Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lamb. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lamb. Sort by date Show all posts
One thing which I really learned to love when I was in the UK was lamb. It was not something which I had ever really eaten very much of prior to going over there to live.
At our wedding supper I had roasted saddle of lamb and it was delicious. I fell in love. It was so tasty! My mother had only ever cooked lamb chops once for us when we were children. I think it was mutton actually as it smelled like she was burning mittens when she was cooking them.
None of us would touch them.
Mom had always spoken fondly of a lamb stew she had enjoyed whilst in the hospital giving birth to my brother. She had thought it delicious and I suppose she was wanting to explore a taste memory she had. All that did was to create a bad taste memory for us, lol. Or bad smell memory in any case.
I am so happy that I had the opportunity to live in the UK and taste really good lamb.
My sister and I were in the Super Store on Saturday and she said to me, did you see the lamb? No, I hadn't so I went back to take a look. Nova Scotia lamb! I was excited. Not previously frozen lamb from New Zealand.
This was a rare find. I could not resist buying myself a small package of lamb chops. They were not cheap. I paid $55.09 a kg for them, which meant that my small package of two small chops cost me $11.04.
But I could not resist the opportunity to taste Nova Scotia Northumberland Lamb. No matter how pricey it was.
I decided to cook it very simply. I was looking for recipes, but I did not want the flavor of the lamb to get lost in everything else. I decided to simply dust it with some salt, pepper and thyme and then pan fry it in some butter and a bit of oil, with some lemon zest and simply glazing it with a mix of fresh lemon juice and honey.
I also pan fried some potatoes to go with it and I oven roasted the rest of that tender stem cauliflower from the other day.
Lamb has such a lovely delicate flavor. I didn't want to hide or mask it with strong flavors. It was a good call on my part. The lamb was tender and juicy, perfectly cooked and the lemon, honey and thyme highlighted its delicate flavor perfectly!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE LAMB CHOPS WITH HONEY, LEMON & THYME
Very simple ingredients really. You don't need to do the potatoes with the lamb if you don't want to, but I do think they made for a very delicious side. Although I only cooked two chops, I have given ingredient amounts for four.
- 4 bone in rib lamb chops, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- fine sea salt and ground black pepper
- the zest of 1/2 lemon, cut into long shreds (julienne)
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 TBS runny honey (I used Greek)
For the potatoes:
- 3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS light olive oil
- sea salt, black pepper and paprika to taste
I used a potato peeler to thinly pare the lemon zest from the lemon. Take care not to get any of the white pith from underneath as this is quite bitter. Just pare it off in thin strips and then use a sharp knife to julienne it.
I used a Greek honey, but any liquid honey will do. Try to pick one with a nice flavor. Something flowery. Chestnut honey would be really nice if you can get it.
I used dry thyme because I had no fresh. If you have fresh thyme, use just the leaves and roughly twice the amount.
HOW TO MAKE LAMB CHOPS WITH HONEY, LEMON & THYME
This goes together very simply and quickly. The times I have suggested will yield perfectly cooked medium/rare lamb chops which are still nice and pink in the center.
Take your lamb chops and rub them all over on both sides with the thyme, salt and pepper. Set aside while you start the potatoes.
Melt the butter in a skillet along with the oil. Once the butter starts to foam add the potato slices. Sprinkle all over with the pepper, salt and paprika. Cook slowly over medium heat until just beginning to turn on the bottom, flip over and season the other side with pepper, salt and paprika.
Cover with a lid and cook on medium low for about 10 minutes, until golden brown on the bottoms and cooked through.
Increase the heat to medium high.
Push the potatoes over to one side. Add the lamb chops and sear on one side for 2 to 3 minutes, flip over. Add the lemon zest strips to the pan. Sear the chops on the other side for 2 to 3 minutes.
Squeeze over the lemon juice and drizzle over the honey. Turn the chops over to coat them in both the honey and the lemon.
Remove the pan from the heat and leave to rest for a few minutes.
Divide the lamb and potatoes between two heated plates, spooning some of the juices from the pan over the lamb. Serve immediately.
The potatoes were lovely and crispy and also perfectly cooked. My tender stem cauliflower (contrary to how it looks) was also beautifully cooked. I had it in the oven at 425*F/220*C tossed with a bit of oil and seasoning for the whole time I was cooking the meat and potatoes. It was crispy tender.
I really enjoyed this meal. Although the meat was quite pricey it was a real treat. I would buy it again. Definitely.
It has been a real pleasure to be able to highlight a Nova Scotia product here on the blog. I hope to do more posts doing so in the future.
If, like me, you are also fond of lamb, might I also suggest these other recipes to cook:
SLOW ROASTED LAMB SHOULDER - If you are lucky enough to be able to get your hands on a shoulder of lamb, this is the perfect way to cook it. The meat ends up succulent and tender. This is fabulously delicious.
LAMB & DAMSON STEW - Lamb has a delicate almost sweet flavor that goes very well with fruit. You could also use apricots in this stew rather than plums if you cannot get the plums. It is incredibly tasty, especially with dumplings on top!
Yield: 2
Lamb Chops with Honey, Lemon & Thyme
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 25 Min
I was lucky enough to find some beautiful looking Nova Scotia Lamb and could not resist buying them. I wanted to cook them as simply as possible and this was the delicious result.
Ingredients
- 4 bone in rib lamb chops, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- fine sea salt and ground black pepper
- the zest of 1/2 lemon, cut into long shreds
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 TBS runny honey (I used Greek)
For the potatoes:
- 3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS light olive oil
- sea salt, black pepper and paprika to taste
Instructions
- Take your lamb chops and rub them all over on both sides with the thyme, salt and pepper. Set aside while you start the potatoes.
- Melt the butter in a skillet along with the oil. Once the butter starts to foam add the potato slices. Sprinkle all over with the pepper, salt and paprika. Cook slowly over medium heat until just beginning to turn on the bottom, flip over and season the other side with pepper, salt and paprika.
- Cover with a lid and cook on medium low for about 10 minutes, until golden brown on the bottoms and cooked through.
- Increase the heat to medium high.
- Push the potatoes over to one side. Add the lamb chops and sear on one side for 2 to 3 minutes, flip over. Add the lemon zest strips to the pan. Sear the chops on the other side for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Squeeze over the lemon juice and drizzle over the honey. Turn the chops over to coat them in both the honey and the lemon.
- Remove the pan from the heat and leave to rest for a few minutes.
- Divide the lamb and potatoes between two heated plates, spooning some of the juices from the pan over the lamb.
- Serve immediately.
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Lately we have all had a hankering for a Irish Lamb Stew. There is someting about the winter months that makes us long for comfort foods and you can't really cook anything much more comforting than a delicious Lamb Stew.
There is also something quite evocatively comforting about the idea of a bowl of Irish Stew. I never did get to Ireland when I was in the UK, but it was on my list of places I really wanted to go, and we had really planned to go last year, but Covid you know and then everything else happened.
Life has a way of surprising us with its twists and turns.
For all that I have heard and read about it, Ireland is a beautiful country. They say there are more shades of green in Ireland than the imagination can conjure up and I know personally that the people are quite simply wonderful.
Humble and sincere, open and friendly people. Much like the people of Nova Scotia I would say. I have heard it said that if you meet an Irishman in a pub, next thing you know he will be inviting you over to his for supper and to meet the family.
You'd probably be taken home to a humble abode, perhaps even a thatch roofed stone cottage. Cosy and quaint with an open fire on the hearth
Chances are you would be lucky enough to be served a fine hot bowl of this simple, yet very delicious Irish Stew. Filled with chunks of tender meat, rich gravy and some humble, yet perfectly cooked root vegetables.
Oh but I am waxing poetically now am I not? Oh well . . . we do tend to think romantically of Ireland and the Irish. I blame that old black and white movie, The Quiet Man.
It is one of my favourite old films. I just love it. I loved every film Maureen O'Hara was ever in. She was one of the best actresses of that era. My ex MIL looked very much like her, except she was blonde. What a beauty.
Lamb was not something we ate a lot of when I was growing up. In fact, I can only remember mom serving it to us once. Lamb Chops. They smelt like mittens burning in the skillet.
None of us would eat them. I rather suspect they were very old lamb chops or even mutton which had a very distinct strong flavour in comparison to lamb.
My great Grandfather raised lamb on his farm up in Inglisville on the North Mountain. He had quite a large farm, with milk cows, sheep, chickens, vegetables, etc. The old house and some out buildings are still there, very much run down. I believe it is owned by one of my mother's cousin's family now.
Mom was born in one of the bedrooms of that house and always spoke of sitting on the porch as a child with her older sister Thelma, scraping the flesh from a raw turnip with a spoon and eating it.
My sister and I have always said that if we won the lottery we would try to buy up the old property and return it to its former state. What a dream that would be.
Mom loved lamb and often spoke about a delicious lamb stew she had been served in the hospital when she was in there having given birth to my brother. That would be almost 61 years ago now as my brother will be 61 at the beginning of March.
My father has always said he doesn't like lamb, however he has eaten it without knowing it was lamb in a shepherd's pie according to my sister. Ignorance is bliss they say.
Often what you don't know can't hurt. I had a moose steak once and didn't know it. Best steak I had ever eaten. However had I known it was moose I would have been a bit queasy about trying it.
There is nothing fabulously outrageous ingredient-wise about this stew. Simple ingredients put together in a very simple way.
Stewing Lamb, potatoes, carrots, onions, celery. Thyme, stock and seasoning. A bit of oil for browning the meat.
The meat is browned first. Much of the favour for a stew comes from the sticky juices that are left in the bottom of a pan after you have browned the meat.
I put the
lamb on to brown while I am prepping the vegetables. That way I tend
to forget about it, which means it gets nicely browned without me
worrying it every few minutes and stirring it about. (One of the secrets
to any good stew made with red meat, is in a good and proper browning.
The meat won't brown nicely if you keep moving it about.)
The vegetables in this stew are also semi softened in pan . You will need a good stove top to oven casserole dish.
Something with handles that can easily go into the oven. I use my enamel cast iron casserole dish, which is perfect for this sort of thing.
You also need some stock. Lamb stock is what is preferred for its subtle
flavours, but you can also use beef or chicken or a combination of the
two.
Aside from lamb stock, I have to say my preference is chicken stock as it has a much milder flavour than beef.
Altogether this is a fabulous stew that is comforting and pleasing. You have wonderfully tender meat and vegetables as well as a lovely broth.
I confess I enjoy mashing my potatoes into the broth and dotting them with butter. There is nothing more delicious on this earth. I quite simply adore simple meals like this. All you need on the side is some crusty bread.
Irish Lamb Stew
Yield: 4
prep time: 25 Mincook time: 2 Hourtotal time: 2 H & 25 M
Rich and delicious with fork tender chunks of lamb, a rich gravy and plenty of simple vegetables. Comfort food at its best. This is quite simply delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lamb stewing meat, cut into cubes
- 2 TBS light olive oil
- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 sticks celery, peeled and chopped
- 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- salt and black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced into wedges or rounds
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) lamb stock (can use beef or chicken, or a combination)
- 1 knob of butter
- chopped parsley to garnish if desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*F/gas mark 3.
- Heat a medium, heavy bottomed flame proof casserole (with a lid) over medium heat. Add half of the oil and heat. Once the oil is heated, add the lamb and brown, over medium heat until well browned. Working in batches if necessary.
- Remove the lamb from the casserole and set aside.
- Add the vegetables and the remaining oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium low heat, until they have begun to soften a bit.
- Return the lamb to the pot along with any juices. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sprigs of thyme.
- Pour in the lamb stock.
- Lay the potatoes on top covering and pushing them down a bit into the stock. Dot with butter.
- Cover tightly. Bake in the heated oven for 2 hours, until the meat is beautifully tender and all of the vegetables are cooked, uncovering the casserole for the last fifteen minutes to lightly brown the potatoes.
- Spoon out into heated bowls to serve. Sprinkle with parsley if desired. Crusty bread goes well.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Lamb Tagine Recipe
Do you want to cook something different for your next dinner party? If you've ever been to North Africa, you'll know all about tagine, a hearty local stew. If you haven't, it's easy to replicate in your own kitchen! Here are the key secrets you need to know about making lamb tagine.
What is a tagine?
Tagine is a dish native to North
Africa, popularly eaten in Morocco. It consists of various spices and
meat - in this case, lamb. Traditional tagines are made in a clay or ceramic
pot, which captures moisture and makes the dish all the more succulent.
It's fairly easy to buy these
Moroccan tagine pots at affordable prices - here is a great one by Uno Casa,
which you can also use for a range of other meals. However, you can also cook
this lamb tagine in a large saucepan or other pot.
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.
Lately I have had a hankering for a lamb stew. Lamb was not something I had really eaten until I moved over here to the UK. My one and only experience with it had been one time when my mother cooked lamb chops.
They smelled like burning mittens when they were cooking. None of us liked them. My ex also was not fond of lamb, so it wasn't anything I had much experience in tasting or cooking.
For our wedding meal, the members of our church congregation took us out to a pub for supper and we could order anything we wanted from the menu.
There was Roasted Saddle of Lamb on the menu and so I decided to throw caution to the wind and I ordered it.
It could have gone so badly, but happily it didn't. I fell in love with lamb right then and there and I have been enjoying a loving relationship with it ever since!
This stew that I am showing you here today is a very simple one, but when you think about it, traditional Irish food is really very simple. There is a great history of poverty in Ireland for its people.
They would not have had meat very often, and in fact, the potato was their main form of sustenance through the years. They learned to cook simple foods and make them taste really good.
This is a simple stew that uses simple ingredients and I don't mind telling you, it is the most delicious stew I make. We both love it.
I used diced leg of lamb for this the other day. I picked it up at the local butchers and had them trim all of the fat from it that they could. This is then quite simply browned in a bit of oil. I put the lamb on to brown while I am prepping the vegetables.
That way I tend to forget about it, which means it gets nicely browned without me worrying it every few minutes and stirring it about. (One of the secrets to any good stew made with red meat, is in a good and proper browning. The meat won't brown nicely if you keep moving it about.)
The vegetables used are simple. Carrots. Celery. Onion. Potatoes. That's it. Nothing more and nothing less. I used lamb stock cubes to make the stock.
Lamb stock is not normally something I keep in the freezer. If you can't get lamb stock, feel free to use chicken stock.
You will want to brown the meat really well . . . so you get all of those caramelized lamb juices to flavour the stew with.
There is really no other flavourings, save salt and pepper. I add a couple of sprigs of thyme, but traditionally there would have been no herbs added.
Once you get the meat nicely browned, you add the chopped vegetables and you sweat them for a bit in the drippings from having cooked the lamb. More flavour.
Don't discard any of those drippings. They are what's going to give your stew it's flavour and colour.
Once you have sweated and lightly caramelized the vegetables, throw in the sprigs of thyme and return the lamb to the pot, along with its juices.
Again . . . flavour, and every little bit counts. This gets covered in stock.
At the last you cover the top of the stew with thick
slices of potato. You can keep the potato in rounds if they are small, or cut them into half moons if your potatoes are larger.
A light seasoning with salt and black pepper, and dotting with butter is all you have left to do. Just tightly cover it and then bake it in a slow oven.
Your oven will do the work, and you will be rewarded at the end with probably one of the tastiest stews you would ever want to eat! Crusty bread is a must to soak up all those lovely juices!
2 TBS light olive oil
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
salt and black pepper
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced into thick rounds
(cut into half moons if the potatoes are largish)
600ml lamb stock
Heat a medium, heavy bottomed flame proof casserole (with a lid) over medium heat. Add half of the oil and heat. Once the oil is heated, add the lamb and brown, over medium heat until well browned. Working in batches if necessary. Remove the lamb from the casserole and set aside. Add the vegetables and the remaining oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium low heat, until they have begun to soften a bit. Return the lamb to the pot along with any juices. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sprigs of thyme. Pour over the lamb stock. Lay the potatoes on top covering and pushing them down a bit into the stock. Dot with butter.
Cover tightly. Bake in the heated oven for 2 hours, until the meat is beautifully tender and all of the vegetables are cooked, uncovering the casserole for the last fifteen minutes to lightly brown the potatoes. Spoon out into heated bowls to serve. Sprinkle with parsley if desired. Crusty bread goes well.
Because there are only two of us we had plenty of leftovers to enjoy the day afterwards. There is a special magic that happens with soups and stews in that . . . after being left overnight in the refrigerator, they always taste even better.
Its a delicious alchemy that I don't comprehend, I only know is that it always happens. This would be the perfect dish for you to cook to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day.
It would go down really well with some crusty soda bread for the main dish, and finishing off with a nice slice of my Irish Apple Cake along with some custard for dessert. That's Saint Paddy's well sorted! Ithe sásta!! Sláinte!!
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