Lamb Chops, New Potatoes and Fried Courgettes
A relatively quick dinner this evening before we head to Sweden tomorrow for a long weekend.
Lamb chops coated in a little rosemary and salt, then pan fried. The courgettes were sliced, salted for half an hour, and then coated in seasoned flour and also fried. The new potatoes were boiled and then dressed with grain mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper and mixed with mint and spring onions.
The chops were good and the courgettes turned out really well. The courgettes were from my sister and brother in law’s garden where they have very impressively been growing a wide range of vegetables. If we try this method again, I think that adding some mild spices to the seasoned flour would complement the courgettes very well. The potatoes were not great – the skins were somewhat bitter and the flesh wasn’t as tasty as it could have been.
Pappardelle Rigate with Bolognaise Sauce
Yesterday we cooked some Bolognaise sauce, planning to eat it with spaghetti this evening. As it turned out, we had some lovely-looking pappardelle rigate in the cupboard, so we used these instead. The “rigate” means that the pappardelle are ridged (just visible in the picture above) and this makes more of the sauce stick to them. I’m certain it’s not traditional to eat it with Bolognaise sauce, but we did anyway.
We followed a recipe similar to our usual recipe, except used white wine instead of red, didn’t add any lardons and added loads of mixed fresh herbs (parsely, sage and rosemary) from the garden. The result was lighter than usual and put an interesting slant on something that we usually make to pretty much the same recipe each time; sometimes when we have a recipe that works really well we are worried to change it in case it goes awry and disappoints, but this time there was no disappointing.
Weekend Barbecue Number Two
After yesterday’s barbecue with friends, we spent today barbecuing at home with Stephen’s family. We knew we would be eating early so we opted for a leg of lamb which could be marinated in advance and cooked quickly. It’s also the perfect size for five and, if you’re lucky, will provide you with leftovers.
We used our normal marinade (olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper and oregano) and left the butterflied lamb leg in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking it over indirect heat. It took about 45 minutes and was turned three times in total, perfect for the busy host 🙂
Alongside the lamb, we ate some hummus and tzatziki with some wholemeal flatbreads and some barbecued fennel. I’m still trying to appreciate fennel so this was a great way for me to try it out, the smokiness worked well with the pungent note of aniseed but it’s still a flavour I’m struggling with.
Weekend Barbecue Number One
We spent Saturday enjoying the sunshine at a friend’s annual barbecue. Amongst other things (that sadly didn’t photograph well), we ate squid that had been marinated in chilli and a Japanese spice I can’t remember the name of and mackerel that had spent the morning sucking up some red curry paste.
We took along a couple of salads to go with the meat and fish:
Our favourite potato salad and the spiced tomato and cucumber salad we made for the first time recently. This version was much better than before and both benefited from being made in advance and resting in the fridge until required.
Potato Salad – Serves Four
250g new potatoes
1 red onion, finely diced
Juice of one lemon
Small splash of red wine vinegar
Tablespoon wholegrain mustard
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Small bunch of mint, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
Start by soaking the red onion in a mixture of lemon juice and water to remove any bitterness, adding more water if it doesn’t cover the onion. Leave to soak for about an hour.
Boil new potatoes in salted water until cook through and allow to drain thoroughly. While the potatoes are cooking, take all the other ingredients and make up the dressing. When the potatoes are still warm, add the dressing and the drained red onion. Refrigerate until needed (but bring back to room temperature before serving).
Dijon mustard works well here, as does spring onion or chives in place of the red onion.
Bacon, Mozzarella and Broad Bean Salad
Tonight we made a salad of spinach leaves with bacon, mozzarella, broad beans and avocado, which we served with a simple dressing made from olive oil, lemon juice, wholegrain mustard and salt and pepper. We also made some toasted sliced of bread drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with a garlic clove.
This had the potential to be really good, or so we thought, but it didn’t quite turn out that way. The bacon was from Emmet’s, a really good deli in Peasenhall in Suffolk. They make their own bacon and we’ve had it before and really liked it, but this time although it had a good flavour, it tasted very, very salty and was quite chewy (that was probably overcooking on our part). The broad beans were a bit floury in the middle – maybe we didn’t cook them enough. And the avocado wasn’t quite ripe enough.
Also, either one of the avocado or the beans (probably the avocado) needed to go – they just didn’t work well together. The avocado did work well on its own in the dressing, but didn’t go well with the rest of the salad. The garlicky toasted croutons were good though, and the mozzarella was nice. Apart from them though, it was just an excuse for a complete moan-fest, so apologies for that.
Red Lentil Dahl and Roasted Cauliflower
Yesterday’s lentils were bumped to today due to a delicious roast chicken getting in the way, but we got to them finally. There are as many recipes for this sort of dish as there are people who have cooked it; this one is a merging of various recipes and home-made versions that I’ve used in the past, so doesn’t claim any particular heritage:
250g red lentils (you could use different lentils, but the consistency will be different)
3 large garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
1 inch ginger, grated
1 medium onion, finely diced
1tsp ground coriander seed
1tsp ground cumin seed
1tsp black mustard seed (normal mustard seed will do if you have that but not black)
1/2 tsp turmeric
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper
oil for frying
500ml water
chopped coriander leaves
Heat up some oil in a large saucepan and fry the garlic and ginger. When this has fried for a few minutes, add all the spices and stir, cooking for a further few minutes to cook the rawness out of them. Then add the onion and stir this around in the spices, then cook on a lowish heat until it has softened but not started to caramelise. Add the lentils, water, salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Let this cook for 20 to 30 minutes until done; you will probably need to add more water at some point so don’t let it dry out and burn. Check for seasoning and add some more lemon juice if it needs it. Stir in the coriander leaves and serve. This tends to taste better when it has cooled down a bit to allow the flavours to mellow and blend together.
We didn’t use coriander as ours had turned yellow, so I attempted to make a tarka topping at the last minute but that didn’t turn out very well. We served this with some roasted cauliflower which was very good – coat some cauliflower florets in a little oil, then season well with salt and pepper and ground spices (we used some garam masala that we had made a few weeks ago for another dish) and then roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until done.
Thinking back to the various versions of this dish that I mentioned at the start of the post, I do remember a particularly good version which I think was Bangladeshi in origin. The recipe specified fewer individual spices (turmeric was the main one and it may have had a little garam masala too) and was cooked with a quartered lemon in the pot. It was really delicious; I shall have to see if I can find a recipe similar to that again.
Roast Chicken
We had originally decided to cook lentils this evening, but as I wasn’t feeling well Kerri decided that we needed roast chicken instead. A very good idea it was too. We do tend to have roast chicken fairly often (although not all that often recently) so do find it a little hard to think of new an interesting ways to photograph it and they often come out looking the same, which can be disappointing, but we generally get over that quite easily.
This was served with roast broccoli and cauliflower (similar to yesterday’s broccoli, except with cauliflower added), peas, sagey stuffing and of course roast potatoes and gravy. Delicious.
Smoked Mackerel Fish Cakes and Roasted Broccoli
A quick dinner today to use up some leftover mackerel I found lurking at the back of the fridge. Simply mix with some mashed potato, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, some parsley, lemon juice and a few capers and form into fishcakes. I think I had a little too much mashed potato as these didn’t crunch up that well but they were still tasty.
The brocolli was roasted in the oven with some oil, garlic and salt and pepper for about 2o minutes. A squeeze of lemon juice and a little extra oil when cooked to finish. Really tasty.
Weekend Round-Up
We were away in Kent this weekend so didn’t do much in the way of cooking but here’s what we managed to eat while we were away. We started the weekend at a beer festival, our friends bought along their portable barbecue and we ate barbecued sausages in crusty bread while sampling 40 local ales.
On Saturday, we headed down to the Oyster Festival in Whitstable where we at crab sandwiches, jellied eels and breaded prawns on the beach.
That evening, we baked some local mackerel and served it with samphire and Jersey Royal Potatoes.
Yesterday, we finished off the weekend with some barbecued hamburgers.
Today, we’ll be eating salad.
Risotto with Bacon, Peas and Sage
A fairly simply risotto this evening, this turned out to be a completely store-cupboard (and freezer for the bacon and peas) meal. Which is rare when we are trying to think of new things to do a lot of the time and often end up needing to get at least a few ingredients at the last minute.
Ingredients (Serves 2):
1 medium onion, finely chopped
100g bacon (or pancetta or lardons)
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
12 sage leaves, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Half a cup of peas, pre-cooked
1-2 tbsps olive oil for frying
1 small glass white wine or white vermouth
250g risotto rice
1l chicken stock (preferably home made, but bought is of course fine if you don’t have any)
Good handful grated parmesan (much better to grate your own from a block than to use pre-grated)
Heat up the oil and when it is hot, add the celery and onion. A minute or so later, add the pancetta and fry for a few minutes. Then add the garlic. When the onion and celery have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat. The rice should fry and go a bit translucent now, but if it starts to burn then turn it down. After a short while, add the wine or vermouth and stir while the alcohol burns off.
Turn the heat back down and when the wine has been absorbed, start adding stock a ladle at a time, stirring until it has been absorbed until it has been absorbed and then adding some more. We used some home made chicken stock for this and it does make quite a difference (all the bones from those roast chickens we’ve been eating have not gone to waste). All this stirring brings out the stickiness from the rice. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, then just start adding water. When the rice is cooked but still has just a little bite left to it, it is done. Shortly before it is actually done, stir in the chopped sage leaves. When it is actually done, stir in the grated parmesan and the peas and check for seaoning. Serve!
The home made chicken stock that we used was very chickeny, which resulted in a really lovely rich taste. The stock also tasted quite strongly of leeks (we must have had surplus leeks when we made it that we added into it) which went well with all the other flavours.
