Maple Whisky Lamb Tenderloin
So, I came home tonight to prepare a wonderfully simple but delicious recipe using some of my all time favourite ingredients: whisky, maple syrup and lamb tenderloin. What a combination!
Here’s what you’ll need:
5 lamb tenderloins – thawed and rinsed under cold water
1/2 cup of pure maple syrup (not the fake garbage you buy at the grocery store!!!!0
1/3 cup of quality whisky (I know, it huts but I went with The Macallan Select Oak, a single malt of extraordinary smoothness remarkable sweetness and depth, so the bottle doth say!)
a small sprig of fresh thyme
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 solid nobs of butter
1 splash of olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Take the thyme and pluck the leaves off the stalk. Smash them in a mortar and pestle then add it to a zip top bag. Mix the maple syrup and the whisky in a non-reactive bowl then pour it into the bag once combined. Take the lamb tenderloins and chuck them in the bag, seal it and throw it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Set up your grill for direct heat at a medium temperature of about 400F. I set my mini Big Green Egg up about 90 minutes ahead of time as I wanted little flame but a hot cooking surface. About 10 minutes before the grilling I made the sauce.
The sauce goes simply like this. Take your butter and a splash of olive oil in a skillet. Heat it over medium/high heat until melted then add your red onion and garlic. Let that caramelise for few minutes watching all the while that you don’t start to burn it. Remove your lamb from the bag and please for the love of God, keep that marinade. Pour it into your skillet and reduce it to a nice semi-thick sauce. That should take about 10-15 minutes on a medium heat.
The last thing you’ll do is grill the lamb. Simply place it on an oiled grid and turn every minute or so until your instant read thermometer reads 135F (or 57C) – Should take about 6 minutes or so. Season lightly with a bit of Kosher salt and pepper, to taste.
Then bring your sauce back up to a bubble then turn off the heat. Add the lamb and coat it thoroughly. Plate it up with a mixed salad and some halloumi cheese. Make sure you cut the lamb on an angle in the middle and then spoon a bit of the caramelised onion and garlic sauce onto the lamb.
The result was magnificent! Both Alex and Heather went nuts. The flavour dance that happens on the pallet is intense. The whisky hits first followed by a wonderful caramel flavoured shot of maple syrup. Seriously good eats my friends!
Enjoy and let me know how it goes!
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Overall Heather Rating: 10/10
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