Lamb Fillet with Feta Crust

Feta crust:

1. Put the feta in a bowl and mash finely with a fork. Add butter, herbs and pepper and mix everything together vigorously without lumps. Then carefully season with salt. Finally stir in the panko flour and place everything on a rolled-out cling film. Put a second cling film on top and roll everything flat so that it is enough and fits for the 4 lamb fillets. Place the plate with the foil flat in the refrigerator and let it set.

Vegetables for rice and side dishes:

1. Slightly cut the tomatoes crosswise at the stem, put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them so that they are covered. Let it stay there until the skin visibly loosens. Pour off the hot water and briefly rinse them with very cold water. Then peel the tomatoes, quarter 4 of them and remove the core (but do not discard) and the stem base. Set aside for the vegetables. Remove the stem from the remaining tomatoes and cut them into small pieces, including the core. Add the removed core from the 4 previous tomatoes and save for the rice.
2. Peel the skin of the peppers with the peeler and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Wash and dry the zucchini and cut into pieces of the same size. Peel and quarter the shallot and peel apart the individual layers. Also cut the previously pitted tomato quarters into small pieces and have everything ready.

Rice and meat:

1. Skin the garlic cloves and cut into small cubes. Peel the onion and cut into small cubes. Steam both in a larger saucepan in the olive oil until translucent. Add the prepared, finely chopped tomatoes including the core and sweat with them. Stir in the Ras el Hanout and tomato paste, first pour 150 ml of hot water into everything and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar. When everything has boiled down a little and the tomatoes have crumbled, stir in 150 ml of hot water and the dry rice. Turn the heat down a lot and close the pot with a lid. Now don’t cook anymore, let it steep more. When the rice begins to soak up the liquid, stir everything vigorously, pour in 150 ml of hot water again, close the pot and let it steep again. In the end, the rice should be so cooked that it still has a very light bite, but is no longer hard inside (similar to a risotto). The tomato sauce should be creamy and not runny. If this is not the case after the last addition of water, then pour in another 150 – 200 ml of water for the last time and let it swell to the end. Stir it every now and then. Then just keep it warm. You may not need all of the 700 ml of water.
2. Preheat the grill in the oven. If necessary, remove the silver skin from the fillets. Pepper and salt them on both sides. Let the olive oil get very hot in a pan and fry the fillets very hot on both sides for 1 minute. Remove from the pan and place the portioned crust on top. Then place the fillets in the oven on the grid, slide the tray underneath and grill them until the crust has turned a golden brown color.

Completion:

1. Heat the butter in a pan and briefly toss the vegetables in it. Since the peppers and tomatoes are peeled and the zucchini and shallot are also very thinly sliced, the cooking time is very short. Season to taste with pepper and salt.
2. Now fold butter and chopped parsley under the hot rice, adjust the consistency with a little liquid if necessary and season.
3. When the crust of the fillets is browned, take it out of the oven immediately, cut it in half diagonally and serve with rice and vegetables.