Roast Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

We decided to celebrate my parents return from holiday and our wedding anniversary today.
A whole roast shoulder of lamb. This recipe works with half-shoulder's too.

Serves 5-6
Ingredients
2.5kg Whole shoulder of lamb
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fresh chopped garlic
2 sprigs rosemary, off stalk and finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper

Method
Oven temp 160 deg C/Gas 3.
Cut the garlic into slivers. Chop the rosemary finely.
Place the lamb into a roasting tray. Using a sharp knife pierce sideways into the outer fat of the skin and insert a slice of garlic. (As the fat melts, the garlic will infuse into the fat and steep into the meat). Keep inserting the garlic all over the lamb. You can also insert garlic deep into the meat if you wish.
Drizzle over the oil, then grind over salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the chopped rosemary.
Roast for 30 mins per pound, plus an additional 30 mins. Baste regularly.

Served with roast potatoes, carrot matchsticks and the most wonderful purple sprouting broccoli.

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Ox cheek and kidney pie

Wow, I love steak and kidney pie, but have just made ox cheek and kidney pie. It's really amazing, so much nicer and so moreish.

You will need to cook the ox cheek and kidney very slowly in the oven for about 2.5 - 3 hours.

Ingredients
1 onion - sliced
2 ox cheeks (1lb roughly)
8 oz beef kidney (we do love kidney, so drop this if you prefer)
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
2 oz butter
3 oz plain flour
salt & pepper
1 glass red wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1/4pt beef stock
couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
Puff pastry (ready rolled is a great timesaver)

Method

1. Preheat oven to gas mark 3 - 170C/325F.
2. Put the oil and 1oz of butter in a frying pan and saute the onions until they are golden.
3. Slice the ox cheek into 1 inch cubes. You will need a sharp knife due to the connective tissue, but don't worry, it helps give flavour and tenderises as it cooks.
4. Put the flour in a bowl or plastic bag, season with salt and pepper, then toss the ox cheek in the flour.
5. Remove the onions with a slotted spoon and place in the bottom of a casserole dish.
6. Add some more butter to the pan and brown the pieces of meat. Make sure you don't add too many at a time as you want them to go slightly crusty. When browned remove with a slotted spoon and pop on top of the onions.
7. Cut the kidney into 1 inch cubes, remove any core as you go. Toss in the flour after you have finished browning the meat.
8. Add more butter if required. Brown the kidney in the pan. Remove with slotted spoon and add to the casserole.
9. Pour the wine into the frying pan and let the meat juices bubble off the bottom of the pan stirring constantly.
10. Add the tomato puree and stir. Add the stock and worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil and pour over the casserole.
11. Add the bay leaves and stir everything together.
12. Cover with a lid or foil and pop in the oven.
13. After 1.5 hours, remove from oven and stir carefully. Return to oven until the ox cheek is tender.
14. When the casserole is cooked, remove from oven.
15. Turn up oven to gas mark 7, 220C/425F
16. Take pastry out of fridge, cut as many squares as you need for lids, lay on a baking tray, carefully using a sharp knife, score the top of the pastry sheets so that you make a diamond pattern. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.
17. Serve large spoonfuls of the ox cheek and kidney, top with pastry lid and serve with boiled potatoes, the most wonderful fresh purple sprouting broccoli.

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Braised Ox Cheek with Mushroom Ragout

While watching Heston Blumenthal's tv programme about Little Chef, I remembered seeing him make a steak and kidney pie and he used Ox Cheek which they were drooling over. I was shopping in Waitrose the other week and saw ox cheek on the butchery counter, very reasonably priced. The lady serving was extremely helpful and had a file of recipes from the Internet, it gave me the inspiration to buy some and try it. I realised that the recipe sheet was quite involved, so had a surf for other recipes. This recipe is the one I picked, it is free to register to get the full details and well worth it from chefspencil.com.

You do need a sharp knife to cut through the ox cheek, but never fear with the long slow cooking, the finished ox cheek melts in the mouth. It was so scrummy I took some over to my parents, who were equally impressed. The taste really lingers, it's suitable for a dinner party.

If you love braised steak, you will adore this, it's much better, more succulent and the best meat for braising slowly.

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Curried Parsnip Soup

It has been really freezing here all day, woke to find the water pipes frozen, so took until 12.30 to defrost. I was wondering if I was going to get the soup pot on or not today.

Took the fork to the garden at 2.30, it was hard to get it in the soil as it was still frozen, but managed to dig up 2 wonderful parsnips.

Curried Parsnip Soup
1oz butter
1 Red onion
2 parsnips
1 medium potato
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp plain flour
1 pt chicken stock
1 pt water
2 tbsp double cream
salt & pepper

saute the chopped onion, parsnip, potato and garlic in a large pan for approximately 10 mins, add curry powder and flour, fry gently to release the spices. Add the stock and water and then simmer until all veg is soft. Whizz with a hand blender until smooth. Add the double cream and then season to taste. Serve with a swirl of cream (optional).

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Watercress soup

Oh dear, you know when you do something and then make a rod for your own back. Homemade soup yesterday went down so well, that I got another request today. It's just as well that soup is so easy to make, chuck it in, simmer, whizz it with a hand blender and you have soup.

Watercress soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion
2 large potatoes
1 pint chicken stock
1 bag of watercress, washed
double cream
salt & pepper

Chop the onion, saute in a pan until soft. Add the chopped potato, cover with chicken stock, add the watercress, bring to boil and then simmer until the vegetables are soft. Whizz soup with hand blender until smooth, season to taste and thin with water if required. Add a couple of tablespoons of double cream and stir. Serve and add a swirl of double cream if desired.

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Lentil soup

Oh well, a little soup for the soul - so as I'm feeling really poorly, decided I'd pop on some soup for my lunch and daughter's afterschool snack. It's freezing today, so soup will certainly warm her up before her singing lesson.

Lentil Soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion
4 carrots
1 stalk celery
4 oz red lentils
1 pint chicken stock
1 pint water
2 tblsp tomato puree
salt & pepper

Chop the onion, celery and carrots into small dice. Sweat them off in the pan in the olive oil until the onions are soft, then add the lentils, fry off for about 30 secs. Add the stock, water and tomato paste, simmer until all veg are tender and the lentils are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whizz using a hand blender until smooth. Add water if needed to get the right consistency.
Serve

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New Year 2009

Wow a whole year has passed and I haven't written to my blog. I'm still obsessive about organic food, have now dropped the riverford box as I'm growing loads of my own veg and now buy fresh meat and any spare veg from Ferndene farm shop. My weight has dropped off since I have been eating meat that isn't fed on feed laced with steroids, wonder if the steriods keep us fatted up.

Must get more veg in the garden this year, will be popping veg in amongst the flowers this year too and building raised beds too. Want a bed that is 3 feet high so mum can pick veg without help.

All seeds bought at the end of last year in loads of sales, so must now have about 100 packs of seeds to plant. Loads in the greenhouse ready to go in already. Have been making my own pots too out of newspaper using my paper potter.

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