Recipes, Lamb Recipes

Lamb neck fillet, greek-style potatoes w/ oregano dressing

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This is a recipe that is so easy to pull together. While also being so totally delicious, it almost makes you feel guilty but, of course, this is the joy of simple, considered cooking. No room for unnecessary techniques or flourishes. Just flavour, delivered in abundance.

This is a cut with the versatility to be meltingly delicious when slow-cooked, where the marbled fat and interwoven muscles descend into gelatinous, unctuous yumminess. Or they are fantastic cooked to medium, as here in this recipe.

Potatoes cooked in this way are a triumph as well. Plenty of chicken stock and olive oil, which soak into the potatoes as they cook, result in a sticky, almost fudgy finish. As I said, a total triumph. The oregano dressing is so simple and most necessary to add a level of acidity and tie the whole plate of food together.

Lamb neck fillets with an oregano dressing, served with Greek potatoes.

Serves 3

Ingredients

For the dressing

Shop the ingredients

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.
  2. Take the lamb neck fillet out of the fridge and their packaging. Leave to come up to room temperature.
  3. Peel the potatoes, then half them and then cut into chunky wedges — four wedges per half potato. Place them in a large oven-proof dish or roasting tray and season well with salt and a touch of black pepper. Mix well.
  4. Then add the lemon, garlic, oregano, chicken stock, olive oil, and wine. Stir together and then place in the oven. Set a timer for 45 minutes.
  5. Season the neck fillets well with sea salt.
  6. Set a frying pan or cast-iron skillet over a high heat, with a tablespoon of oil.
  7. Once the pan is hot, at the point where the oil is just beginning to smoke, add the neck fillets. Keep the heat high and brown off the fillets on all sides, moving them around the pan and flipping them regularly. Once all sides are nicely browned, put them in the oven for 3-4 minutes.
  8. Remove from the oven and lift the neck fillets out of the pan onto a plate and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
  9. After 45 minutes, check the potatoes are cooked. If they need a little longer, then return them to the oven. Top up with a little more stock if they are completely dry.

For the dressing:

  1. Combine all of the ingredients of the dressing in a bowl and season with sea salt. Stir well and leave to sit.
  2. After 15 minutes, give the dressing a taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

For 15 years George worked in some of London’s most loved restaurants, including Padella and Primeur, and had a 5-year stint as Head Chef at the Garden Museum Café. George earned rave reviews for his simple, thoughtful cookery, his dishes were firmly rooted in the classics, and always paid homage to the produce. In 2021 George realised a long-held ambition and released his first cookbook entitled, A Year In The Kitchen. It celebrates the annual cookery cycle, taking readers on a journey through the British seasons, showcasing native produce, and inspiring year round creativity. In 2022 George left London behind, and moved back home to Yorkshire. His passion for seasonal cookery and reverence of quality British ingredients proved that for George, home is where the heart is. Like his food, George is led by the seasons, he’s open to new opportunities, and always following his heart.