A salad with lamb steaks has got to be one of the best ways to enjoy a hearty, meaty salad. Complement it with peppery leaves, zesty blood oranges and earthy beetroot for the perfect lamb recipe!
Remove 8-10 whole radicchio leaves. Roll the leaf back slowly, and it will come away without breaking. Wash and pat dry.
Roughly tear ½ oak lettuce leaves. Wash and pat dry.
Cut pre-cooked baby beets into 4-6 wedges each.
Roughly chop pistachios to yield ¼ cup.
Remove skin off 1 blood orange and cut into segments. For the second blood orange, leave skin on and cut into wheels. Remove flesh off the skin and pull the wheel apart to form small triangles (flow the natural grain of the fruit).
Pick flat leaf parsley leaves to yield ½ cup.
Ensure the lamb steaks are at room temperature before cooking, and only cook them when you’re ready to eat. Coat the lamb steaks with 1 tbsp olive oil. On medium to high heat, sear the steaks 2 minutes on each side. Remove, loosely cover in foil and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
Salad Dressing
Juice one blood orange, then add olive oil, honey and horseradish cream.
Mix until well combined.
Assembly
Slice the lamb steaks.
On a large platter, place half the radicchio leaves in a line, then half the oak lettuce. Repeat.
Drizzle with ½ the dressing.
Add the sliced lamb steaks on top.
Add the beetroot wedges and blood orange. Can tuck them between the leaves and the lamb.
Add the parsley leaves.
Sprinkle with chopped pistachios.
Drizzle with more dressing.
Serve immediately.
Notes
You can replace lamb with any other meat you may prefer, such as beef, chicken, venison, pork or veal.
Good radicchio replacements include endive, rocket (arugula) or watercress. Endive would be best as it has those lovely purple hues on the rim of every leaf and would certainly be closest in taste and texture too.
Try and get pre-cooked baby beets that aren’t from a tin can if possible. The vacuum-packed ones are great as it doesn’t have that canned/tinny taste.
If you can’t find blood orange, normal sweet oranges are fine to use. If you like the bitter taste, you can opt for grapefruit too.
You can find horseradish cream in the mustard/sauce section of your supermarket. You can use Dijon mustard if you prefer.
Make sure that you only cook the lamb steaks when you’re ready to eat. That way, they stay juicy and warm. The cook time also depends on the steaks' size and how well cooked you like your lamb.
Don’t over rest the lamb. Yes, there is such a thing. 5 minutes of the steaks are in smaller portions and no more than 10 minutes for larger pieces. Otherwise, they will just dry out.