Open Table

Rack of Lamb

My Rack of Lamb recipe was featured by the Evening Standard:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/foodanddrink/rack-of-lamb-7684386.html

I adore this time of year, not only for the first signs of spring with the daffodils and blossom but also for the many new foods coming into season.  My butcher had new season lamb delivered this month and I could not resist serving some for a dinner party with a couple of friends.

It is the perfect dish.  It has a wow factor when bought to the table while being quick to prepare and tastes simple wonderful.  I cannot recommend it enough. 

Keeping in season I served the lamb with boiled Jersey Royal Potatoes and green vegetables.  I top my potatoes with a generous knob of butter some chopped flat leaf parsley and a sprinkle of salt ... simple and delicious.

RACK OF LAMB - SERVES 4 

Ingredients

2 Racks of Lamb (300g each), 4 Handfuls Breadcrumbs, 1 Tablespoon Chopped Rosemary, 1 Lemon, 2 Garlic Cloves, Olive oil, Salt and Pepper

• Heat your oven to 220

• In a bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, rosemary, rind and juice from 1/2 the lemon and 20ml of Olive oil

• Seal the rack of lamb in a frying pan, it normally takes about 2 minutes on each side

• Grate garlic and spread over the top of the rack of lamb

• Press the breadcrumbs on top of the garlic and transfer the lamb on to a baking tray

• Cook for 15 minutes

• Leave to rest for 5 minutes, slice the rack in half and serve half a rack per person with your potatoes and
vegetables

Cooking notes

These timings will produce a pink Rack of Lamb.  It is important that the oven is up to temperature when the meat goes in, if it is not then it will not cook through.  If you like your meat more well done, or the oven is not up to temperature when you put the meat in the oven then you will need to cook the Rack of Lamb for a couple of minutes longer.

If you are not going to use the rest of the lemon then cut it into slices and place in the freezer, they make the perfect ice and slice for a gin and tonic.

 

 

LAMB STEW

The weather suddenly turned today and our lovely walk in the sun ended with five soaked slightly muddy children.

With the coats dripping in the hall and clothes replaced, comfort food beckoned.  We ate Lamb Stew poured over buttery mash ... it is the perfect meal for cold winter days.

 

 

LAMB STEW - Serves 8

Ingredients

2 Medium onions, 1Kg Diced Lamb fillet, 2 Cloves of garlic, 250ml Good red wine, 500ml Stock (made with Vegtable Boulillon Powder), 2 x 400g Tin chopped tomatoes, 1 Teaspoon full of sugar, 2 x Sprigs of fresh rosemary, 300g Chopped Carrots, Salt and Pepper

• Turn the oven to 170
• Place a heavy bottomed pan on a medium heat
• Add the sliced onions with a little olive oil and cook until soft
• Add in the beef and brown
• Once the beef has browned add the grated garlic and cook for a minute then add the stock, red wine, chopped tomatoes, sugar and rosemary. 
• Bring to the boil then place a lid on the stew and place in the oven for two hours stirring every 20 minutes.  
• After two hours remove the stew from the oven and taste the meat to check it is tender.  If it is then you can move to the next step.  If not keep cooking for a little longer till tender
• Place the stew on the hob on a medium heat season then bring to the boil.  Once boiling add the carrots and simmer for 20-30 minutes until they are cooked. 
• Once the carrots are cooked remove the stew from the oven and serve

Cooking notes

I like the carrots diced into quite small squares, they should be no large than 1cm squared.

I like my stew quite watery ... if you don’t and you want it thicker then add some cornflower.  To add corn flower place two tablespoons of corn flower in a mug, add 50ml of cooking juice to the mug and stir, it should form a watery paste, if it is to thick then add in more cooking stock.  Mix the watery paste to the stew and stir thoroughly.  Cook for another ten minutes stirring every couple of minutes and the stew will thicken.

Adapting

If you would rather not make mash then pour 200g of Quinoa into the stew and mix.  The quinoa will expand slowly absorbing the liquid and will take about 25 mins to cook, stir every five minutes when cooking.  When cooked it will have swollen in size and gone slightly transparent

If the quinoa makes the stew to thick or it starts to taste to strong, it will be because the heat was on to high and to much water evaporated.  Add a little water to dilute the taste and make the whole thing a little wetter.

 

LAMB ROSTI

After a busy weekend, three hour meeting this morning, five children for tea, lots of washing, bt finally arriving and fixing the fault that they had been telling me (for the last three months) did not exist ... I need comfort food.

For me lamb rosti is the best comfort food there is.  I normally cook too much lamb so i can make it.  That is what i did over the weekend and here is the recipe ... enjoy: 

LAMB ROSTI - Serves 2 

Ingredients

500g Mash, 4/5 Handfuls of left over lamb, 1 Medium onion, 1 Clove garlic, 1 Sprig rosemary, Salt and pepper

• Turn the oven on to 200
• Spread the mash out on a roasting tin 
• Chop the lamb into bite size chunks, slice the onion and garlic
• Sprinkle the lamb, sliced onion and garlic oven the top of the mash and mix, drizzle with olive oil 
• Place in oven for 20 minutes.  
• Remove from oven and sprinkle the leaves from the stalk of fresh rosemary and salt and pepper over mixture and use a spatula and turn mixture over, it does not have to be exact, you are trying to remove the now crispy potato from the bottom of the roasting pan and replace it with new mash so that it can go crispy.  It is not an exact science though and does not matter if not all turned.  
• Place back in oven for another 15-20 minutes until crispy and serve with peas.

Cooking notes

I have rosemary in the garden so it is easy to get hold of, if you don’t then leave it out.  This is meant to be a left overs meal so don’t go buying herbs for it

Adapting

If you cooked dauphinoise potatoes with the lamb and you have two portions left over then use it instead of the mash

Mash - Makes 500g

500g Potatoes (I tend to use white), 50 mil Full fat milk, 1/4 Tablespoon butter, salt and pepper to taste

• Peel and chop the potatoes into 3cm chunks, they need to be the same size so the cook evenly.  This should leave you with 450g of peeled and chopped potatoes
• Cover them with water and bring to boil, turn down to a gentle simmer for about for about 20 minutes until they are soft.  When they are cooked you should easily be able to put a fork through them
• Drain potatoes
• Add the milk and butter to the pan, let it heat up.  By heating the milk you get a much smoother mash.     
• Take the pan of the heat and pop in the potatoes with salt and pepper and mash.  If the mash is to thick for you then you can always add extra cold milk.  
• When you are happy with the consistency of the mash and confident there are no lumps left in it, get a fork and beat the mash for 30 seconds, this will make the mash really smooth

 

SHOULDER OF LAMB

Crap ... I normally don’t think when I cook, I just get on and do it.  However, now i am checking that the recipes I have written up actually work, i am thinking too much ... 

The result was slightly embarrassing ... I was telling our friends that I was writing a blog and serving undercooked dauphinoise potatoes ... 

Double crap ... I shoved them back in the oven, let the lamb rest for slightly longer, and luckily we were finally eating 20 minutes later.

Thank goodness the delicious shoulder of lamb made up for the wait ... 

SHOULDER OF LAMB - Serves 6

Ingredients for lamb

2.2Kg Shoulder Lamb, Olive oil

• Turn the oven to 180
• Place the lamb in a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil
• The lamb should cook for 82 minutes.  Once cooked remove from oven and place on a warm plate and loosely cover with tin foil
• Place the plate in a warm place, I leave mine on top of the oven, and allow the meat to rest for 20 minutes
• While the meat rests make the gravy
• Slice the shoulder into think slices and serve 

Cooking notes

If your joint is not the same size weight it then cook it at 180 for 23 minutes per 450g.  I then shorten the cooking time by half an hour as I like my lamb pink.  Therefore the equation I used for this 2200g joint is as follows:

2200g divided 450 times 23 minus 30 = 82 mins

To check if the lamb is cooked insert a skewer, or sharp knife into the centre of the meat, then press the skewer against the meat, the juices should run out of the meat - the pinker the juices the rarer the meat.  I always think it takes a few attempts to get this right so don’t worry if it is over cooked the first time you do this.

You need to allow the lamb to rest, in the oven the meat contracts with the heat, resting time reverses this and allows the juices to penetrate back into all of the joint.

Adapting

I love serving this with dauphinoise potatoes and green vegetables.  As the potatoes are garlicky I don’t flavour the meat.  If I serve the lamb with roast potatoes or mash I will flavour the meat with rosmary and garlic.  Using a knife stab the meat all over creating 1cm slits that are about 2cm deep.  Slice the garlic and place a slice of garlic and bit of rosemary into the slits

Gravy

90mil Water, 1/2 Teaspoon of vegetable stock powder, 90mil Good red wine, 1 Small sprig of rosemary, 1 Teaspoon of runny honey, salt and pepper to taste

• Remove the lamb from the roasting dish, pour any excess fat out of the roasting dish and add the water.  Bring to the boil mixing till all of the juices have melted into the water
• Pour into a sauce pan and add all the other ingredients
• Bring to the boil then allow to simmer for at least 10 mins, this will get rid of the sharp taste from the alcohol
• Pour through sieve into a jug and serve