Lamb, semidried tomato and vegetable pasta

Serves

Prep Time

Cook Time

Ingredients

8 lamb fillets/tenderloins, trimmed

`400 g pasta curls

`125 g semidried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped

1 cup broccoli florets, steamed until just tender

90 g baby spinach, trimmed

0.5 red onion, cut into thin wedges

0.33 cup olive oil

grated rind and juice of a lemon

1 tbsp lemon thyme leaves

0.5 cup reserved pasta cooking water

lemon thyme sprigs, to garnish

Brush the lamb fillets lightly with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta until just tender. Drain, reserving ½ cup of the cooking water.
Preheat a non-stick pan to moderately hot. Keep the heat at moderately high. Cook one side of lamb fillet until the first sign of moisture appears on the uncooked side, turn and cook other side. You may need to turn the meat 3 times so all sides are browned.
Test for doneness with tongs. Rare is soft when pressed, medium is springy and well done is very firm. Rest the lamb for 2 minutes before serving.
To serve, thinly slice the lamb (on the diagonal). Place the pasta in a large bowl and stir in the semidried tomatoes, broccoli, spinach and red onion and lamb slices. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon rind and juice, thyme leaves and reserved pasta water. Pour over the pasta and toss thoroughly. Serve warm. Garnish with small sprigs of lemon thyme.

Meat should sizzle when you add it to the pan. Keep the heat at a moderately high temperature; this should be enough to keep the meat sizzling without burning.
Best lamb cuts for pan-frying; eye of loin/backstrap, tenderloin/fillet, loin chops, cutlets, lamb steaks (round or topside).