Nick Curtin's Lamb Neck and Potato Pancakes at Rosette

Welcome to The Hot Dish, a behind the scenes look at the making of the dishes of the moment.

[All photographs by Nick Solares]

Nick Curtin's inspiration for the lamb neck dish he serves at the newly-minted Rosette came from a couple of places. His wife made him naan bread with tzatziki a few week back for dinner and the chef "loved the tactile experience of eating it" with his hands. He started conceptualizing ways to replicate the experience at his restaurant. The decision to use lamb came from a single sprig of ground ivy, which the restaurant's forager collected for him. It has a similar flavor to mint but also a peppery quality, and the chef felt it would pair perfectly with lamb.

The resulting dish plays like a deconstructed gyro, with potato pancakes in place of pita and a cornucopia of pickled vegetables, seasonal herbs, and edible flowers. The lamb is cooked using what the chefs describes as "technique over technology" — roasting and braising rather than the sous vide that is so popular in the kitchens of young chefs these days. Both the lamb and the pancakes are finished in a wood fired oven. The dish is served for two and costs $42.

Watch Curtin cook lamb neck three different ways:

Grid View

• The ingredients: (left tray) Rhubarb, Yukon gold potato, little gem lettuce. Greek yogurt, flour. (Bowls at center, l-r from top): Pickled rhubarb, pickled red onions, dried sumac, egg, za'atar-spiced potato chips, pickled fennel, pickled green strawberry
• The cured lamb neck is roasted for an hour.
• After being roasted the lamb neck is braised for three hours with parsnips, onions, and chicken stock.
• After braising the meat is pulled off the bone.
• Making tzatziki.
• Curtin makes pancakes with Yukon gold potatoes, Greek yogurt, lemon and flour.
• The pulled lamb neck and braising liquids are combined in a cast iron pan and finished in the wood fired oven.
• The pancakes are reheated directly on the oven deck.

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