This is how top cuisine works at home: recipe for leg of lamb and cocktail

Dhis leg of lamb has been with me my entire gourmet life, because I associate it with the wonderful moment when the gate to the world of top cuisine opened like a gate to paradise. It was with Dieter Müller in Schloss Lerbach, the first chef with three Michelin stars, with whom I was allowed to eat. He served me his famous amuse-bouche menu, an epoch-making invention in gourmet history, 21 corresponding courses with a refinement and richness of flavors that I had never had the slightest idea of: foie gras with jammed Amalfi lemons and Fig vinegar jelly, scallops with pumpkin tandoori sauce and pumpkin confit, curry and lemongrass cappuccino with Gambaretti skewer, lamb fillet in bread crust with chorizo ​​fumet.

It was a sensation, a revelation, the moment I decided I would never eat badly again. I keep the signed menu from back then like a relic to this day – it actually stands for the beginning of a lifelong love.

As a farewell, Dieter Müller gave me his cookbook “Simple and ingenious: The master chef’s aroma kitchen”, in which he simplifies the recipes of his three-star restaurant for ambitious hobby cooks without taking away their brilliance. This book was to become scripture, the divine tablet of the law for my cooking, and enable me to at least get a glimpse of fine dining on my own stove.

Only a cooking genius could think of that

Many of the recipes have entered our culinary canon, the braised thyme rabbit with morels and Leipziger allerlei, the wild rabbit fillet in a bread crust with black salsify and chestnut sauce, the poussin with confit and gnocchi and also the lamb knuckle, with which the hot sauce made from red Paprika, Tabasco and olive oil contrasts beautifully with the heavy sweetness of the meat – a very simple and yet so convincing idea that only a cooking genius could come up with.

Cooking according to Dieter Müller takes time and often nerves too. Six hours for a three-course meal is not uncommon, and it took me years to master the dishes in my sleep. But the reward of the effort is overwhelming and the joy immeasurable every time my kitchen begins to smell of the master’s aromas. Then I know how beautiful life can be when you rely on the luck of good taste.

Lamb shank

(ingredients for four people)

Lamb: 4 lamb shanks, 500 g mirepoix (roasted vegetables from onions, carrots and celery), 1 tbsp tomato paste, 300 ml red wine, 1 liter lamb stock, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 sprigs of savory, 1 sprig of thyme and rosemary, 10 peppercorns, 10 coriander seeds, 2 allspice seeds , 1 star anise, 1 teaspoon chopped savory, olive oil.

Vegetables: 4 waxy potatoes, 500g string beans, 1 diced shallot, 100g cream, 4 tbsp broad green beans, 2g freshly chopped savory, 1 dash of white balsamic vinegar.

Pepper sauce: 1 red pepper, 100ml olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, Tabasco.

Preparation: Fry the lamb knuckles in olive oil in the roaster, add Mirepoix and roast, add tomato paste. Gradually deglaze with red wine and glaze, then add lamb stock, herbs and spices. Roast the lamb shanks in the oven at 200 degrees for about two hours until the meat falls easily from the bone. Keep the lamb knuckles warm, strain the stew stock through a fine sieve and, depending on the consistency, boil down a little more. Finish with chopped savory and season with salt and pepper.

For the vegetables, peel the potatoes, cut into small cubes and blanch in salted water until al dente. Cut the string beans into diamonds and blanch until al dente. Sauté the diced shallots in butter and cook with the cream, season with salt, pepper and white balsamic vinegar. Then add the diced potatoes, string beans and peeled bean seeds. Finally add chopped savory.

For the sauce, bake the peppers in the oven until the skin can be peeled off, then blend the flesh of the pepper with the olive oil in the food processor and season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar and Tabasco.

Five o’ Clock Punch

My punch may not reinvent the wheel, but it’s tasty and very refreshing. Brandy and port should go well with the lamb, there’s a hint of rosemary in there too, and the bergamot should harmonize nicely with the thyme.

(ingredients for four people)

200 g caster sugar, 6 unwaxed lemons, Earl Gray tea, 5 sprigs of rosemary, brandy, ruby ​​port, a large vessel (punch bowl, carafe, salad bowl, if necessary also a large saucepan).

Preparation: First things first: We make a sherbet, a kind of lemonade concentrate. To do this, use a vegetable peeler to peel off the zest from the lemons as finely as possible, place in a sealable container with the sugar and press down firmly with a pestle or spoon. Close the jar and leave in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably 24 hours. After the brewing time has expired, squeeze and filter 200 ml lemon juice. Put the sugar and zest mixture in a saucepan, heat slowly and gently and gradually stir in the lemon juice. When the sugar has completely dissolved, pass through a sieve and leave to cool. Can be prepared a few days before use, then pour into a clean bottle and refrigerate.

Brew 1 liter of Earl Gray tea with 5 sprigs of rosemary, remove the tea and rosemary after four minutes and allow to cool. Put 200ml Sherbet, 1 liter Rosemary Earl Gray in a large container with plenty of ice, add 400ml Brandy, 200ml Ruby Port and stir once.