“The belly has a lot of fat, so why not use it? We cure the belly for a little under an hour with salt and pepper and smoked paprika; then we confit that baby in its own fat. Then we cut and sear it. It’s like fatty lamb bacon. ”
“The loin is cured the same way as the belly, but we cook it the opposite way: first searing it on the plancha and then roasting it in a very low oven until it’s a medium rare–medium all the way through. You don’t want to mess with it too much.”
“The tenderloin gets rolled on the plancha, very gently. It’s so small and so easy to overcook. The rolling sear is a way to get radiant heat on it without killing it. The plancha is just so hot. We love the plancha.”
“We make a risotto with bomba rice, which is what’s used in paella. We use wild mushrooms and then finish with idiazábal, which is a sheep’s-milk cheese from the Basque country. We cool it, press it under a weight, and then portion it out. And then? We sear it on the plancha so it gets nice and crispy! ”
“So this is just anchoring the dish, a simple, tangy sheep’s-milk yogurt with a little lemon juice and olive oil. It offsets the richness of the lamb and risotto a little bit. We make the lamb vinaigrette with scraps and stew meat and bones and Pedro Ximenez sherry and a little coffee. That’s something that just tastes so good and holds it all together.”