Slow roasted lamb & chilli fetta carrots

With the cooler weather (finally) hitting Perth, Mr Alphie has started requesting a Sunday roast. We've had roast chook (WA raised free range, of course) a couple of times now, and after the most recent request for a chicken roast, I realised that the alternative had to be pretty tempting to draw Mr Alphie from the roast chook obsession he was clearly about to fall in to. I had a quick ponder back to previous winters, and other roasts cooked, and remembered stumbling upon a fantastic lamb recipe last winter.

In the low calorie obsession of the last 12 months, I bought a number of cookbooks I would not have otherwise. On reflection, most of the books are are quite weird  but one that has had more than it's fair share of gems, is Jane Kennedy's OMG! I Can Eat That?. It still has some weird stuff in it, and I think she takes the low-carb thing a bit far sometimes, but the slow roast lamb recipe is definitely a winner. Beautifully soft, pull apart lamb shoulder, drizzled with a garlicky, lemony 'gravy'.... mmmm, oh, and the smell wafting through the house as it cooks... Perfection.

Another recent realisation I have had, is that just because we're having a roast, doesn't mean we have to have the full suite of traditional roast veges (potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, parsnip, etc), with an obligatory serve of green veg on the side (peas, beans or broccoli). Don't get me wrong, I adore roast veges, and have been known to just have roast veges for dinner, but I'm starting to fall for carefully crafted 'side dishes' to star along side the roast, rather than as uninspired support acts.

A recent favourite  thanks to a continuing excess of carrots that arrive in our fruit & vege delivery, is also found in OMG! I Can Eat That? Chilli feta carrots. So divine, and it's possible I love these more than regular roasted carrots, which I previously thought of as the best part of a roast. I have a continuing love affair with Brussels sprouts/cabbage and bacon, and of course, a roast is not a roast, without some form of roasted potato to accompany it - soft & fluffy in their jackets is my preference.

Slow Roast Lamb
slightly modified from Jane Kennedy's OMG! I Can Eat That? pg 105
Serves 4-6

• approx 1kg boned lamb shoulder
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 1 head garlic, broken up, but not peeled
• 2-3 stems rosemary
• 1 cup chicken or beef stock
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 220°C.

In a roasting pan, place the lemon wedges in the centre, ad surround with the garlic cloves. What you're trying to do here is create a 'trivet' for the lamb to rest on. Depending on the size of your lamb shoulder you may need another lemon, or some more garlic. Place the rosemary on top, followed by the lamb. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper, and rub it all in.

Add the stock to the pan (Jane recommends you do this at the end to make the 'gravy', but I had too many experiences of the lemons & garlic burning on to the pan & engulfing the kitchen in acrid smoke), and cover tightly with foil. Chuck it in your hot oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 160°C.

Leave it for 4 hours. Yes, 4 hours. I promise you, it'll be worth it.

After the 4 hours are up, take the foil off & increase the oven to 220°C. Leave for another 20 minutes, just to get some crispy bits going.

Remove from the oven, set the lamb aside on the serving plate & cover with foil. Fish the lemon bits & rosemary out of the pan, and squeeze all that delicious slow roasted garlic out of its skins back into all the pan juices. You might also want to get rid of a bit of the fat in the pan at this point, although I don't always have to - it depends on the lamb. Mush up that garlic & put the pan on the cooktop on a medium heat to reduce a bit. It won't thicken up like a gravy, but that's ok.

This works best if it's served family-style - a big plate in the middle of the table & everyone can help themselves to the unctuous lamb & drippy pan gravy. So, shred the lamb on the serving plate & spoon the gravy over the top.

Serve & dig in!

(sorry about the lack of 'in progress' photos, I had to fight Mr Alphie for the oven & I got a bit frazzled trying to get it in on time)

Chilli Fetta Carrots
slightly modified from Jane Kennedy's OMG! I Can Eat That? pg 193
Serves 4-6

• 3-4 carrots, peeled & sliced on the diagonal
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, to taste
• 50g fetta cheese (or there about, I just eyeball it)
• 2tbs chopped flat leaf parsley

Either toss your carrots in a bit of oil, then spread out on a baking tray lined with baking paper; or chuck them straight on the tray (still with baking paper) and spray with oil. Whichever method you choose, sprinkle the carrots with salt & freshly ground pepper & chilli flakes.

Roast the carrots in a 200°C oven for 25 or so minutes, until they're just golden. Mix with the fetta & parsley in a serving bowl.

Enjoy!

Do you have any favoured side dish recipes that are starts in their own right? Please share, I'd love to hear about them.

Brussels sprouts and Tofu

Another recipe from the infamous Yotam Ottolenghi. I am on a bit of a tofu bender at the moment, and after buying my last block, I realised that I wasn't sure how I wanted to cook it. A brief flick through Yotam's Plenty, and I had found the perfect recipe; Brussels sprouts and Tofu. I quite enjoy Brussels sprouts, but I know a lot of people don't feel the same way. I think the key is to sauté them rather than boil them to oblivion (as is often the case). They really need to be just cooked through, overcooking is the enemy of the Brussels sprout.

This is kind of a stir fry and kind of not, but whatever you call it, it's delicious. The marinade really flavours the tofu, which is something I usually find quite hard to do. I didn't have any maple syrup, so I substituted honey, and mis-read the rice wine vinegar amount (I used 1 tbs instead of 1 tsp) but it was still great. If anything, I would cook the sprouts for a little longer next time, some were not quite cooked and a bit tough.

Brussels sprouts and tofu

Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty

Serves 3 

(Yotam says 4, but I didn't get that much - maybe I'm just a big eater...)

• 2 tbs sweet chilli sauce
• 1 ½ tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs sesame oil (Yotam recommends toasted sesame oil, but I have no idea where you'd find this)
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbs rice wine vinegar
• 150g firm tofu, sliced into 1cm widths, then halved into rough squares
• 500g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced into longways thirds
• 6-8 tbs plain oil (rice bran/sunflower etc)
• 100g spring onions, sliced
• ½ small red chilli, deseeded and freshly chopped
• 120g shitake mushrooms, halved or quartered
• 15g coriander leaves
• 1 tbs (toasted) sesame seeds (optional)
• salt

 

First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk together the chilli and soy sauces, two tablespoons of the sesame oil, the vinegar and maplr syrup.Gently stir the tofu into the marinade and set aside.

Browning/burning the Brussels sprouts

Take a large, non-stick pan, add two tablespoons of oil and heat up well. Throw in half the sprouts and a little salt, and cook on high heat for two minutes. Don't stir much. You want the sprouts to almost to burn in a few places and cook through but remain crunchy. Remove to a bowl. Repeat with more oil, salt and the rest of the sprouts. Remove all sprouts from the pan

Add two more tablespoons of oil to the pan, heat up and sauté the spring onions, chilli and mushrooms for a minute or two. Transfer to the sprout bowl.

Leave the pan on high heat. Use tongs to lift half the tofu pieces from the marinade and gently lay in the pan (be careful as the oil will spit!), spacing apart and in one layer. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for two minutes on each side, or until they get a nice caramelised colour. Transfer to the sprout bowl and repeat with the rest of the tofu.

Caramelised tofu

Once all the tofu is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and return all the cooked ingredients to it. Add the remaining tofu marinade and half the coriander. Toss together and allow to cool slightly in the pan. Taste and add salt if needed. Stir in the remaining sesame oil (extra, if you like) and serve warm, not hot, garnished with sesame seeds, if using, and the rest of the coriander.

Serve with hot steamed rice.

Jamie's bacon-y cabbage

Sorry for the lack of posts of late - it's been a bit hectic at chez Alphie of late. I'm about to head off to Perth (for an undefined period) for work, so I've been busy packing and making sure FH Alphie will be ok without me.

Dinner tonight was lamb cutlets (lamb again? I hear you say, but I just can't help it, Mums lambs are soooo delicious), with mash and, Jamie Oliver's bacon-y cabbage. Which, as a side note, I am fairly sure is not what Jamie calls it, but my Ministry of Food cookbook has been packed away, so I can't check.

I tried Jamie's cabbage recipe about 12 months ago, on a whim, and it has been a regular winter side dish at chez Alphie ever since (we've had it two nights in a row now...). I have used both Savoy and regular (green?) cabbage, as well as Brussels sprouts (halved), and they have all worked well. If anything, the Brussels sprouts were probably my favourite.

Jamie's bacon-y cabbage
Jamie's Ministry of Food
serves 4-6

• 1 small or 1/2 a large cabbage, shredded (or 500g Brussels sprouts, halved)
• 4-6 rashers smoky bacon, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1tbs olive oil
• 2 knobs butter
• 2-3tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 250ml chicken stock (hot works best)

In a large non stick fry pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat, and cook bacon until it starts to brown. Add the garlic, and once it starts to colour, add the butter and Worcestershire sauce (off the heat - it will spit). Then add the cabbage, and stir to coat.


Turn the heat up to high, add in the stock, and shake around a bit to combine. Put a lid on the pan, and leave for 5 minutes, shaking occasionally. Take the lid off, and continue to cook, until the cabbage is soft, and most of the liquid has evaporated.


-Alphie