Danny’s simple and succulent herb infused lamb chops recipe
D generally cooks on a Friday. It used to be steak. Now it’s something a bit more economical. On Thursday I found a chunky pack of lamb loin chops in the fridge reserved for his chef spot. They’re cheaper than steak but still a big Friday night treat. When I pushed open the cottage front door he was busy with string and chops. “Don’t look. It’s a surprise dish.” My antenna has 20/20 surround vision. He was tying the chops together with string. The effect resembled an eccentric rack of lamb with chunkier chops. The result was...
read moreSweet, spicy, slow baked beetroot recipe – the perfect accompaniment for roast lamb
Danny’s face fell ten years ago when John Coe stepped proudly into the cottage with a carrier bag bursting with home grown beetroot. Later he admitted that he hated beetroot. He imagined that beetroot had to be transmogrified to that vinegary stuff in jars. I made him beetroot soup and he loved it so much that we overdosed. Many beetroot free years have passed since then. To my surprise and delight D returned last week with a small box of “Sweetfire” beetroot from the “condemned food counter” in our local Tesco. This is wonderful...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Low fat stir fried coriander lamb with mange tout, baby corn and lime infused noodles
We cooked Spanish lamb last weekend and still had lashings of lamb and sauce left over. Sometimes we are well intentioned, making a Shepherd’s pie with the remains. More often the remnants are jettisoned into the freezer and six months later the dogs polish off the bounty. Cold lamb doesn’t look wildly appealing. This week I was determined to use up the remains of lamb (500g) and the wine sauce in a stir fry. So this recipe is designed to follow on from our slow cooked Spanish lamb recipe. I’d bought a book on stir fries from Homebase....
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Low fat Spanish Lamb braised in thyme, garlic and white wine recipe
“Let’s try making the Spanish Lamb in the slow cooker. It will be cheaper than using the oven and it might enhance the flavours even more.” It was better than the oven baked version, with more depth of flavour and the joint remained plump and succulent. This is a great, easy dish for lazy entertaining. Just a few minutes preparation and then you can sit back as it turns into a delicious melt in the mouth lamb. The tantalising sauce tastes as if you have been slaving away for hours. Cooked a day in advance the dish sang. The fat was...
read moreLeftovers: Summer Shepherd’s Pie recipe
“Do you like carrots in your shepherd’s pie?” “Yes please!” Danny looked suspicious, “What else are you going to add?” I was planning to cook a traditional British Shepherd’s Pie with the leftovers from a shoulder of lamb. He visibly relaxed. But when I went to the fridge that evening the shelves were bare. For weeks Danny had been stockpiling carrots, buying every bag that he found on the Tesco condemned food counter. At one stage the fridge was bursting with them and I’d considered making...
read moreSunday roast: Breast of lamb stuffed with bacon and apricots recipe
We have got a craze for breast of lamb at the moment. It’s such an economical joint and it’s a great opportunity to play with store cupboard ingredients for the stuffing. I usually use fresh breadcrumbs in stuffing but I had such a lot of dried breadcrumbs I though I’d whiz them up in the food processor and give them a go instead. I also left out onions to speed up the preparation. The result was lots of texture and a satisfying crunchiness that balanced the sweet melt in the mouth meat. Following Nigel Slater’s tip...
read moreSunday roast: Melt in the mouth slow baked breast of lamb stuffed with chicken livers, apricots and pine nuts recipe
We have halved our paper bill by cancelling the Sunday paper (we are just weekend readers). We actually read the Saturday paper now rather than glancing at it and turning it into fire briquettes a week later. The one article that I always read is Mark Hix’s recipe ideas as we are eating our breakfast and Danny is chortling through the sports section of the paper. This week he had a tempting recipe for slow baked breast of lamb. A pretty brave move as everyone is probably planning to invest in the more expensive cuts of lamb for Easter...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Moroccan style lamb meatballs on a bed of mint and coriander infused couscous
“I thought that it would be too spicy for them but I suppose that Indian dogs eat curry. And dogs in Morocco must wolf down spicy scraps” “You did feed them earlier, didn’t you?” We were watching our pack guzzling the leftovers from supper. They are fed early evening but we always give them the scrapings from our supper. A sort of canine Little Foodies thing (Little Foodies are in Italy at the moment and all the Min Pins would love it. Pasta has them jumping through hoops. This is a blog that is well worth...
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