After taking a year out to go travelling around Thailand and Australia, Adel Salah worked at The Crown at Stoke by Nayland alongside James Howland Jackson and Lucy Overbury. When the two of them moved to the Treble Tile they invited Adel to join them as their new head chef. That was three years ago and he’s been conjuring up new menus every month since. Born in Essex, Adel credits his unusual name to his parents: ‘My father’s Scottish and my mother is from Bangladesh.’ His most popular dish is beef wellington and here Adel shows us the secrets of his special rack of lamb dish.

Ingredients: -

Serves 4

For the marinated lamb

4 cuts of 3 bone rack of lamb

4 garlic cloves

2 sprigs of thyme

2 sprigs of rosemary

2tbsp of rapeseed oil

Dauphinoise

A knob of butter for parchment paper

1kg of King Edward potatoes

300ml of double cream

4 cloves of garlic

2 sprigs of thyme

1 pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

Salt and pepper

Parchment paper

Pithivier

500g ready roll puff pastry or just roll

2 eggs

Shallot and garlic puree

200g of banana shallot

8 cloves of garlic

50ml of double cream

250g of unsalted butter

Rapeseed oil to cover

Red wine sauce

3 banana shallots

1 clove of garlic

60ml of balsamic vinegar

175ml of red wine

150ml of beef stock

5g of redcurrant jelly

20g of unsalted butter

Spinach

250g of long leaf spinach

25g of unsalted butter

A pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg

Method

For the lamb, score the lamb on the fat side one way then the opposite, but try not to cut into the flesh. Crush the garlic and herbs in a pestle and mortar. Cover the lamb in marinade, cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

For the dauphinoise, pre heat the oven to 160C. Brush the parchment paper with butter, season and line a baking tray. Peel and wash the potatoes. Peel and grate the garlic cloves. Pick the thyme leaves and finely chop. Grate the nutmeg. Slice potatoes on a mandolin about 3mm thick. Mix all the dauphinoise ingredients together and layer on buttered parchment paper. Cover with parchment paper and then foil and bake for about 75 minutes. Chill when cooked.

For the garlic and shallot puree peel the garlic and shallots. Melt the butter in a pan and add the shallots, garlic and thyme. Cover with oil and cook gently for about 45 minutes until tender. Drain and discard the thyme. Blitz in food processor, then add double cream and season to taste. Then pass through a fine sieve.

Wash and drain the spinach two or three times to remove any grit and remove the stalk down the middle. Blanch in boiling salted water for 15 seconds and refresh in ice cold water.

Drain and keep in the fridge. To serve warm, heat up a pan and add some butter, then add spinach, seasoning and nutmeg.

For the red wine sauce, finely slice shallots and garlic. Sweat down in a frying pan with a little oil until soft. Add balsamic and red wine, reduce until thick and syrupy. Add beef stock and reduce by 60%.

Stir in redcurrant jelly to dissolve. Pass through sieve and, when ready to serve, re-heat sauce and whisk in ice cold diced butter gradually.

For the pithivier, pre-heat oven to 190C. Roll out puff pastry to 2mm thick. Cut 4x10cm discs of puff pastry. Now cut 4 x12cm discs puff pastry. Cut the dauphinoise to about 8cm in diameter. Make egg wash using 2 yolks and 1 white. Place dauphionoise on smaller puff pastry disc, egg wash the edge. Stick down the top with egg wash and crimp together. Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 190C.

To serve, remove excess marinade from the lamb. Heat a pan on a medium-high temperature and cook the lamb fat side first. When golden, turn on one side and then the opposite side. Place on a baking tray, fat side up and cook for 7-10 minutes, then rest for 5-8 depending on size. Serve and enjoy!