Enjoy seasonal products: sea bass, lamb, green asparagus and rhubarb

STARTER

Green-crusted sea bass with fennel & radish salad and saffron dressing

Wine tip: Rueda-Verdejo from Spain

MAIN COURSE

Leg of suckling lamb with grilled asparagus and cannellini beans

Wine tip: Rioja Joven from Spain

DESSERT

Rhubarb with strained yoghurt and granola

Wine tip: Cava Semi Seco from Spain

Rhubarb (one day in advance)

Hang a sieve or colander over a mixing bowl and place a clean tea towel or serviette across it. Pour in the yoghurt and leave to strain in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Sea bass

First, pop the quinoa. Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan on the stove. Add the quinoa and cover the pan with a lid. Keep shaking the pan. After about 30 seconds, the quinoa will start popping. Wait until the popping subsides (as with popcorn), then remove the pan from the stove.

Remove the leaves from the chervil. Keep a quarter aside for the salad and chop the rest of the chervil finely. Mix the finely chopped chervil with the puffed quinoa and fennel seeds. Sprinkle the sea bass fillets with salt and pepper and divide the quinoa mixture over the fillets.

For the grilled fennel, slice a fennel bulb into thin pieces, drizzle with olive oil and add salt to taste. For the salad, slice the second fennel bulb into wafer thin pieces.

Wash the radish and keep the leaves aside for the salad. Slice 2 radishes into wafer-thin strips and the remaining radishes into little wedges. For the salad, mix the fennel and radish strips with the radish leaves and the whole chervil leaves. Cover and keep the sea bass fillets, the fennel and radish wedges, and the salad in the fridge.

Place the saffron threads in a bowl and sprinkle with the white wine vinegar. Cover and put aside.

Leg of lamb

Using a knife, cross hatch the leg of lamb. Chop the rosemary into pieces and peel the garlic. Cut one garlic clove into thin slices. Insert the rosemary and garlic into the cross hatching and add the anchovy fillets. Tie with kitchen string if necessary.

Rinse the cannellini beans in a colander and allow to drain well. Cut off the hard base of the asparagus, peel the onions and cut into wedges. Drizzle olive oil over both. Crush the remaining garlic and mix with the drained white beans and a dash of olive oil. Finely chop the parsley. Cover the ingredients and keep separately in the fridge.

Rhubarb

Ignite the Big Green Egg and heat to 180°C, with the convEGGtor, the Cast Iron Grid and the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle (with the smooth side facing upward). Wash the rhubarb and slice into pieces about 1 cm thick. Spread the rhubarb evenly in a baking dish, sprinkle with the sugar and pour over the port.

Place the baking dish on the grid, close the lid of the EGG and cook the rhubarb for about 30 minutes until soft with most of the moisture evaporated. Meanwhile, roughly chop the mixed nuts and mix with the spelt flakes. After the rhubarb has cooked for 15 minutes, spread the nuts in the Cast Iron Griddle Half Moon. Close the lid again and toast the mixture for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Stir from time to time while toasting

Spoon the nut mixture into a dish, sprinkle with the maple syrup and add ground cinnamon to taste. Mix well and allow to cool. Keep the desert in an airtight storage container until ready to serve. Switch off the EGG by closing the flow draft door and dual function metal top, or proceed straight to preparation of the leg of lamb. Set up the EGG as described.

Leg of lamb (part 1)

Pre-cook the leg of lamb as described here, or there will be too much time between the starter and main course. If you extinguished the Big Green Egg, reignite it. Remove the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle from the grid and heat the EGG to 130°C. Place the leg of lamb on the grid, replace the lid and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours until a core temperature of  62°C is reached. Check this with the Instant Read Digital Thermometer and regularly baste with olive oil while cooking.

Remove the leg of lamb from the grid and cover loosely with aluminium foil.

Sea bass

Replace the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle (with the smooth side facing upwards) and heat the EGG to 180°C. Grill the fennel pieces on the grid for about 15 minutes with the lid on. Turn halfway through cooking. After 10 minutes, place the sea bass fillets on the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle, skin side up. The fennel and the fish should then be ready at virtually the same time.

Stir 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and the honey and orange juice through the saffron mixture and pour two thirds of this dressing over the radish wedges. Make the salad using the fennel pieces, radish, radish leaves and whole chervil leaves and remainder of the dressing.

Arrange the grilled fennel pieces on the plates and place a sea bass fillet on top of each. Serve the salad alongside and spoon the dressing with the radish wedges around the food.

Leg of lamb (part 2)

Remove the Half Moon Cast Iron Plancha Griddle from the grid. Place the onion wedges on it and return the leg of lamb to the griddle. Grill the onion wedges for about 5 minutes with the lid closed. Fill the drip pan of the Half Moon Raised Grid with the cannellini beans and slide into the Half Moon Raised Grid. Place the grilled onion and leg of lamb on top and place on the grid. Place the asparagus beside it, close the lid of the EGG and grill for about 10 minutes. Turn the asparagus after 5 minutes.

Remove the ingredients from the EGG. Mix the grilled onion and finely chopped parsley with the beans and season with salt and pepper. Serve with the leg of lamb and grilled asparagus on a pretty dish, or carve the meat and serve on the plates with the asparagus and beans.

Rhubarb

Spoon the rhubarb into four glasses and pour over the yoghurt. Sprinkle with granola and enjoy!