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Lamb & Rosemary Envelopes

Cook lamb steaks with herbs and wrap into a puff pastry parcel - you'll need just five ingredients

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cranberry and lamb share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and 14 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep10 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Set a baking sheet nearby.

  2. Heat a dry nonstick skillet over high heat. Press the chopped rosemary leaves onto both sides of the lamb steaks, then sear them 2 minutes per side until browned. Transfer to a plate and let cool for 5 minutes.

  3. Unroll the puff pastry and cut it into 4 squares, each large enough to wrap one lamb steak with a border.

  4. Spread 1 rounded tablespoon of cranberry sauce over each lamb steak. Set one rosemary sprig on top of each steak.

  5. Place each steak in the center of a pastry square. Fold the pastry up and around the lamb, pinching the seams closed so each steak is fully sealed.

  6. Place the envelopes seam-side down on the baking sheet. Brush the tops and sides with the beaten egg.

  7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden and the thickest part of the lamb reaches at least 145°F (63°C).

  8. Rest the envelopes for 3 minutes before serving.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cranberry + lambtop 13% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Cranberry + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl decanoate (grape, waxy).

  3. Rosemary + lambtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together396 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Sauce + lambtop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together925 recipes
  5. Cranberry + saucetop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together480 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the cranberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, egg, rosemary, lamb):

  1. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  2. Cranberrythe original
  3. Orangeabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, egg, rosemary, lamb. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).