Recipe and WIN: Spanish-style anchovy lamb with a green sauce served with Alhambra Reserva 1925

****Congratulations to the competition winner, Eleanor P!****

Who doesn’t love tapas? The variety of dishes available is endless: from egg and cheese based dishes to a wealth of meat, fish, nut and vegetable options, there really is something for everyone.

We quite often have tapas nights at home, combining a range of shop-bought items with homemade dishes such as garlicky prawns, chorizo in red wine (or cider) and a Spanish tortilla to feed our senses with a wealth of different flavours.

Recently, I was challenged to come up with my own Spanish-inspired tapas recipe to complement Cervezas Alhambra’s Alhambra Reserva 1925 beer: a recipe that would “complement the full-bodied, pleasant taste”. This was a challenge – at 6.4%, this extra lager is pretty intense and full-bodied in its flavour, so needed a dish with strong flavours that would stand up well to it.

I was sent a case of Alhambra Reserva 1925 to help me with the challenge, and after sampling a few bottles, I decided on the strong flavours that I wanted to use. While some may question the pairing of lamb and anchovies, it works, trust me – there’s no fishiness, just a lovely savoury note that really brings out the flavour of the lamb. And so here’s my recipe: Spanish-style anchovy lamb with a green sauce.

Spanish-style anchovy lamb with a green sauce

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Spanish

Ingredients

  

For the lamb

• 450 grams diced lamb
• 3 tinned anchovies
• 2 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for cooking)
• 3 cloves garlic
• zest of one lemon
• 3 sprigs thyme, stalks removed

For the green sauce

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 small handful parsley
• 1.5 tbsp capers
• 1 clove garlic

Instructions

 

• Combine all of the marinade ingredients (the anchovies, olive oil, garlic, lemon zest and thyme) in a pestle and mortar or a food processor. Blitz until you have a paste. Smother the lamb with this paste, and leave to marinate for at least an hour in the fridge.
• For the green sauce, combine all of the ingredients and blitz in a food processor until well combined but not completely smooth. Set aside at room temperature until it's time to serve the dish.
• After marinating, heat the remaining olive oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add the lamb and cook, turning regularly, until cooked through. Serve with the green sauce.

Keyword anchovy, lamb

WIN 2x 75cl bottles of Alhambra Reserva 1925! 

Competition time! One lucky winner will receive a special edition 2x 75cl package of Alhambra Reserva 1925 so they can try it for themselves. All you need to do to enter is to leave me a comment below to let me know your favourite tapas recipe that you think would work paired with Alhambra Reserva 1925, and we’ll pick a winner after midday on Wednesday, October 28th. Good luck!

Please note: we were sent a case of Alhambra Reserva 1925, along with 3 glasses, in return for writing this post.