Rack of Lamb with Mediterranean vegetables, Broad Bean & Feta Salad

When I got my rack of lamb, I was struggling to come up with recipes for it. It's not that I didn't know what to do with the lamb, but that it's not a cheap cut, so not something I purchase frequently and so I wanted to make something that would show off it's flavours to make it a memorable dish. I went for a Mediterranean route as the recipe is from Jamie Oliver, and I love the the salty, sweet flavour combinations that this dish provides. Not to mention the fact that it's so easy to prepare.

Ok so I did a little prep work with the potatoes, but after that, I pretty much just shoved everything in the oven and relaxed while it was cooking. The Mediterranean flavours of the roasted tomatoes and the olives make this the perfect Summer Sunday lunch.

I also made a quick broad bean, mint and feta salad to go on the side as I wanted something green and the combination of the flavours would work well. You don't really need as much feta as I put in the dish as the lamb itself is quite rich, on the other hand if you want the lamb to go further, then add as much feta as necessary. This dish is pretty high in saturated fats but at the same time, it's not often I shell out on lamb racks so one indulgent meal won't do any harm. 

I was being really careful about the lamb because I did want to come out perfect. Crispy skin, rendered fat and pink meat on the inside. I think I managed to accomplish a medium well pinkness inside. It wasn't dry and that's what I was worried about getting wrong. We had some bad lamb not long before this so I didn't want to go too pink either, but I think it got it just right for our palates for the day.

I portioned it out so I would have two pieces, Byron would have three and that left some for leftovers. I ended up cutting the meat off the bone and put it in a tupperware container with the remaining potatoes and broad bean salad for lunch at work the next day. I have to say my colleagues were enviously eyeing my lunch and you know what, this dish tastes pretty good chilled. I still microwaved the meat a little bit but everything else tasted great!

Ingredients
Rack of Lamb
~700g of new or Jersey Royal Potatoes
100g Olives, de stoned and chopped in half
250g cherry Tomatoes
1 cup of Broad Beans, shelled
50g feta Cheese
1/2 Lemon
Mint
Basil
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Recipe
Start by setting two pans of water to boil, pre-heat a large frying pan, and pre-heat the oven to 200 degree centigrade. Wash your potatoes and halve any of the larger ones so they're all roughly the same size. Pop the potatoes in the boiling water and cook for 8 minutes. Pop your broad beans into the other pan of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes.

While you're waiting for the vegetables to cook, sear the skin side of the lamb rack on the frying pan until it starts to turn brown and the fat starts to render. I didn't put any oil in the pan as the lamb will release a lot of it's own fat. When the meat has browned set to one side and reserve the cooking juices in the pan.

Cut your cherry tomatoes in half and squeeze the seeds out of them so you're left with the flesh and skin. I reserved the seeds and the juice for another recipe. When the potatoes are just tender, drain the water and toss them into the frying pan with the lamb juices. Add the tomatoes and the olives to the potatoes and fry on a high heat. Squash the potatoes a bit with a masher so the flesh can absorb some of the juices from the lamb and the olives and tomatoes.

When the potatoes have started to crisp around the edges, toss them with the tomatoes and the olives in a oven dish. Add the lamb rack on top of the potatoes and cook in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the lamb has cooked.

While the lamb and veg are in the oven, make your salad by mixing together lemon juice, feta cheese, mint and your blanched broad beans. When the lamb is cooked, remove from the oven, let it sit for 10 minutes covered with foil, then carve. Plate vegetables on the bottom with lamb on the top and the broad bean salad around the sides. Eat.

Poached Egg on Potato Rosti with Parma wrapped Asparagus

Brunch to me is synonymous with poached eggs and lazy weekends. It’s all about the yolk slowly oozing out and covering everything on the plate with its yellow goodness. So when I went to make brunch last weekend, I knew there had to be at least one poached egg. But what else was I to put with it?

I had some leftover asparagus and remember seeing the Heston Blumenthal for Waitrose recipe cards of asparagus wrapped with smoked salmon served as soldiers for dippy egg.

And you know what? Asparagus make for the perfect soldiers as they carry the yolk well. I went down the same route wrapping some pencil asparagus with parma ham and then quick frying in a dry frying pan to get some crisp edges.

I next decided this dish needed carbs but I was out of bread, and I was far too lazy to get out of the house to go to Waitrose, so I made potato rosti’s and added a little chopped dill that I had lying around. I’ve never made these before so I am quite pleased how they turned out. I used a round pastry cutter to use as a ring to hold the rostis in place whilst I was frying them, but I didn’t really see the point of that as the rostis would fall apart as soon as I removed the ring. I also couldn’t figure out how to get the sides cooked any ideas?

The resulting dish was exactly what I needed that morning, soldiers to dip in my yolk and a rosti to mop up the mess. This dish is light, yet filling and immensely satisfying and indulgent. Vegetarians need not shy away; you can add cheese to the mix instead of the parma ham for a similar salty edge. I would tie the asparagus with a string and then shave some parmasaen over the warmed asparagus.

Ingredients
2 medium Potatoes, washed and peeled
2 fresh Eggs,
bunch of Asparagus, washed and trimmed
4 slices Parma ham
1 small Onion or Shallot, finely sliced
small bunch of Dill, finely chopped
Vinegar
knob of Butter
Salt & Pepper
Cooking Oil

Recipe
Start by boiling a pan with water. Once the water is boiling, drop the potatoes in and let them cook for 7-10 minutes. They need to start to soften yet still be pretty firm. If you have a steamer, fit that over your boiling water so you can steam the asparagus at the same time. When the potatoes are ready, drain the water or reserve it by putting it back on the heat to poach the eggs in. Let the potatoes cool a bit until you can handle them. Toss the asparagus in a bit of butter and seasons with salt and pepper. Put to one side.

When the potatoes are cool, use the thick side of a box grater to grate them. Mix the grated potatoes with the shallots and the chopped dill. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan and place a buttered, round pastry cutter in the centre. Drop a small bit of oil in your pastry cutter, then spoon your potato, dill and onion mixture inside. Fill the mixture to the top, pressing down as you go along to compact it all together.

Fry on a low/medium heat for about 4 minutes until the bottom starts to turn brown. Remove the cutter, and flip the rosti over to fry for a further 4 minutes on the other side. This method works well if you have multiple pastry cutters that are the same size and large frying pan so you can do 2-3 on the go. If you’re like me with only one pastry cutter, then you can remove the cutter earlier, about 2 minutes in but you might need to play around with the rosti’s to stop them spreading round the rest of the frying pan.

For the asparagus, take a slice of parma ham and wrap them round a bunch of 3-4 aspargus. In a separate frying pan, flash fry them for a couple of minutes to get the edges crispy.

When you’re frying the last rosti, add a dash of vinegar to the boiling water and then drop your raw eggs into the water. Cook the eggs for 4 minutes and then remove with a slotted spoon. Drain the eggs on kitchen towel then assemble your dish by placing your rosti first with your poached egg on top and then your asparagus on the sides. Grind pepper and sprinkle rock salt over the egg. Enjoy.

Oven Baked Mahi Mahi with Quinoa Salad

My my, it has been a very busy week for me. There has been a job opportunity that opened up at work recently and I have been spending the last couple of weeks frantically preparing for that, as well as trying to organise tickets for myself and a friend to go to a music festival this summer. So I haven’t actually been doing much cooking, or running for that matter, recently and that’s been a real shame. The stress levels are high but it is unfortunate that when stress is high, time is limited to participate in my favourite de-stressing activities.

I have been trying to stay healthy during this time and the mini heat waves we’ve been having have pushed me down the salad and seafood route. I’m going to South Africa this month, so hopefully I will get to eat a whole lot more fish and seafood while I’m out there and wash it all down with some delicious South African white wine.

So this is one of the speedy healthy dishes I have been making. The fish was purchased at the fish counter in Waitrose where they have brilliant Garnish and Go scheme. Basically you choose your fish, and then choose some garnishes for your fish, like parsley butter or sorrel and they garnish the fish and seal it in a ready-to-cook bag. It’s so easy! So I picked up these red pepper marinated mahi mahi fillets with a bit of fresh parsley and lemon, shoved it in the oven at home, prepped my salad and hey presto it’s all cooked with dressing and all.

The accompanying salad I made is a take on my “Super healthy sprouty salad” I made at the beginning of the month. Recipe for this can be found here. I didn’t use the tomatoes or rocket and put fennel instead to compliment the spicy fish. It worked out perfectly!