Sous Vide: Spiced Lamb Tenderloin

Once in a long while, I make the bold move to conceptualize some ideas in my mind and bring them to fruition. The long festive weekend gave me a chance to try out two ideas. First, the lamb. About a week back, I chanced upon lamb tenderloin at my favourite butcher, and bought it without exactly knowing how I would prepare it. And that kicked off some planning to think of flavours in my mind and carefully consider how I would combine various elements together to create a beautiful and tasty dish.

Spiced lamb tenderloin, serve with lemon and mint yoghurt sauce

Spiced Lamb Tenderloin
I have never tried cooking anything Moroccan style before, even though I roughly know the flavours and have eaten it before.

For the spice rub:
1. A handful each of cumin seeds and coriander seeds
2. Black peppercorns
3. Nutmeg
4. Cinnamon
5. Coarse salt

For the lamb:
1. 400g of lamb tenderloin, trimmed
2. Fresh thyme
3. Salt and pepper
4. Olive oil

For the sauce:
1. 150g Greek yoghurt
2. 1 Lemon
3. Fresh mint leaves
4. Salt and pepper

Steps:
1. Set the water bath to 55degC. Pull out your food saver bags, or ziploc freezer bags. Place 3 strips of tenderloin in each bag, add a dash of salt and pepper, a sprig of fresh thyme, and a lug of olive oil. Seal, and place in preheated water bath for 1 hour.
2. Heat up a dry pan over medium heat. Put in all the dry spices, except for the nutmeg, and toast till fragrant. Combine the toasted spices, nutmeg, and coarse salt and grind it using a food processor or pestle and mortar. You want a medium-fine coarseness. Set aside.
3. Combine the yoghurt and lemon juice together. Add a handful of chopped up mint leaves and lemon zest of 1 lemon. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill.
4. When the lamb tenderloin is done, place the bags in an ice bath to quickly cool it down for 5min. Remove the lamb from the bags, pat dry and coat with the spice rub.
5. Heat up a frying pan and add a good amount of cooking oil. It would be fantastic if you have beef tallow! Add the lamb, and do a quick sear till the sides lightly brown.  
6. Slice the tenderloin into neat equal-sized portions. Serve warm with the chilled yoghurt sauce.