Chef Juliette
Baron (or Pair of Hind-quarters) of Lamb
A whole saddle and its two hind legs, butter-poêlé under a close cover, carved rosy beside new vegetables and clear pan gravy: grand anatomy brought within reach of one home oven.
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Côtelettes d’Agneau de Lait Navarraise
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1375, Côtelettes d’Agneau de Lait Navarraise, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Milk-fed lamb cutlets seared on one side, domed with ham, mushroom, red capsicum, and truffled Béchamel, then gratinéed and set over warm tomato halves with a bright thread of tomato sauce.
Main Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
45 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 servings
Côtelettes d’Agneau de Lait Navarraise (milk-fed lamb cutlets in the Navarraise manner) teaches controlled succession. The lamb is grilled on one side only, that browned face is crowned with a cohesive filling of ham, mushroom, red capsicum, and truffled Béchamel, and the oven cooks the untouched side while the top becomes a gratin. Turn the cutlets in the pan and you lose the timing that makes the whole arrangement work.
The original kitchen assumed a grill cook beside a saucier holding reduced Béchamel and tomato sauce, then a salamander waiting to color the top. At home, two small saucepans, a heavy grill pan, and the oven broiler do the same work. The held sauces and extra hands were brigade scaffolding; the very reduced Béchamel, one-sided grilling, domed garnish, and final gratin are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The source’s twelve cutlets become eight, two for each of four guests, and the ham, cooked mushrooms, and capsicum come down in the same proportion. The tomatoes and sauce remain generous because every cutlet needs its warm pedestal and bright border. Before you touch the pan, remember the one true thing: grill the lamb on one side only, garnish that browned side, and let the oven finish the other.
Navarraise points toward Navarre at the western Pyrenees, including Lower Navarre on the French side, where cured ham, sweet red peppers, tomatoes, and young lamb belong naturally to the table. In the French classical repertory, à la Navarraise is a named garnish rather than proof that this exact composed cutlet came from a Navarre farmhouse; the regional larder was translated into ham, capsicum, and tomato, then disciplined with Béchamel and gratin. The architecture of a cutlet on a tomato half, bordered with sauce, shows how the grand kitchen carried a regional name into formal service without erasing its flavors.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small milk-fed lamb rib cutlets
Quantity
8, about 1½ lb / 680 g total
trimmed
smooth tomato passata
Quantity
1½ cups (360 ml / 365 g)
small firm plum tomatoes
Quantity
4, about 1 lb / 450 g total
halved crosswise
cooked ham
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 75 g)
finely chopped
cooked button mushrooms
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 75 g) cooked, from about 2 cups (475 ml / 150 g) raw
cooled and finely chopped
red capsicum
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 9 g)
very finely chopped
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g)
divided, half for Béchamel and half melted for finishing
all-purpose flour
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 24 g)
whole milk
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 184 g)
concentrated black-truffle essence
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1 g)
Gruyère
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 50 g)
finely grated
olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 27 g)
for the tomatoes
neutral oil
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 4 g)
for the cutlets
fine sea salt
Quantity
1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml / 9 g)
divided
ground white pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small milk-fed lamb rib cutletstrimmed | 8, about 1½ lb / 680 g total |
| smooth tomato passata | 1½ cups (360 ml / 365 g) |
| small firm plum tomatoeshalved crosswise | 4, about 1 lb / 450 g total |
| cooked hamfinely chopped | ½ cup (120 ml / 75 g) |
| cooked button mushroomscooled and finely chopped | ½ cup (120 ml / 75 g) cooked, from about 2 cups (475 ml / 150 g) raw |
| red capsicumvery finely chopped | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 9 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided, half for Béchamel and half melted for finishing | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 56 g) |
| all-purpose flour | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 24 g) |
| whole milk | ¾ cup (180 ml / 184 g) |
| concentrated black-truffle essence | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1 g) |
| Gruyèrefinely grated | ½ cup (120 ml / 50 g) |
| Gratinsusing the Gruyère and melted butter listed above | 1 application Gratins (No. 268) |
| olive oilfor the tomatoes | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 27 g) |
| neutral oilfor the cutlets | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 4 g) |
| fine sea saltdivided | 1½ teaspoons (7.5 ml / 9 g) |
| ground white pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •30 cm (12-inch) heavy grill pan or cast-iron skillet
- •Two small heavy saucepans
- •Rimmed metal sheet pan
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •Large warmed oval serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Reduce the tomato sauce
Pour the passata into a small heavy saucepan and bring it to a quiet simmer over medium-low heat. Cook uncovered for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until reduced to about 1 cup (240 ml) and glossy enough that a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a path for a moment. Season with ¼ teaspoon of the salt and a pinch of black pepper, then hold it over the lowest heat. If it tightens while waiting, loosen it with a spoonful of hot water; if it still runs like juice, reduce it further. This small saucepan is the honest home equivalent of the saucier’s ready tomato sauce.
- 2
Cook the reduced Béchamel
Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of the butter in a second heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour and cook the pale roux for 90 seconds without letting it color. Add the milk in three portions, whisking each addition completely smooth before the next. Simmer gently for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring into every corner, until the Béchamel has reduced to about ½ cup (120 ml) and falls from the spoon in heavy folds. Season with ¼ teaspoon salt and the white pepper.
If the Béchamel turns lumpy, take it off the heat and whisk firmly, then pass it through a fine sieve. Ça se rattrape. If it is merely loose, keep reducing it; adding raw flour now would leave a pasty taste. - 3
Make the Navarraise topping
Fold the ham, cooked mushrooms, and red capsicum into the hot Béchamel until every piece is bound in the sauce. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the truffle essence. The mixture must hold a rounded spoonful without spreading; if it slumps, return it to low heat for another minute or two, stirring constantly, then let it cool for 5 minutes. The very reduced sauce is not brigade fuss here. It is what keeps the dome on the cutlet.
- 4
Prepare oven and lamb
Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C), with a rack about 6 inches (15 cm) below the broiler, and set out a clean rimmed metal sheet pan. Pat the cutlets completely dry, brush them lightly with the neutral oil, and season both sides with ¾ teaspoon salt and most of the black pepper. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter and keep it ready beside the grated Gruyère.
- 5
Grill one side
Heat a heavy grill pan or cast-iron skillet over high heat until properly hot. Lay in the cutlets with their best-looking face down, working in two batches if crowding would cool the pan, and grill for 2 to 2½ minutes until that one face is deeply browned. Do not turn them. Transfer each cutlet to the sheet pan with the raw side against the metal and the grilled side facing up. This is the principle that decides the dish: the oven must still have one side of the lamb left to cook.
If the cutlets cling when you try to lift them, give them another 20 seconds. A properly browned surface releases more willingly than a pale one. - 6
Crown and begin gratin
Divide the Navarraise topping among the grilled faces, about one generous serving tablespoon per cutlet, and shape each portion into a neat dome with the back of the spoon. Apply Gratins (No. 268): cover the domes with the grated Gruyère, spoon over the melted butter, and place the tray in the hot oven for 5 minutes. Begin the tomatoes immediately while the oven completes the lamb from beneath.
- 7
Toss tomatoes, finish lamb
Heat the olive oil in the emptied grill pan or a clean skillet over medium-high heat. Season the tomato halves with the remaining salt and pepper, then cook them cut-side down for about 2 minutes. Turn and cook the skin side for 1 to 2 minutes, tossing the pan gently, until the tomatoes are glossy and warmed through but still firm enough to support a cutlet. Transfer them to a warm platter, cut-side up. Complete Gratins (No. 268) by switching the oven to broil and coloring the cutlets for 30 to 90 seconds, until the cheese is mottled deep gold. Check through the side of a cutlet without touching the bone; pull them at about 140°F (60°C), then rest for 3 minutes so they carry toward 145°F (63°C).
The broiler is your salamander, and it works quickly. If the topping colors before the lamb reaches temperature, lower the tray and cover the domes loosely with foil. If the lamb is ready but the top remains pale, bring it close to the broiler for a final few seconds. Ça se rattrape. - 8
Build the platter
Arrange the eight tomato halves in a circle on the warm platter and set one cutlet squarely upon each. Spoon the hot tomato sauce in a narrow cordon around the arrangement, letting it gleam against the platter without flooding the tomatoes or softening the gratin. Bring the platter directly to the table, two cutlets for each guest. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Milk-fed lamb is pale, small, and delicate. Ask for eight evenly matched rib cutlets so they finish together. Small conventional lamb rib chops will work if that is what your butcher has, but their flavor is stronger and their thicker eye may need another minute in the oven; the change is real, not invisible.
- •The 75 g mushroom measure is cooked weight, exactly matching the source’s ratio after scaling. Begin with about 150 g raw button mushrooms and cook them in a dry skillet until their water has evaporated, then cool and weigh what you need. Wet mushrooms loosen the Béchamel and send the domes sliding.
- •Truffle essence should sit behind the ham and mushroom, not announce itself from the doorway. Measure it. A heavy hand makes the filling taste perfumed, and no quantity of Gruyère can argue it back into balance.
- •Use firm plum tomatoes because they must carry the cutlets. Good canned passata is the correct pantry answer for the sauce, but the tomato halves need enough structure to survive the pan.
- •A red Irouléguy from the French Basque country has the dark fruit and freshness for the lamb, tomato, and sweet pepper. Serve it slightly cool, not warm from the room.
Advance Preparation
- •The reduced tomato sauce and the complete ham, mushroom, capsicum, and Béchamel topping may be made up to 1 day ahead and chilled separately. Reheat the sauce gently and let the topping stand outside the cold for about 20 minutes so it can be shaped.
- •The mushrooms may be cooked and the ham and capsicum chopped earlier in the day. Grate the Gruyère and keep it covered in the cold.
- •Do not grill the cutlets ahead. Once their first side meets the pan, the dish should move directly through topping, gratin, and service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 390g)
Calories
655 calories
Total Fat
48 g
Saturated Fat
21 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
24 g
Cholesterol
155 mg
Sodium
1300 mg
Total Carbohydrates
17 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
10 g
Protein
39 g
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