Tico's Leo Asaro Assembles a Lamb Dish Start to Finish

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• [Photos: Chris Coe]

In celebration of The Five Days of Meat, Leo Asaro, executive chef at Tico, demonstrates the whole process of making one of his popular seasonal dishes — summer lamb with asparagus, cilantro, cucumbers, and chickpeas — from breaking down the lamb to plating it all.

Asaro uses Manzini Farm lamb from upstate New York, a grass-fed animal with no antibiotics or growth hormones added. For this dish, he specifically uses the loin and the shoulder. The loin gets cooked with a little oil, salt, and pepper and basted with a little bit of butter, while the shoulders get seasoned, seared, and braised until tender with a standard mirepoix and some chile de arbol, thyme, and red wine.

Some of the braising liquid gets mixed with tomato, chickpeas, and asparagus, and medallions of the lamb are arranged on top, garnished with long slices of cucumber that are seasoned with a neutral vinaigrette. The finishing touch is cilantro yogurt.
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