Showing posts sorted by date for query lamb. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query lamb. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Last week we were craving sausage rolls. I don't believe that I had ever tasted a sausage roll prior to coming here to the UK.
My mother used to make weiner rolls when I was growing up. They were something we all loved as a family.
Mom made beautiful plain pastry. It wasn't puff pastry, just plain. All of her pies, etc. were beautiful and we loved them.
When she made weiner rolls she would make her regular pastry recipe and then roll it out. The rolled pastry would be cut into rectangles large enough to wrap around weiners, enclosing them completely.
She would always spread the pastry with a bit of mustard before adding the weiners, wrapping them up and baking. Oh how very much we loved them.
I was surprised when I moved over here and saw sausage rolls. If you went down to the shops around school getting out time, there would be tons of children at the bake shop buying sausage rolls. You could also buy frozen ones to bake at home.
You can even get Vegetarian ones. Both are wrapped in flaky puffed pastry. Of course you get what you pay for.
The more expensive ones will have a lovely rich and ample meaty filling. Using a quality sausage meat. The cheap ones will be mostly pastry and filled with nasty sausage meat. People seem to enjoy both.
The first time I tasted a homemade one was at my friend Joy's in South Wales. They were magnificent. It truly was love at first bite.
You can find her recipe here. She was really generous and shared it with me. I think she also sent us home with a bag filled with them that visit along with her gorgeous lamb samosas!
This recipe for Apple & Sage Sausage Rolls was one I had clipped from the BBC Good Food Magazine back in 2012. I had saved it in my recipe files to bake one day.
I discovered it while going through them the other day and thought that there would be no time like the present to make them. I had puff pastry and sausage meat in the freezer that I needed to use up.
The directions were a bit ambiguous. I have tried to make them as straight forward as I can, as well as adding my usual North American measurements.
Try to use the best sausage meat that you can afford. I actually did a tutorial on making your own sausages here.
I know you won't be able to get British Sausages in North America. You can however make some tasty sausage meat yourself. I highly recommend it. They are really delicious.
You only need the meat to make the filling for these sausage rolls. It is mixed with chopped fresh sage and apple. I peeled the apple.
I used French all-butter puff pastry that I had in the freezer. If you can find all-butter puff pastry, I really recommend it.
I always think it is best to use natural ingredients whenever you can. I don't like things with artificial ingredients and preservatives. Go as pure as you can.
In any case these turned out really lovely. I sent half of them to my next door neighbour for her and her son to enjoy. She was most appreciative.
The sage and the apple give them a really nice flavour. Sage and apple are perfect partners for pork. I think you are really going to enjoy these!
Apple & Sage Sausage Rolls
Yield: Makes 12
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 25 Mintotal time: 40 Min
These delicious sausage rolls are flavoured with sage and chopped apple. Quick and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 400g (16 ounces) of sausage meat (from about 6 meaty sausages)
- 1 clove of garlic crushed
- 2 TBS chopped sage
- 1 apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 pound (500g) all butter puff pastry
- 1 free range egg beaten together wih 1 tsp water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line several baking trays with baking paper.
- Remove the sausage meat from the skins and crumble into a bowl. Add the chopped sage, garlic and chopped apple. Mix well together.
- Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a large rectangle. 12 inches wide at the shortest edge. Halve the pastry to make two long thin sheets. Divide the sausage meat down the centre of each, leaving a good border on both sides.
- Beat the egg together with the water. Brush some of this down both long edges of each pastry strip. Fold over the edges to cover the sausage meat, making two long rolls. Seal the edges with a fork.
- Flip over and place pastry seam side down on the baking sheets. Brush more egg wash over top. Cut each roll into six equal pieces. Snip each in a few places and spread them apart on the baking sheets to leave room to rise.
- Cook for 25 minutes until golden brown and puffed.
One thing I will miss about the UK are the lovely sausages they have over here. There are about as many varieties of sausage as there are areas and counties.
Nevermind, they have good ones in Canada as well! There will always be things we miss about the places we have lived.
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!
About six months ago I had bought a couple of racks of lamb at Costco, which were marked down for some reason. They looked fine so I brought them home, repackaged them and froze them to use at a later date. This weekend I thawed one out and roasted it for our Sunday lunch.
It was absolutely beautiful. I can't think why it had been reduced, perhaps the original packaging had been punctured or some such. In any case there was nothing wrong with it at all.
Lamb is not something we ever ate when I was growing up. Mom did try to cook some lamb chops once, but they were not popular with any of us. I suspect strongly that they were mutton and not lamb as they smelled like she was burning a pair of mittens when she was cooking them!
When mom was in the hospital having my brother (over 60 years ago!) she had remembered having a lamb stew and she always talked about how delicious it was. Until moving here to the UK, chops that smelt like burnt mittens and mom's memory of lamb stew were my only experiences with lamb.
I have come to love and enjoy lamb very much here in the UK. We have some of the most beautiful tasting lamb in the world. Our hillsides are covered with sheep, everywhere you look. That was one thing I noticed when I first moved over here and had a chance to wander about in the countryside. Sheep, sheep everywhere.
We also pay a lot more for local lamb than we do for New Zealand lamb. I am not sure what is up with that, but I can tell you, local lamb is worth the extra cost. It's is simply wonderful.
I decided to use a recipe for a glazed rack of lamb that I found on Linger. It sounded delicious with a fabulous Apricot and Mustard glaze.
The original recipe was for the use of two racks of lamb. I cut it in half successfully.
It called for a full 4 cloves of garlic for the full recipe. I tried it with two, but I could tell that it was going to be obnoxious as soon as I had minced it all with the thyme. The smell was far too strong. I cut both in half yet again and that was perfect.
She talked about the glaze becoming somewhat of a sauce to spoon over the lamb. I didn't end up with a sauce. My glaze was simply a glaze, but it did taste beautiful and I feel it was a smart move on my part to cut back on the garlic and the thyme.
The full whack would have totally over-powered the natural taste of the lamb. I like to taste what I am eating. Any complimentary flavours should do just that. Compliment, not overpower.
Just my opinion of course! But if you are paying a huge price tag for a beautiful piece of meat, lets taste the meat!
The timings were spot on. I ended up with beautifully roasted lamb, nice and pink just like we enjoy it.
I loved the glaze just as I did it. It was fruity and mellow and went perfect with the lamb.
We both really enjoy this delicious entree. I served it with the Balsamic Roasted New Potatoes & Asparagus I shared the other day with you. This was a perfect Springtime menu.
Apricot & Mustard Glazed Rack of Lamb
Yield: 4
Perfctly cooked and glazed rack of lamb, with beautiful flavours. Elegant and yet very simple to execute.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pound rack of lamb, french trimmed
- 1 tsp fine seasalt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 heaped dessertspoon of apricot preserves (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 heaped dessertspoon of grainy Dijon mustard (about 1/4 cup)
- 2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely minced
Instructions:
- Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Spray the foil with some canola cooking spray. Lay the rack of lamb on it. Season on both sides with the salt and pepper.
- Stir together the apricot jam and the mustard. Stir in the thyme and the garlic. Spread 1/3 of this mixture on both sides of the lamb.
- Let the lamb sit for one hour undisturbed until it comes to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 230*C/450*F. gas mark 7.
- Spread 1/3 of the remaining apricot jam mixture on the top of the lamb. Place the baking tray with the lamb into the oven and roast for five minutes. Spoon over another 1/3 of the jam mixture. Roast for a further five minutes. Spoon on the remainder of the jam mixture and roast for 20 minutes longer. (50*C/120*F rare) or for 25 minutes (52*C/125*F medium rare) or for 30 minutes (55*C/130*F medium).
- Remove from the oven to a cutting board. Tent lightly with foil and leave to rest for 14 minutes. Cut each portion alotting two ribs per serving size.
If you have some lamb and are looking for a beautiful and delicious way of preparing it, this would not be a bad choice! I think this would make an excellent dinner party entree with two racks and maybe a Potato Gratin on the side. Bon Appetit as they say!
The recipe I am sharing with you today proves that you can make a salad out of just about anything. I was very lucky the other day that my good friend Tina picked me up a head of iceberg lettuce and left it on my doorstep. You never know what you are going to miss until you can't get it. That is precisely when you are going to start craving it, and all last week I had a craving for lettuce and cabbage. Thankfully Tina was able to get me both!
I am quite lucky in that I have a fair amount of meat and fish in the freezer, mostly chicken of course, but I think I might have some pork chops in there somewhere, and maybe a piece of lamb. In any case I used some of the chicken to create this fabulous Almost Fried Chicken Salad!
You can use chicken tenders if that is all you have to use. I cut chicken breasts into strips, and then rolled them in some buttermilk and then a flavourful dry coating mixture, of flour, dry bread crumbs and a mis of herbs and spices.
These were baked in a hot oven on a oil sprayed baking sheet. I also sprayed them with a bit of oil. (Low fat canola oil cooking spray) I baked them until they were golden brown and crisp, turning them and spraying them again, halfway through the bake time.
The salad itself was a mix of what I had in the house . . . chopped boiled egg, chopped broccoli and cauliflower . . .
Chopped cucumber and radish. I cut my radishes in half with zig zag edges to provide visual interest . . .
I forgot to add tomatoes which I had, but feel free of course. I also added some chopped spring onion.
You can use any combination of vegetables you have that you might enjoy . . . cooked beetroot, cooked sweet potato, carrots, etc. All work very well.
I had actually made some sweet potato chips (crisps) the other day that I used as croutons on top, you could use normal croutons, or no croutons. Just what you have and what you fancy. There really is no right or wrong about this!
I added a grating of cheddar cheese to the top. You could use crumbled blue cheese or feta. Again, whatever it is that you fancy or that you have!
The dressing is a homemade kind of a Ranch/Garlic dressing. I used the rest of my sour cream in it, but you can also use plain yogurt if that is what you have, or even buttermilk if you happen to be so lucky to have it. Those three things are all tangy, rich and pretty much can be used in place of the other.
This really satisfied my craving for a wholesome and hearty salad! For Todd I added a baked potato.
He was happy, I was happy . . . it was a great meal and we made great use of just what we had that needed using. No waste here!
Almost Fried Chicken Chopped Salad
Yield: 4
Quit simply delicious. This fabuously tasty salad is designed to use what you have in the house.
Ingredients:
For the chicken:
- 30g dry bread crumbs (1/4 cup)
- 35g plain flour (1/4 cup)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
- 120ml buttermilk (1/2 cup)
- Cooking spray oil
For the salad:
- 1/2 medium head of iceberg lettuce
- 3 cups of chopped vegetables (a variety)
- 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- 60g of strong cheddar cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
For the dressing:
- 110g mayonnaise (1/2 cup)
- 60g sour cream (1/2 cup)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp each dried basil and dried dill
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 60ml milk (1/4 cup)
Instructions:
How to cook Almost Fried Chicken Chopped Salad
- First make the dressing so that you can chill it in the refrigerator. Whisk together all of the ingredients until smooth. If you have no sour cream, you can use plain yogurt. Put in a glass jar, cover and chill until needed.
- To make the chicken, cut the chicken into 1/2 inch thick strips. Mix together the flour, bread crumbs, herbs and seasonings in a shallow bowl. Put the buttermilk in another bowl.
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and spray generously with oil spray.
- Coating the chicken strips, one at a time, roll first in the buttermilk and then in the flour mixture to coat. Lay on the baking sheet. When all have been coated and are on the baking sheet, spray with more spray oil.
- Bake for 8 minutes until golden brown. Carefully flip over and lightly spray again, and cook for a further 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown all over and the juices run clear. Remove from the oven. Let cool, then cut into chunks.
- Have ready four pasta bowls. Cut the lettuce into chunks and divide between each bowl evenly. Top each with 1 chopped boiled egg, 1/4 of the chopped spring onion, and a portion of the chopped vegetables. (I used cauliflower, broccoli (stems and all), radish, cucumber) Top each with a portion of the chicken and then drizzle with a portion of the dressing. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately. Pass any remaining dressing at the table.
Has your cooking become rather inventive during the lockdown? What are some of the things you have been doing? I really want to know! They say this might go on for as long as twelves months. We will all be in need of some culinary inspiration by then I reckon! I said to Todd I want to go out for a slap bang meal at a good restaurant, no matter the cost!
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