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Sunday 12 December 2021

Recipe CXXXVII - Pot Roast Melon d'Agneau

Fusion Food: two words, when seen together, that strike fear into any decent, self-respecting food lover anywhere. If you want teriyaki with empanadas or tagine-cooked pierogi, you are welcome but please don't even think about inviting me for some because first, I'd rather cut off my nipples with a sharpened spoon; and second, I will never be able to be seen with you in public ever again.

 Anyhow, there are some circumstances where this might work, so you are always free to suggest it... if you dare. And one of those circumstances took place in my kitchen this afternoon. I decided to combine my acquisitions from the greengrocer and butcher's shop in Sierck-Les-Bains with a great (acceptable) American culinary tradition and make a pot roast with French ingredients.




Ingredients (feeds between 4 and 6 hungry people): 

One boneless shoulder of lamb, bound like a ball.

Enough potatoes for your dinner guests

One or two onions

Five cloves of garlic (crushed with a knife)

Several carrots (I chose orange and red ones)

Brussels sprouts, halved

Three or four sprigs of rosemary

A lot of olive oil

A glassful of red wine

Salt and pepper to taste


Instructions:

Set the oven for 180°C. Cut, peel, slice the vegetables to your satisfaction; parboil the potatoes.

Take the lamb and sear it in a pan until the outside is sealed; cover it in salt, pepper and oil.

Take a large roasting pot with a lid and put the vegetables randomly in the bottom, giving them a stir in the oil. Add some salt.

Put the potatoes in with some more oil, and the lamb on top of that, with the rosemary and garlic spread around evenly. Cook for twenty minutes uncovered. Then add the red wine and put the lid on, reduce the temperature to 120°C for an hour, then take the lid off for a further 20 minutes. 

Remove the lamb, cut into slices, and apportion the vegetables accordingly. 


If you're feeling adventurous:

A good stuffing would round this meal off nicely. Here's one that would work:

Ingredients:

About two hands full of yesterday's bread, broken into very small pieces
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
Some fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme and sage should be good)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A binding agent like lemon juice, milk or an egg

Instructions:

Put the stuffing ingredients (except the bread) into a mixer and give it a thorough blitzing.
Then add the bread and turn it into a pâté-like consistency. Roll balls out of the mixture and add to the pot at random. Alternatively, spread it out over the top of the lamb.

Cook with the other ingredients.

Sunday 30 May 2021

Recipe CXXXVI - Summer Food: Potato Salad with Pickled Red Onions

This year's weather so far has been... well... forgettable at the best of times. Last year, by the end of March, we had already spent several days outside, lunches in the garden, walks by the river, socks put firmly in the drawers until October. Not so this year. Today was the first time we had breakfast outside, although it was still slightly chilly, but I didn't care. So by the time lunch came around, it was a pretty decent early summer afternoon. It reminded me of the summers of my youth, back before our current parlous state, when we would all be able to mow the grass without ending up with sunstroke and a severe case of dehydration. So to celebrate this gorgeous day of fluffy white clouds, a gentle breeze and the chirrup of birds, I made two salads to go with a lovely piece of duroc pork. This is a real crowd-pleasing recipe and one that you can easily take with you to picnics or BYOF gatherings.


Ingredients: 

1kg floury potatoes

A handful of chopped chives (optional)

Some olive oil

Some mayonnaise

3 medium-sized red onions

150ml+ apple cider vinegar

Sugar and salt to taste


Instructions:

Pre-boil the potatoes and leave them to cool. Floury potatoes are good for this recipe because they give off a creamy texture and go very well with the combination. Put in a small amount of olive oil as the potatoes will be sticky and this will let you separate them on the plate more easily. Once they are cool, add some mayonnaise and chopped chives. Not much mayonnaise, just enough to coat.

While the potatoes are cooling, you can make your red onion pickle. Heat some apple cider vinegar in a small saucepan on a low flame - you don't want to evaporate it, as it will be used later in the jar. Cut up the onions as small as possible and add them to the hot vinegar. Add sugar and salt to the pan until you get the right balance of sweet, salty and sour. The onions should be sweet more than the other two, as it will complement your potato salad very well.

Once you have the balance, pour the liquid and the onions into a jar and leave to cool. Add to the potato salad and serve cold.

I served ours with a piece of Spanish duroc pork and a crispy salad with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey and mustard.

I shall be making this once more very soon.