blessings. This little lamb hopefully had a pleasant existence, but in this recipe that Mr. foodie provided for us, the lamb had a MOST glorifying end result. Here’s step by step and recipe for what triadfoodies started to call “Seared Meat on a Nest.” But since it’s not actually served on the nest, we renamed it Basted Aromatic Steak.

We took about a pound of lamb sirloin steaks (from The Chop Shop Butchery in Asheville). They suggested marinating the meat in a “paste” of olive oil and fresh herbs, so we grabbed a few handfuls from our garden.

And we chopped it all up, along with some garlic and made a paste with some salt and olive oil.

We used a mortar and pestle but I’m sure you can just use a small bowl and the back of a

spoon.

And then we poured that thick herby paste all over the lamb steaks, just rubbed it in, covered it with plastic wrap and refrigerated for a couple of hours.

We took the meat out about 30 minutes prior to cooking, just to get the chill off. We heated our pan until very hot then laid them in for a quick sear on both sides. These were thick so we actually seared 3 sides.

Once seared, we removed from the heat, laid down “nest” of herbs (in this case, rosemary) then placed the meat back on top of the herbs along with a big knob of butter (close to 3 tablespoons).

Tilt the pan slightly and begin ladling the butter all over the meat. It’s going to just help it along in the cooking process and impart lots of flavor. Since the meat is on the nest of herbs, it shouldn’t sear further.

He just kept ladling and ladling until the butter got a little darker in color….

Once the butter is all melted and nearly gone, place the pan in a 350-degree oven for about 6-8 minutes. Now you can clean up or make mashed potatoes or quinoa or have a glass of wine. It’s your time.

The lamb should be about medium, but cook it however long you need to. This lamb was the perfect cook time for us. Allow the meat to rest for at least 5 minutes.

We served this lamb on a bed of tricolor quinoa infused with currants, lemon thyme and chives (no recipe for that, just cook quinoa as the package recommends and add whatever ingredients you want) and we roasted asparagus alongside the meat as it cooked and rested.

The result was a beautifully herby and buttery lamb steak with a crispy seared outside and a juicy, flavorful inside. Most restaurants will charge you over $25 for this. I’d have paid for it and enjoyed it, no problem. Going out to eat is not in everybody’s budget and this kind of recipe allows you to experiment with beautiful cut of meat and hopefully support a local farm…in this case the lamb came from Mountain Memories Farm in VA via The Chop Shop Butchery in Asheville. Herbs couldn’t get any more local. They were from our garden 🙂
Here’s the actual recipe and ingredient list:

Basted Aromatic Steak

Steaks of your choice (lamb, beef, pork)

Handful of FRESH herbs (enough to cover both sides of the meat)

2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped (again, enough for the rub)

drizzle of olive oil (enough to make it a paste, approximately 1 1/2 tbs)

Fresh herbs (enough to cover the pan and keep the meat off of the direct heat)

3 tbs. butter

Set your steaks out about 30 minutes prior to cooking. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. On the stove, allow an oven safe pan to get searing hot. If your meat is very lean, you may want to coat the pan with a little oil. Sear both sides of the meat until browned well. Remove steaks from pan. Place fresh herbs in the pan then return meat to the pan on TOP of the herbs. Add the knob of butter on the side of the meat and herbs. Tilt the pan slightly and begin ladling the melting butter all over the steaks. Keep basting the meat until the butter gets a beautiful caramel color. Then place the pan in the oven and cook the meat until your preferred doneness. Allow the meat to rest before serving.

Enjoy!

We know you can’t always get your lamb from a butcher shop like The Chop Shop Butchery. So click here for a highly recommended local farm with great lamb.