Barbecued Lamb with Tzatziki, Salad and Pita Bread
After yesterday’s barbecue, we still had most of a barbecued leg of lamb left over. It was Kerri’s suggestion to slice it up and put it into pita bread with some tzatziki and salad, and a very good suggestion it was.
The lamb had retained its barbecued smokiness, and went very well with the garlicky (a little more garlicky than intended) tzatziki. Salad added healthy freshness and crunch. Being such a lovely evening, this seemed just the right sort of food to be eating and I commented that it made me feel like being on holiday.
We do still have quite a lot of the barbecued leg of lamb left over, so might just try the same thing again tomorrow evening unless we come up with a brilliant alternative way of using it up between now and then (it will need to be brilliant to beat this one).
Asparagus and Barbecued Lamb
Looking back, our first barbecue of last year was on 26 April so we’ve beat that by a week. Had we been more organised, I think we could have managed one even earlier this year but as it was, today’s weather was perfect.
Like last year, we’ve spen many hours deliberating what out first barbecued meal was going to be. We initially settled on hamburgers but since we had those on Thursday, decided on asparagus followed a leg of lamb. I bought the asparagus at Borough Market on Friday and we were both keen to try the first of the season. We’re both big fans but were largely underwhelmed with last year’s offerings. Luckily, this was really good and the charcoaled outside produced an almost nuttiness which gave way to the sweet, buttery flavour of the asparagus.
The lamb leg was already part boned so all Stephen needed to do was butterfly it before marinating it overnight in a mixture of oregano, olive oil, bay leaf, garlic and salt and pepper.
When it came to the cooking, Stephen seared it skin side down first, over direct heat for about 10 minutes. He then turned the meat over and seared the other side for five minutes. At this point, the meat was removed from the heat briefly so that the coals could be pushed to the sides for the remainder of the cooking time. Overall cooking time was an hour, with one turn midway and with the lid on the barbecue.
The first barbecued food of the year is always going to be good but I don’t know how to describe just how brilliant this was. First of all, the lamb was English new season so it was good and tasty. Secondly, the marinating not only brings out the flavour of the lamb but helps to tenderise the meat. It adds great flavour too. The smokiness of the coals added another level of flavour and produced meat that was beautifully charred on the outside but juicy and moist in the middle. It took us ages to finish what we were eating because we kept stopping to comment on how much we were enjoying everything, and ebcause we kept going back for more.
Served with a mixed and potato salad which were both great too but nothing like as good as the lamb. The best news is that there’s plenty left over for tonight.
Huge Pork Chops and Strange Little Corn Things
Kerri spent a fair amount of time shopping at Borough Market on Friday afternoon. Amongst other things, she bought ostrich steaks (which we took to a barbecue at my sister’s this afternoon – delicious), “fresh” garlic, Jersey Royal potatoes, various other vegetables and some very impressive-looking pork chops from the Ginger Pig.
We decided to marinate these in a mixture of olive oil, garlic, oregano, lemon juice, salt and pepper. So we mixed all of these ingredients up in a large freezer bag, then added the chops, sealed the bag and rubbed the marinade into the chops inside the bag before leaving them for an hour or so. While we were waiting, we ate some very interesting little things that Kerri had also found at the market… these were “Spanish Spicy Corn”, which were corn kernels that had been expanded somehow, but not in the same way that popcorn is popped:
After the chops had been in the bag marinating for a while, we heated up a little oil in a frying pan, then fried the chops for a few minutes on each side before popping them into a pre-heated (to 180C) oven for ten minutes. They were really good; the meat itself was really delicious and the flavours from the marinade lifted and added to it. We served them with some plainly steamed Jersey Royals which were lovely and some unidentified greens which we sautéed in garlic and butter and turned out brilliantly.
The Stonemason’s Arms
Stephen and I met up with some friends for a drink on Thursday night in Hammersmith and, since we were the most local, we got to choose the venue. The plan was to “go for a few drinks” but I’m far too old for just drinking these days and, knowing that I would need to eat at some point, I suggested the Stonemason’s Arms. We’ve eaten here a few times and while the food isn’t amazing, it’s pretty good and certainly one of the better offerings in the area.
Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long before the boys mentioned they were hungry. I swiftly whipped out the menus and we set about deciding what to eat. It was then that Menu Blindness struck me and I knew I was going to have the hamburger. I could smell pork belly and I knew it would be good (I’ve had it there before) but, having spotted the burger my fate was sealed. The friend to the right of me asked me what I was going to have and I said “burger”, at which point he declared that now he had seen the burger, he couldn’t see anything else on the menu. This pattern continued all the way around the table until I found myself ordering four burgers from the waiter.
They weren’t the finest burgers any of us had ever eaten but they were just what we were after. Even the ridiculously large chips were pretty good.
Pasta with Crayfish and Rocket
I’m the sort of person who likes to plan. I’m not very good at spontaneity, especially when it comes to food. I like to know what I’m going to be eating in advance, preferably a couple of days if possible. I know lots of people would be horrified by this approach but, where food is concerned, I’m a bit of a control freak. As a result of this, we tend to plan menus about a week in advance leaving a little room for movement and always with the understanding that something can be thrown into the freezer if necessary.
The Easter weekend however has left us a little less organised than usual and today we didn’t have a plan. We talked through a couple of options last night and decided on pasta, possibly with some combination of anchovies and capers but when I arrived at Waitrose and saw crayfish, I changed my mind. I suppose you could call this planning as the final dish wasn’t that different to what I originally had in mind but without a vague idea, I would have been wandering around Waitrose without a clue what to buy.
Anyway, after all that waffling, I’m pleased to say this turned out well. It was really quick too. I sliced a chilli and fried it in some olive oil before adding some halved cherry tomatoes. Leave to bubble for a couple of minutes before adding the crayfish and the juice of a lemon. Once this has warmed through (about 2-3 minutes), stir into the drained pasta and add rocket, black pepper and parmesan.
This was quite a mild chilli so it just leant a gentle, backround heat that didn’t overpower the delicate fish. The rocket was peppery, as rocket normally is, which provided another interesting flavour level.
Trout, Watercress and Potato Salad
I’ve been eagerly awaiting the first crop of watercress since the weather warmed up. As much as I love cabbage and parsnips and Brussels sprouts, I’m getting a little tired of them now after so many months of relying on them for comforting, hearty dishes. Watercress may seem like a funny thing to be excited about as it doesn’t have a particularly strong flavour but it represents the real start of Spring which is what I’m really happy about. That, and the Jersey Royals, broad beans and asparagus that should also be appearing soon.
This was very easy to put together and was lovely and fresh, a welcome sensation after the heaviness of the lamb and salt beef we’ve been eating over the weekend.
I poached the trout in some water with a bay leaf, some celery tops and some black peppercorns until it was just cooked. The potatoes were steamed separately and left to cool with the fish. Once it had come down to room temperature, I combined the two with the watercress, some sliced spring onions and a dressing Stephen had made of yoghurt, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and black pepper. The spring onions added an extra zingy note to the yoghurt and acid of the mustard.
We ate this with a mixed salad on the side (yes, we’re desperately trying to up our vegetable intake after the excess of Easter) but it would have been good with some roasted tomatoes stirred through and something else for crunch.
Salt Beef
While this dish requires very little skill, it does require a certain amount of love and care. You start off by salting the beef for 12 hours, rinising and then rubbing in a spice mix (including saltpetre which you need to order online) and refrigerating for 10 days. Each day, the beef has to be turned so that it’s well coated before cooking gently for 3.5 hours on the final day.
We were both really excited about the result, as we are with most new dishes but particularly so this time as we had both been waiting patiently for the 10th day to arrive. Sadly, we were a little disappointed. The beef wasn’t as tender as we were hoping for and it was a little too salty for our tastes. I’m not sure what we did wrong, perhaps we didn’t cook the beef for long enough or perhaps it was the fault of our stupid, unreliable hob that doesn’t seem to know the difference between simmering gently and boiling rapidly.
Recipe here.
Slow Roast Lamb Shoulder with Butter Beans
Slow roast lamb is one of our absolute favourite dishes, guaranteed to make us both go “mmmmm” every time it’s mentioned. It requires very little effort, is incredibly reliable, always excpetionally tasty, cheap and versatile. We spent the weekend with my mum and we know she’s a big fan too so quickly agreed that it would be the perfect offering for Easter lunch.
Not wanting to play it too safe, we took a bit of a gamble and used a different recipe. A Nigella recipe. I know she’s very popular but I don’t like her. I don’t like her recipes either so quite why I thought this was a good idea I’m not sure. In fairness to the finger-licking one, this actually turned out pretty well but a few small tweaks and it could have been brilliant. The general consensus was that, while it was rich and earthy and very savoury, it definitely needed something light and zingy at the end to freshen the whole thing: mint, capers and redcurrant jelly were all mentioned.
I can’t find the recipe online but I wouldn’t recommend it anyway. Use Jamie’s recipe instead and just add some beans and water at the same time you add the lamb.
Lemon Sole with Crushed New Potatoes
I like lemon sole, it’s a delicate fish and I’m generally happy to eat it without too much in the way of an accompaniment and let the subtle flavour shine through. Saturday night dinner calls for something a little more special though which is why we decided to have another go at creating a white wine sauce. Our previous attempt wasn’t completely successful and, in hindsight, we probably should have tweaked this recipe rather than trying something completely new.
I’m not going to post the recipe because we weren’t completely happy with it. Much like last time, it was a texture thing rather than a flavour thing so at least we know we’re on the right track. Third time lucky?
Steak with Horseradish Crushed Potatoes
Last week’s success with the marinated lamb chops got us thinking about what else we could approach in a similar way. We don’t often eat steak and when we do, we usually just season it with a little salt and pepper beforeheand. It seemed obvious therefore that we should try marinating some steaks so that’s what we did.
Similar to last week, we used some oil, salt and pepper, garlic, rosemary and a dash of red wine vinegar as the marinade. The steaks sat in this mixture for about an hour before Stephen fried them for two minutes each side, resulting in perfectly medium-rare steaks. The pan was hot and that, coupled with the marinade resulted in crunchy outsides and meltingly-tender middles: just the way a good steak should be.
The marinade itself worked well, rosemary isn’t a herb we would normally use with steak but it leant an earthy, fragrant note to the meat. The vinegar wasn’t immediately discernible but added a layer of of sourness and obviously helped in the tenderisation. Served with crushed new potatoes which had been mixed with spring onions, horseradish and wholegrain mustard.
