We were thrilled to team up with a host of talented and renowned Welsh chefs recently to create a suite of delicious Welsh Lamb recipes that can be recreated from the comfort of your own home – bringing restaurant tastes to your kitchen tables. The Chef’s brief was simple – create stunning dishes to inspire home cooks, that showcase the superior taste and incredible versatility of PGI Welsh Lamb. And boy, did they deliver!
The first of our six talented chefs is Owen Morgan from the Forty Four Group – a Spanish group of restaurants based in Wales and the West Country. An independent, family run business, the Forty Four Group are passionate about Spanish cuisine and showcase the very best modern Spanish dishes at their establishments, using only the very best locally sourced produce.
For Owen, it is imperative that all lamb dishes featured on his menus use Welsh Lamb:
“It’s always been important for us to use Welsh Lamb in all our restaurants, regardless of geography, purely because we think it’s the best lamb. It’s just the best quality, best consistency and flavour. To me, that means good value as well.”
Owen created two wonderful Welsh Lamb dishes for us – a Welsh Lamb Empanada recipe, perfect for mid-week family meals, and a Welsh Lamb Pinchos Moruños dish, great for BBQing or serving as a tapas dish to enjoy with family and friends. Both recipes utilise a wealth of aromatic herbs and spices, and this is where Owen believes Welsh Lamb really comes into its own – as the depth of flavour Welsh Lamb provides isn’t overpowered, and is in fact enhanced, by the use of spices.
“Everything about rearing these animals just results in the most beautiful meat.”
Raised and reared in the unique Welsh landscape and natural climate of Wales, Welsh Lamb has been awarded PGI (protected geographical indicator) status by the EU and UK Geographical Indication (GI) status more recently, which recognises its unique qualities. These qualities, combined with generations of traditional farming practices, result in the finest quality Welsh Lamb packed full of flavour and is one of the reasons why it is loved by chefs and food connoisseurs world-wide.
Tender, versatile and full of flavour, in Owen’s words:
“If it’s lamb, go Welsh.”