If you are looking for a delicious way to cook some lovely spring lamb cutlets look no further!
I found this delicious looking recipe in a book of mine called Secrets from a Country Kitchen by Lucy Young. The original recipe called for studding two 7 chop rack of lamb with garlic and roasting them for about 25 minutes in a hot oven. I didn't have a rack of lamb.



I did have some lamb cutlets though, and so I decided to rub them with some olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and pepper and leave them to marinate for half an hour. I then took out my lovely new grill griddle pan and seared them on both sides, just until they were pink in the middle.



The real treat in this recipe is the sauce. It might sound a bit odd, but trust me when I say it's delicious! The original recipe called for two anchovy filets to be simmered with the garlic, but I didn't have any and so I added a tsp of Worcestershire sauce instead and it worked quite well! It was a real treat served with some steamed basamati rice and haricots vert on the side!



This was quick and easy to do and would make a lovely dinner party meal. Lucy suggests also trying the sauce with a saddle of lamb. Sounds like a winner to me!



*Garlic Lamb Cutlets with a Mint and Sun Blushed Tomato Sauce*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Garlicky grilled lamb cutlets, cooked till just pink inside, with a creamy mint and sun blushed tomato sauce spooned over top. Delicious!

8 meaty lamb cutlets
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

For the Sauce:
10 fluid ounces of double cream (1 1/4 cups)
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
5 fluid ounces of white wine (5/8 cup)
1 heaped tsp of mint sauce
(from a jar, the stuff with vinegar in it)
2 TBS chopped fresh mint leaves
2 ounces sun blushed tomatoes, snipped in half with kitchen scissors (1/4 cup altogether)
fine seasalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rub the garlic cloves into the lamb cutlets along with some sea salt and olive oil. Let sit for half an hour, while you make the sauce.

Heat the cream over medium heat along with the 2 cloves of garlic until it comes to the boil. Reduce to a slow simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes over very low heat. At the end of that time, press it through a seive with the back of a spoon into a clean pot. (the garlic should be soft by then) Whisk iin the white wine and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil. Cook whisking frequently over high heat until reduced somewhat. Stir in the mint sauce, chopped fresh mint, the sun blush tomatoes and season to taste with some salt and black pepper to taste. Keep warm while you grill the lamb.

Heat your grill pan. Sear the lamb cutlets on both sides for several minutes per side, or until they are done to your desire. We like them pink, which takes 2 to 3 minutes per side, but you may like them more well done. Place the cooked cutlets onto a heated platter and spoon some of the hot sauce over top. Garnish with some fresh mint sprigs and pass the remaining sauce at the table. Steamed rice and a green vegetable go very well with this.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow! I have a delicious dessert to share with you that you are just going to love!

For someone who had only ever tasted lamb once before I moved over to the UK, I have become a fast and firm lover of this glorious meat. The only time I'd had it back in Canada, was the time my mother thought she would try to cook us some lamb chops. They smelled like mittens burning in the frying pan, and that was the end of that. We never had it again. I'm afraid that experience kind of put me off of it . . . for a very long time.



At our wedding meal, which was held in a Brewer's Fayre pub here in the UK, I decided to be brave, and chose Lamb Loins with a Cumberland Sauce as my meal. The rest is history. I fell in love at first bite, and it's been a happy love affair that has grown from strength to strength ever since!



Oh, I do love a nice lamb chop . . . seasoned and seared until it is just pink inside . . . likewise rack of lamb or leg of lamb. Tender and pink and oh so tasty. The Salt Marsh Lamb over here is the best in the world and a real treat to eat. Although it costs more, I try to eat Welsh or British Lamb over any imported lamb. It's rather strange really that home grown lamb should cost more than the foreign stuff . . . but I do have to say, it is well worth the extra expense!



My favourite cut has to be the shoulder. When cooked properly, this has got to be the tenderest, most flavourful cut of meat ever. Rich and succulent, it is just packed full of taste . . . and it's so very easy to cook. It doesn't take special techniques, or talents. It doesn't even take special spices and herbs. You could do a really tasty shoulder, using nothing but salt and pepper as far as that goes! This is the roast that really cooks itself!




A sprinkle of seasalt and pepper, and a gentle massaging with some olive oil . . . then laid to rest on a bed of rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves . . . and gently blanketed with more . . . this is the roast that is quite happy to be ignored until about half an hour before serving.


And then . . . oh my goodness . . . tender deliciousness that falls apart at the touch of a fork . . . oh so scrummy, served up with a big pan of oven roasted root vegetables . . . carrots, swede, parsnips, beetroot . . . oh and a bit of butternut squash thrown into the roasting pan as well, coz it was there . . . and I felt like it. Oh so sweet and delicious . . . and just perfect with this tender lamb. Some freshly mashed potatoes and Bisto on the side and lashings of Mint Sauce proved this to be a most delectably gratifying, if humble . . . Sunday lunch!



*Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb*
Serves 6 to 8, depending on appetites
Printable Recipe

Deliciously tender. Nothing could be easier. This roast cooks itself. I like to serve this with a pan of roasted vegetables . . . butternut squash, beetroot, carrots, parsnips, swede, and a big pot of mashed spuds.

1 (2kg) shoulder of lamb, bone in
a bunch of fresh rosemary
a handful of garlic cloves, unpeeled
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Crack your oven up to the highest temperature it will go. You will need a large casserole roaster with a lid.

Take your piece of meat and cut slashes in a diagonal pattern across the fat on the top of it with a sharp knife. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Rub this into the meat with your hands.

Place half of the rosemary sprigs and the garlic into the bottom of the roasting dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Place the lamb on top. This bed of herbs and garlic will act as a trivet and flavour the meat. Top your lamb with the remaining rosemary and garlic.

Cover and place into the preheated oven. Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 170*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Cook, undisturbed for 4 hours. By then it should be deliciously tender. Remove from the oven and set aside, tented with foil to rest for about half an hour. Use two forks to tear off pieces of the meat for eating.

You can make a gravy with the juices, but I find it has an odd green tint which we don't like and it is difficult to get rid of all the fat. So I just use Bisto. You can squeeze some of the garlic out of the skins to mash and serve with the meat though. It's really quite mellow and delicious.

I had quite the day yesterday. I was in hospital having a cortizone injection into my right knee . . . I know . . .Yikes!! The things we have to do . . . not something I ever really wanted, but something I needed and I am really hopeful that it will make a difference to my mobility. It's no fun being called hop-along!



Anyways, that meant that today I was having to take it a bit easy and not use my leg an awful lot. Heck, I am not even allowed to take a bath or shower for 48 hours, nor do they want me to drive. Who'd a thunk it would be so involved!



Anyways, this tasty recipe is my way of taking things easy. It's one of those just throw what you like into the pan recipes. Whatever vegetables you have in the fridge that you are craving or wanting to use up. Today I used cabbage, carrots, swede, cauliflower, onions and peppers. Other days it might be something else. It all depends on what I have and how I feel.



You can use any meat that you like as well. I used chicken today, but you can use pork or beef or lamb if you want, although in all honesty I've never had it with lamb actually. You can even throw in some cooked shrimp if you wanted to. It uses a large package of cooked rice, so that makes it even easier. Or you could use leftover rice if you have any.




Just a few spices and condiments, some frozen peas, and a quick stir around the pan and presto chango! You got a delicious meal that everyone likes!

Well everyone in my house at any rate!



*Chinese Hash*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is one of those meals that uses up whatever vegetables and meat you have in the fridge that need using up, and tastes great! I love little bit of this and little bit of that meals!

a bit of oil
2 cups of chopped cooked meat (chicken, pork, beef)
4 cups of chopped raw vegetables (cabbage, carrots, swede, peppers, onions, cauliflower,
broccoli, courgettes, bean sprouts, beans . . . in other words just about any vegetable you have to hand)
1 family pack of cooked rice (one that gives 4 servings)
a large handful of frozen peas, or frozen peas and corn
2 TBS dark soy sauce
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp chinese five spice
a good dollop of hoisin sauce (according to your taste)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat a large skillet (with a lid) over medium high heat. Add a splash of oil and once it heats up toss in the meat and the garlic. Cook and stir until heated through. Add the chopped raw vegetables. I chop the ones that take longer to cook smaller and leave the ones which cook fairly quickly in larger chunks. Sprinkle with 1 TBS of the soy sauce.the hoisin sauce, and the chinese five spice, stirring it all through. Cover with the lid and cook over medium low heat, until the vegetables are crispy tender. Remove the lid and add the rice from the package, crumbing it in and stirring it all together. Add the peas and the remaining soy sauce. Cover and heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Note, you can add cooked shrimps if you want, and cooked scrambled egg as well. Add it at the end and just heat through as both of these would turn rubbery if you over cook them.

 

It is hard to believe that I had never really eaten lamb before I moved over here to the UK. It is a meat that I have come to love very much and I have to say that here in the UK we have beautiful lamb . . . some of the best in the world.

More often than not we have lamb chops, cutlets or steaks, and occasionally I will treat us to a shoulder or a leg. All are very, very good.

Last weekend I cooked some lamb shanks for the first time and I was very pleased with the results. They were tender and full of flavour and we both really enjoyed them!



The shank is cut from the shoulder area of the animal and is actually very lean, with very little fat marbling or cut into it. Lamb can be quite a fatty meat, so this was surprising. Because it is so lean, it truly lends itself perfectly to braising in a liquid.



A long slow braising in the oven may require more patience than frying a few chops in a pan or roasting a leg, but your patience will be more than rewarded with fork tender meat and a rich and tasty gravy. Not to mention that, once it is covered and in the oven, it really requires no attention at all.

The resulting dish lends itself perfectly to being served with a delicious mound of buttery mashed potatoes . . . the absolute comfort meal!! It made my meat and potatoes loving husband a very, very happy camper indeed!




*Oven Baised Lamb Shanks*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Tender and juicy, with a delicious gravy. Perfect comfort food served with freshly mashed potatoes!

5 lamb shanks
olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
1 large stick of celery, trimmed and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 pound of carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
1/2 pound of parsnips, peeled and cut into sticks
a handful of fresh rosemary leaves
400ml of lamb stock ( 1 1/2 cups)
400ml of chopped tinned tomatoes (1 3/4 cup)
2 star anise
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 TBS red currant jelly

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the lamb shanks and brown them on all sides. Remove and place into a large roasting dish which has a lid, with the bones sticking up. Add the onions and celery to the drippings. Cook and stir over medium heat until they begin to soften. Add the garlic, carrots, parsnips and rosemary. Cook and stir for several minutes. Add the stock, tinned tomatoes, star anise, sea salt and black pepper to taste, and currant jelly. Heat through and then pour over the lamb shanks in the roaster.
Cover tightly with the lid and put into the oven. Roast for 3 hours, until the meat is very tender. Remove the lid and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until the meat and bone begin to brown somewhat.
Serve immediately with a nice pile of mashed potatoes. Serve one shank per person on a plate with some of the vegetables and gravy spooned over top.

I picked up some really nice lamb shoulder the other day and decided to make a tasty stew with it.



Stews are one of the best things about winter. So comforting and delicious, and so easy to make. You just can't enjoy a stew in the summer time . . . they are too heavy and they heat up the kitchen too much, but in the winter? Bob's your uncle!



It's stew time! Simply browned meat, simmered together in a tasty gravy with some winter vegetables. What could be any better?



Oh . . . mmmm . . . feather dumplings, plopped on top and steamed until they are light and fluffy as . . . well . . . a feather!!



Lamb Stew with Feather Dumplings. Make some today. Your tummy will thank you and so will your family! Exceedingly so!



*Lamb Stew with Feather Dumplings*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Simple goodness. Tender chunks of lamb and vegetables beneath a blanket of feather dumplings.

2 pounds boneless shoulder of lamb, trimmed
and cut into cubes
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS plain flour
500ml of hot lamb stock (2 cups\0
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into slices
2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 small swede, peeled and cut into cubes
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp summer savoury

For the dumplings:
4.25 ounces of plain flour (1 cup)
3/4 ounce fresh bread crumbs (1/2 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 of a small onion, peeled and minced
2 TBS butter melted
100ml of milk (1/3 cuo)
1 large free range egg
1 TBS finely minced parsley
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Boiled potatoes to serve

Heat a large skillet (with a lid) over medium high heat. Add the oil. Once it is heated add the cubed meat. Brown well on all sides, taking care not to stir it too much. If you stir it too much it will stew instead of browning. Just leave it be and give it a stir ever five minutes or so. This will take about 15 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat. Add the onions and swede. Season with some salt and pepper and add the summer savoury. Pour on the hot stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour. Add the carrot and parsnips. cover again and simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Check for seasoning and adjust as desired.

Make the dumplings as follows:
Whisk the flour, bread crumbs, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk, butter, onion, parsley and pepper. Stir into the dry ingredients all at once and mix to a stiff batter. Drop by heaped spoonfuls onto the top of the bubbling stew. Cover with a lid and cook, undisturbed and without lifting the lid for 20 minutes.

Serve the stew immediately, spooning some of it onto each of six heated plates along with a dumpling and with some boiled potatoes on the side.
Delicious!

Since I will have spent most of Monday sitting around in a hospital having tests of one sort or another, I knew there would not be a lot of time for cooking. In fact, this will probably be a scrambled egg or beans on toast night! I did want to give you something tasty this morning to look at.




I thought of getting something from out of my archives and then I remembered the World Food Cup that I had participated in last June, and the lovely dish I created for that, but never got to share on here.



This was a dish that I felt was a coloured commentary on British cookery, or a "pundit" as it were. My good friend Angie helped me come up with the name for it, and I couldn't think of a better one.




Here in the UK we have some of the best meat in the world . . . and why not show it off. As they say, if you've got it why not flaunt it!



This dish is a wonderful meat fest of gargantuan proportions . . . salt marsh lamb (if you can get it), meaty pork sausages, bacon chops and beautiful British rump steaks . . . all grilled to perfection and placed inside individual "plate-sized" traditional Yorkshire puddings, with a tasty garnish of grilled tomatoes and mushrooms. With true English Roasties on the side as well as some tasty cabbage, leeks and peas, this is a dish truly fit for a king!!!




*Pundit Pudding*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

The best of England, served up in your very own Yorkshire pudding bowl! Do plan ahead as the batter for the puddings needs to sit out for an hour at room temperature before baking!

4 Lamb chops, trimmed
4 Small rump Steaks
4 small bacon chops
4 thick and meaty Butcher’s pork and leek sausages
Butter, melted
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 Large Tomatoes
4 Large Mushrooms
For the Pudding:
2 large free range eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp salt
1/2 pint milk, at room temperature (1 1/3 cup)
140g plain flour (1 cup)
a little oil or dripping

Make sure all your ingredients for the pudding are at room temperature before beginning. Beat your eggs together in a large measuring jug until very light. Whisk in the milk. Sift the flour into a bowl along with the salt. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients all at once, pouring them into the well, and then whisk them in, slowly incorporating the dry mixture from the sides until you have a smooth batter. Now, this is the important bit . . . COVER IT AND LET IT SIT ON THE SIDEBOARD FOR ONE HOUR.

Preheat your oven to 230*C/450*F. Place a small amount of oil or dripping into each of four medium sized pie tins. (You will want ones with a six inch base) Place the tins on two baking trays and then put them into the hot oven to heat up until the fat is hot and sizzling. Remove from the oven and quickly divide the batter amongst each muffin cup, filling them about 2/3 full. (You may not use it all.) Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until well risen, browned and crispy, reducing the oven temperature by 10 degrees every five minutes.

While your puddings are baking cook your meats. Preheat the grill to it’s hottest. Brush the steaks and chops with some melted butter and sprinkle with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the sausages on a rack in a grill pan and grill for about 7 to 8 minutes, turning frequently. Add the lamb chops and the rump steaks. Continue to grill for another 5 to 7 minutes, allowing 3 to 5 minutes per side for medium rare. Remove to a heated plate and keep warm. Now grill the bacon chops, allowing 3 to 5 minutes per side. Remove to the heated plate and keep warm.

Slice the tomatoes in half and brush each half with some melted butter, along with the mushrooms. Place all beneath the grill and grill for about 5 minutes. Remove from the grill and season to taste.
Remove the crisp and fluffy puddings from the oven and tip out of the pie tins. Place each one on a heated plate, right side up. (So that it looks like a bowl) Place inside each: one lamb chop, one sausage, one bacon chop and one piece of rump steak. Garnish each with half a grilled tomato and a grilled mushroom.
Serve immediately with some crisp roasted potatoes and a green vegetable on the side. (I used lightly sautéed Savoy cabbage and leek mixed with some tender spring peas.)

Bisto Gravy and Brown Sauce are completely optional!

I was quite priveledged recently to have been sent a lovely food package recently from the Welsh Assembly Government, containing some beautiful Welsh Lamb Steaks and a selection of other fine ingredients, along with the invitation to create a Welsh Lamb recipe for The English Kitchen.



Welsh Lamb is currently in season at the moment, on into December, making this the perfect time to prepare and enjoy it. Living in Chester as we do, we are right on the border to Wales, and we are lucky enough to know first hand just how very flavourful and delicious their lamb really is.



It just makes sense to buy locally produced meat when it is in season. It may cost a bit more, but the flavours just can't be beaten . . . let's face it, there is just no comparison between lamb which has been grown and farmed right on our doorstep, and lamb that has been flown halfway around the world. Right on the doorstep wins with me, every time!



I decided to create a mildly spiced marinade for the steaks and a warm couscous salad to serve alongside. Welsh lamb has a lovely robust flavour, without it being too intense. After marinating them for about 30 minutes, the steaks turned out very tender when cooked and succulent.




The flavours of the salad went very well with the lamb steaks . . . with fruity bits of dried apricot and dates, crunchy cashew nuts, spring onion, salty green olives, a little bit of heat from some Harissa Paste and a mild minty tang from my secret ingredient . . . Mint Sauce. This was so good, I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day and enjoyed it all over again.



You can find out a host more of information about Welsh Lamb HERE. Do pop on over and take a good gander at the site. There's lots of interesting things to peruse and a host of lovely recipes to try out.

Welsh Lamb, it's more than just about meat. It's the backbone of small rural communities which keep traditions and the Welsh language alive. It's a good thing, a very, very good thing.



*Spiced Lamb Steaks with a Warm Moroccan Couscous Salad*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

Mildly spiced Lamb Steaks grilled and served on top of a warm couscous salad with subtle Moroccan flavours! Delicious!!

For the lamb:
2 leg lamb steaks
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
a splash of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the Coucous Salad:
150g of couscous
a handful of dried apricots, chopped
a dessertspoon of chopped dried dates
a knob of butter
1 to 2 tsp harissa paste (depending on how much heat you want)
250ml of hot chicken or vegetable stock
a handful of pitted green olives, chopped
a small handful of salted cashew nuts
small handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tsp of good quality mint sauce
1/2 bunch of spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
1/2 of a small preserved lemon, flesh discarded and skin finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
the juice of half a lemon
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Season the lamb steaks all over with salt and black pepper. Mix the cumin, coriander, and cinnamon together with a splash of olive oil. Rub this mixture into the lamb steaks and then set aside to marinate while you make the couscous.

Place the dried coucous into a bowl along with the dried fruits. Stir the knob of butter into the hot chicken stock along with the harissa paste. Pour this over the couscous and fruits, stir well, Cover and set aside for five minutes until it has absorbed all of the liquid.

While the coucous is soaking, heat a grill pan over moderate heat. Once the pan is heated add the lamb steaks. Cook the steaks until tender and nicely browned, about 5 to 6 minutes, turning them once. Remove from the heat and set aside to rest.

Fluff up the soaked couscous with a fork and stir in the olives, nuts, parsley, mint sauce, spring onions, and preserved lemon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pile into a serving bowl. Pile into a serving bowl and top with the warm lamb steaks. Serve immediately.