ROCo. blog

185g La Verde olives
250g chickpeas, drained
1 preserved lemon
4 tbsp cooked cous cous, bulgar wheat or pearl barley 
½ sweet potato, peeled, roasted and diced
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp shawarma spice
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp sumac
½ tsp rose petals
6 boiled eggs
2 tbsp gram flour
50g panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp za’atar
2 eggs, beaten
Vegetable oil for frying

Start by blitzing your olives, chickpeas and preserved lemon with all your spices and tahini. Also include your sweet potato and grains. 

Pulse into a coarse sausage mince texture. Next grab a handful of your spiced olive mix and coat a boiled egg to cover. Form into a ball and then roll in gram flour to coat. 

Dip into beaten egg and the coat in seasoned breadcrumbs with za’atar. Fry your olive scotch eggs in hot oil preheated to 180˚C for 3-4 minutes until crispy. Serve with a salad and some harissa mayo with extra olives on the side.

For the roasted vegetables:
1 pot of Nocellara del belice olives
Large bunch of vine cherry tomatoes
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
6-8 asparagus spears
1 preserved lemon, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp pink peppercorns
Pinch of sea salt

For the herby olive crust:
1 pot of La verde olives
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp dill or fennel tops
1 tbsp mint 
2 tbsp olive oil
50g panko breadcrumbs
1 tbsp pine nuts
Pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp black garlic puree or Dijon mustard

For the lamb rack:
1 rack of lamb
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs of thyme

Remove your lamb from the fridge an hour before cooking and preheat your oven to 180˚C. Rub the rack with oil, salt and pepper and sear on all sides in a pan with garlic and thyme to brown the meat and render the fat. Then after 5-6 mins cooking place on a wire rack and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Try cooking the lamb suspended over new potatoes so that the lamb fat drips onto them as they roast.

Meanwhile make your herby olive tapenade. Blitz one pot of La verde olives in a food processor with a handful of garden herbs including: dill, mint, and parsley. Then add in 2 tbsp of anchovies, the zest of one lemon and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Toast your pine nuts and breadcrumbs and Pulse into a coarse crust and combine with breadcrumbs and toasted pine nuts for the last 30 seconds. Season to taste.

For the roasted vegetables mix all ingredients and place on a baking tray. Roast for 20-25 mins.

Once the lamb is cooked to an internal temperature of 54˚C for medium rare allow it to rest and spread some black garlic paste onto the skin. Then press the herby olive crust onto the lamb and serve.