Farm-raised loin chops of lamb from Quercy, roasted with rosemary and served with a râgout of Tarbes beans (Recipe from the Toulouse Lycée des métiers de l’Hôtellerie et du Tourisme d’Occitanie [hotel and tourism college of Occitanie])

Recipe put forward by Philippe Puel, Chef at the Restaurant Le Cantou in Saint-Martin du Touch (Toulouse)

Ingredients for four people:

Preparation:

Soak the Tarbes beans overnight. Change the water and blanch them, skimming off any foam before draining them. Finely chop up one onion, cut the Bayonne Ham, bacon and carrot in 2mm or smaller cubes (brunoise). Blanch the ham and drain. In a saucepan, sweat the bacon, then the onions, carrot and ham. Add the poultry stock, bouquet garni and blanched Tarbes beans. Top up with plenty of water and cook over a gentle heat until the Tarbes beans are soft but not falling apart.

Blanch the marrow bones in heavily salted water, let them boil gently for eight minutes, skimming off the foam the while, then leave to cool in the pan without draining.
Blanch eight cloves of garlic for two minutes.
The meat on the ribs of the lamb loins should be stripped back to the bone, making a convenient handle for the eye meat of the loin (manchonnés) and trimmed. The loins will need to be cooked as single pieces but they will also need to be separated easily into single chops before serving, so make sure that the backbone end of the loin can be cut through without undue force. Season the loins with salt, pepper and thyme flowers. Put a large, deep frying pan (sautoir) on a brisk flame and sear the two sides of both loins for two minutes, add the blanched garlic and cook in a hot oven for 9 to 11 minutes, watching over the cooking to ensure that the lamb remains pink in the middle. Drain the marrow bones and gently scoop out the bone marrow.Once the loins and the garlic have finished cooking, remove them from the pan and keep warm.Remove any excess fat and deglaze the pan with white wine: reduce this to half, then add the veal stock, before reducing this to half, too and adding a pat of butter.On hot plates, lay out the empty marrow bones and fill them with some of the Tarbes beans. Cut down the ribs with a sharp knife to release the individual lamb chops from each loin, serving four per person, with a decorative ribbon of cooking juice drizzled around the plate. Top each marrow bone with a clove of garlic.
Recommended wine from South West France: Marcillac AOC (AOP)