How to Make Lamb Ratatouille

Narrator: California Lamb, the perfect California meal. It’s a great source of protein and is low in calories. It’s also loaded with vitamins and iron. California is the second largest lamb producing state in the nation. So, why not roast, broil or grill it up? Here with a great lamb recipe is Food and Lifestyle Expert Laura McIntosh bringing it home from the crops to your kitchen. Laura McIntosh: The man to deliver great recipes is right here with us, Tony Baker from Montrio Bistro in Monterey. Tony Baker: Yes. Laura McIntosh: The restaurant! Let’s hear a little bit about it. Tony Baker: Montrio Bistro, we’re downtown Monterey which is only about 20 minutes south of where we are right now. Laura McIntosh: All right. Tony Baker: Well, we’re going to get our dish started and all it is a matter of putting ingredients in the pan in the right order. Laura McIntosh: Okay. Tony Baker: So, we have garlic. I’m going to put even more olive oil. You want a lot of oil for this recipe. Laura McIntosh: All right. Am I getting the garlic to a brown consistency? Tony Baker: Not right now because it will with the eggplant. You’re going to be cooking that down for a little bit. Laura McIntosh: So, I’m putting it in there. Tony Baker: Yeah. This is an artichoke ratatouille. All that means really is I’m going to put diced artichoke hearts in towards the end. We’re going to add onions, bell peppers and at the very last minute, we’re going to add our zucchini yellow squash, artichokes and these are oven dried tomatoes. Laura McIntosh: Oh good! Tony Baker: We’re going to get straight to the heart of the matter here, excuse the pun. Laura McIntosh: Okay. Tony Baker: And I’m going to take a serrated knife. This is just a regular bread knife and I’m going to chop the top off. Laura McIntosh: Well, you really took it all off. Tony Baker: Okay and then whip the bottom off. Notice I’m not cutting all the way back because that’s all the heart in there. You want to protect the heart. So, I’m going to cut around the outside taking all the way down to the heart. I’m getting there now. Laura McIntosh: So, you keep going around and around. Tony Baker: You want to try and shape the knife around. Laura McIntosh: Okay, you want to get the heart. Tony Baker: Yes. So, there we go. We got that all cleaned up. Now, we got to take that green part off the bottom. Laura McIntosh: Oh, this bottom? Tony Baker: The bottom part, yes. Laura McIntosh: Okay. Tony Baker: So, I’m going to cut that all the way around. Now, there’s our heart. It’s beautiful. Laura McIntosh: That is gorgeous. Tony Baker: So, I’m going to clean that up with some citrus there. Keep it nice and white. Laura McIntosh: I’m adding onion. Tony Baker: Oh, you go girl. Laura McIntosh: Okay. Tony Baker: Pop it in. We’re going to pop that into the cooking liquid. It has oregano, red wine vinegar and we’re going to pop those in there for about 20 to 25 minutes. After 20 minutes of course, you’re going to end up with cooked meat, which is what this is right here which is going to be the ingredients for our ratatouille. Laura McIntosh: Ratatouille! Tony Baker: Next up, a beautiful spring lamb. I’ve wrapped it in pancetta which is an Italian cured bacon. I’m going to season these up a little bit. Now, there’s a little bit of salt already in the pancetta of course. Laura McIntosh: So, you have to be careful. Tony Baker: Yeah, be careful. Don’t over season it. Laura McIntosh: Okay. Tony Baker: But I’m going to throw some extra black pepper on there. I love my pepper. Laura McIntosh: I do too. I’m adding by the way the zucchini. Tony Baker: Oh, you go girl. All right, so I’m going to sear those in the pan. So, we put it into a really hot pan, a little bit of olive oil, get it seared, browned all the way around and then we’re going to pop that into our oven and finish it off. All right, we’re going to do some marjoram. Marjoram is an herb that you don’t hear much of, it’s beautiful, it’s fragrant. We’re going to add this wonderful chopped marjoram to our ratatouille. Laura McIntosh: Okay. Tony Baker: Delicate herbs like cilantro and marjoram, you want to pop in towards the end. I’m going to pop these straight into the oven. Laura McIntosh: He’s quick, did you see that? Tony Baker: I got this in a hot oven, I like to cook things -- well, it depends. I got it about 400 degrees. And that’s only going to take maybe 10 minutes because it’s been a hot pan, we’ve already seared it all the way off. Laura McIntosh: That was easy, yeah, very easy. Okay, we’ve wrapped the lamb with pancetta. We’re making the ratatouille, pretty basic. What is this now? Tony Baker: We got a sauce here and I cheated. I made this at the restaurant. It’s made from lamb stock as a base and I have in there some sherry vinegar, some red wine, some herbs, some vegetables, mirepoix which is carrots, leeks, celery, a big staple. And that’s got just a tad of cream at the end. Laura McIntosh: Okay, all right. See that’s easy. Tony Baker: I would go low with this dish. Laura McIntosh: All right. Tony Baker: I’m going to pull that out of the oven. Oh yeah, look at that! Lovely! Laura McIntosh: That looks beautiful! Okay, good! Tony Baker: All right Laura, would you mind popping that marjoram into that ratatouille for me? Laura McIntosh: Perfect, all of it? Tony Baker: Thank you so much. Sure, why not? Laura McIntosh: Okay. Now, that is what it’s supposed to look like everybody, that’s great! Tony Baker: Okay. I’m going to just cut the ends off, just trim the ends off and I’m going to cut three one inch pieces for one serving. And let’s see -- oh yeah, look at that. Laura McIntosh: Oh, that looks great! Gorgeous! We’re doing good. Tony Baker: Laura, you did well. Laura McIntosh: Awesome! Tony Baker: Okay, I’m going to put this in the center of the plate. It’d be a nice touch to use a ring, a pastry ring but let’s face it; I wouldn’t do that at home. Laura McIntosh: At home, yeah. I wouldn’t do it at home. I might do it at home if I was a weekend warrior. Tony Baker: Yeah. Laura McIntosh: You know doing this for the weekend. Tony Baker: Okay, we’re going to pop those in the center like that. Delicious! I’m going to drizzle that around the outside like that. Laura McIntosh: Look at that! Tony Baker: Tasty! Laura McIntosh: Oh, that’s easy! And you said that you would make this easy enough for us to do at home and I think Tony you have.