Incredible Roasted Shoulder of Lamb Courtesy of Jamie Oliver

There is something magical about Sunday roasts, especially in the autumn and winter. They always remind me of growing up and my mum cooking a big family meal. Apart from a phase of being veggie in my teens I have always loved the smell that fills the house as the roast cooks hours before it's time for dinner. For me meat either has to barely see the heat or be cooked very low and slow for hours and hours. This recipe is the latter. Fortunately I always prefer to eat Sunday roasts at dinner time as if I eat a big meal at lunch I never feel like doing much after! If is wanted to eat this at lunch I would've had to be up at a seriously unpleasant time for a Sunday...

This is a super simple way to give a shoulder of lamb a lovely dressing up.

Similar to the duck pasta in my last post this is a recipe I have made lots of times so I have played with it a little.

Jamie just says to place the rosemary and unpeeled garlic cloves underneath and on top of the lamb, but if I have time and can be bothered I also chop some of it up and make deep incisions in the meat with a sharp knife. I then push pieces of rosemary and garlic into the slits in the meat. Today I also added some small slices of anchovies as I had them in and lamb loves anchovies. If you don't love them as much don't worry they totally melt away and just leave a lovely savoury flavour.

I still put the lamb, in an oven proof tin or pan, on a bed of rosemary and unpeeled garlic cloves and then more on the top. A whole bulb of garlic sounds like an awful lot but when garlic is roasted it changes from being quite potent to a lovely mellow flavour.

Next it's time to roast the meat. Start by heating your oven as high as it will go. Once it's up to temperature then put the meat in and turn the temperature down. Jamie says to roast it for 4 hours but I like to do it at a slightly lower temperature (140C) for about 6-7 hours.

Once it's cooked remove it from the tin and leave it to rest in some tin foil. Just before serving pull the lamb from the bones using two forks.

Pour most of the excess fat from the tin/pan and then use the delicious juices and scrummy bits to make the gravy. It is well worth making the gravy it is far far superior to gravy made from granules and not at all difficult. The gravy is finished with chopped mint which really lightens the gravy and means you don't also need mint.

Jamie serves it with smashed root veg and greens which it delicious, but as it was sunday. I decided to go for roast potatoes (skip these for a paleo and clean option), greens and carrots instead.

You can find the full recipe on the Jamie Oliver website here http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/incredible-roasted-shoulder-of-lamb-with_1

Here is the lamb ready to go into the oven




And here is the shoulder once it has been cooked ready for resting.

Gorgeous Slow Cooked Duck Pasta Courtesy of Jamie Oliver

I never used to like duck and not just because I was a vegetarian for most of my teenage years. I always thought it was a bit of a fatty meat. Roll forward a few years and duck is a real treat, the breast served pink, the leg as duck confit or this gorgeous pasta dish from Jamie Oliver. It's not at all difficult but does take a very long time so it's best to give it a go when you need to be at home for the day anyway or even roast the duck the day before. It's great to impress friends in an understated way. I'm still staying at my parents and on Friday had this for dinner.

The first time I make a recipe I always try to follow it exactly, but as I have made this a few times I have tweaked Jamie's recipe a bit so I hope he doesn't mind!

You start by slow roasting the duck. For four people I only use half a duck but use the same amount of sauce as Jamie recommends. Mainly due to the cost of duck and that I think there is still plenty of meat for four people. If you were using wild duck you'd need more, probably a whole one.

Next, it's time to make a yummy tomato sauce with pancetta and cook it for about an hour until it is quite thick and all the flavours have melded together. Jamie then says to add the shredded duck and cook for half an hour but I think it needs more like an hour. Ten minutes before the end add sultanas and pine nuts. They aren't critical but add a good extra dimension.

Once the sauce is nearly cooked it's time to put the pasta on. Again I use much less than Jamie says, 300g for 4 people, which is more than enough served with a bit of salad. Cook the pasta until it is al dente, drain (retaining some of the cooking water) and stir the pasta into the sauce. Finish the dish by taking it off the heat and stirring in the orange zest (careful to get just the orange outer part of the skin not the white pith as it's very bitter) and juice (I only use half of the orange and still think it tastes very orangey, but taste it and add a whole one if you think you need it), chopped parsley, a good slosh of vinegar, butter and Parmesan. Give it a good stir adding a little of the pasta cooking sauce if it's a bit thick. Serve with more grated parmesan on the top and a green salad.

Here are the photos of the finished dish.





Recipe for Gorgeous slow-cooked duck pasta from Cook with Jamie

1 duck (or leftover roast duck)
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 orange
1 lb pasta (rigatoni or occhi di lupo work well)
2 knobs of butter
1 large handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
a small bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
zest and juice of 1 orange
red wine vinegar
For the sauce:
olive oil
6 slices of pancetta, finely diced
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and finely diced
6 springs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
1 stick of cinnamon
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2x14 oz cans of good quality plum tomatoes
1/2 a 750 ml bottle of fruity red wine (Valpolicella of Barbera works well)
chicken stock
a handful of raisins
a large handful of pinenuts
Preheat the oven 350ºF/180C
Stuff a duck with a quartered orange; rub the outside with olive oil, salt, and pepper; and roast, breast-side down in a roasting pan, for two hours, turning every 30 minutes. Let it cool, and pull off all the meat.
Pour some olive oil into a large pot. Fry the diced pancetta until golden. Add red onion, carrots, celery, rosemary, cinnamon stick, and sliced garlic cloves. Cook slowly until it all softens up (about 10 minutes). Add the plum tomatoes and red wine. Let simmer for about an hour. Shred the duck meat and add it to the sauce. Cook for another half hour, adding water or chicken stock if it becomes dry. Remove the cinnamon stick, and add a handful each pine nuts and golden raisins. Continue to simmer while the pasta cooks.
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water. Drain (preserving some of the cooking water).
Toss the pasta into the sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in a knob of butter, a handful of grated Parmesan, the zest and juice of 1 orange, chopped parsley, and a splash of red wine vinegar.
Loosen the sauce with the reserved cooking water if necessary. Check seasonings. Served with parmesan.

Random Bakes of Kindness 4: Thank You to the Doctors and Nurses

Since reading about Random Bakes of Kindness on @vanessakimbell blog I have tried to do one every month and this month's effort is for probably the most deserving cause yet. My wonderful nan recently passed away, the post can be found here, and the doctors and nurses who cared for her during her short stay in hospital were nothing short of amazing, both to her and to my family whilst we stayed with her. Enough to restore your faith in the NHS!

To say a small thank you I wanted to take them some baked goodies and made some cupcakes, a tiramisu cake and a lemon drizzle cake. Now this probably sounds like a very large Random Bake of Kindness, however I was helping my sister make a three tier celebration cake and 100 cupcakes for her work's 10th anniversary party so it wasn't very difficult to make enough extra batter and play with the flavours where necessary.

For the tiramisu cake I used a 10oz mixture of vanilla sponge cake. See the full recipe here http://sarahskitchendiary1.blogspot.com/2011/10/tiramisu-cake.html?m=1. Unlike my last blog post I decorated the edge with chocolate coated biscuits and the top with a few chocolate covered coffee beans.




For the cupcakes I used about 4ozs of vanilla sponge and decorated them in a similar way to these
http://sarahskitchendiary1.blogspot.com/2011/10/bridesmaids-cupcakes.html?m=1 However due to the season I substituted the surprise strawberry for a spoonful of homemade raspberry jam and topped with white chocolate icing. Made in the same way as the previous post but adding 100g of slightly cooled melted white chocolate at the end.









I had to make a lemon drizzle cake as it was my nan's favourite. I've never posted the recipe before but it's very simple. I used about 4ozs of sponge batter before the vanilla went in and added the zest of one lemon instead. Once cooked but while it was hot and still in the tin I made holes all over the cake with a skewer and poured over a mixture of the juice of one lemon with granulated sugar mixed in.

If a cake isn't going to have icing in the middle I always use these fab liners from Lakeland. They save lining the tin, transport well and look professional if it's for a gift. Win win!

Orange and Raspberry Juice

Surprisingly given that it is November I'm still picking raspberries from the garden. I thought it'd be a shame not to take advantage of these unexpected late comers and thought I'd make a juice, especially a I haven't been eating as healthily as normal lately.

I simply peeled and chopped an orange and removed as much of the pith as possible and then used a hand blender to blend the whole thing with a handful of raspberries. By using the whole orange I retained a lot of the fibre and goodness which would've been lost by just juicing.

Here is the final product, a lovely taste of sunshine on an autumn day :)

My Nan

This is a very difficult post to write. I've been a bit quiet over the past two weeks as my lovely nan unfortunately passed away. She was 90 years old and had enjoyed a very good life but it was still a shock and from a selfish point of view We would've all liked to have her around for a bit longer.

Here is a photo of her when she was younger.





Her funeral was yesterday so mum and I got cooking and baking so we could put on a little afternoon tea for everyone to come back to. We tried to pick some of nan's favourite things.

Unfortunately in all the hurry I forgot to take a photo of everything laid out on the table but we made the following:

Savoury Morsels
- tuna mayonnaise and cucumber finger sandwiches
- open mini ham and tomato sandwiches
- open mini chicken pesto sandwiches (dice some roasted chicken and mix with a little mayonnaise, pesto, diced red pepper, lemon juice and salt and pepper and place a spoonful on a small disc of baguette)
- Mini cheese and tomato quiches (see recipe below)
- Olives
- Vegetable crisps
- Cheese board, crackers and grapes

Sweet Treats
- Victoria Sponge (see this post for the recipe I use for vanilla sponge and then sandwich with a good raspberry jam and vanilla butter cream and finish with a dusting of icing sugar)
- Marble cake cupcakes with white chocolate icing (made by my fabulous friend @hollyking84 using this recipe but topped with white chocolate butter cream coloured with a little food colouring instead of dark chocolate buttercream)
- Mini lemon meringue pies (see recipe below)

Photos




The finished cheese and tomato quiches






The Victoria sponge sliced ready for eating










@hollyking84's beautiful cupcakes





Mini lemon meringue pies

Recipes

Cheese and Tomato Mini Quiches

One packet of puff pastry
18 Cherry Tomatoes
300g grated cheese (I use half mature cheddar cheese and half Lancashire cheese)
3 eggs
4 tbsps Crème Fraiche
½ tsp each of salt, pepper and dried oregano
A few sprigs of basil

Makes 12 quiches
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7

1. Set aside 6 cherry tomatoes and 12 small basil leaves.
2. Place the remaining cherry tomatoes in a bowl or jug, prick each one with a knife and cover in boiling water. This will loosen the skins. After a few mins pour away the water and peel all of the skins off the tomatoes. Cut them all into quarters.
3. Chop the remaining basil into fine slithers and the remaining tomatoes in half.
4. Beat the eggs, stir in the grated cheese, crème fraiche, salt, pepper, oregano and remaining basil.
5. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until it is quite thin. Cut 12 circles out and place each into a greased muffin tin, pressing it into the sides (I always use a pint glass to cut out the circles).
6. Place 4 quarters of tomatoes into each pastry case and then pour the mixture on top onto each one.
7. Place half a tomato onto each and a basil leaf.
8. Place in the oven and bake for 5 mins. Then reduce the temperature to 200C and bake for a further 10-15 mins until golden.
9. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then remove each of them from the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Lemon Meringue Pies

For the pastry:
260g plain flour
40g icing sugar
185g cold unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons of cold water

For the meringue:
3 egg whites
165g caster sugar

For the lemon curd:
3 egg yolks
110g caster sugar
Zest and juice of one lemon
90g cold unsalted butter

1. Start by making the lemon curd by whisking the egg yolks with the caster sugar in a heatproof bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the lemon zest and juice.
2. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and continue stirring until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon (approx 12 mins).
3. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cold butter.
4. Whilst the lemon curd cools make the pastry. I used the crumb method, but you can also do it by pulsing the butter, flour and icing sugar in a food processor until crumbly and then whilst the motor is still running add the egg yolk and enough water to make the pastry come together. Chill the pastry in the fridge for about 30 mins. Preheat the oven to 200C
5. Roll out the pastry and cut out 12 rounds into a greased muffin tin. Blind bake for about 12 minutes.
6. Remove the pastry cases from the tin and leave to cool for 5 mins.
7. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, add the caster sugar one teaspoon ensuring it is fully incorporated in between each addition.
8. Increase the oven temperature to 220C
9. Divide the lemon curd between the cases and pipe with a swirl of meringue. Bake for 2 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

In memory of my wonderful nan who had given me so many times to remember. Ada Buxton 16.12.1920 - 25.10.2011

Christmas is coming....

I have always loved the run up the Christmas, probably more so than the actually day if I'm honest!

For years my mum and I have made the mincemeat, pudding and cake in plenty of time for Christmas and even though I haven't lived at home for years I still like to carry on the tradition.

Traditionally we have always relied on Delia Smith for these recipes. However, a few years ago I stepped away from tradition and started making a tropical fruit and nut cake instead of the normal fruit cake. It is far lighter and doesn't need to be made until nearer the time and I personally much prefer it. This year I decided I also wanted to try a different Christmas pudding and found a lovely recipe in Peyton and Byrne Bitish Baking that I decided to give a go.

We started by making the mincemeat. It is so easy to make and so much tastier than shop bought. It is literally a case of mixing all of the ingredients togther (apart from the brandy) and soaking it overnight and then baking it in the oven. The hardest part is juicing so many oranges and lemons!

Once it's cooled the brandy can be stirred in and then the mincemeat can be transferred to steralised jars.

I did tweak the Christmas pudding recipe slightly. It didn't say to soak the fruit, but I decided to do so over night seeing as I was soaking the mincemeat fruit anyway. It didn't say to put the zest of the orange in (only the lemon) but I thought the extra flavour would be good. I also subsituted the citrus peel for dried apricots as I really don't like citrus peel and the glace cherries for dates as I'm not convinced by glace cherries, they are just so far removed from the fresh fruit.

First we mixed all of the fruit with the liquid and let is soak over night. we then added the suet, flour, sugar, eggs and breadcrumbs and continued with the recipe as stated. The mixture was supposed to make one 1 litre pudding, but we made one large pudding and 4 small.

Here is the mixture ready to bake, but before we pushed it down and smoothed off the top

Here is the large pudding with the top smoothed and a disc of baking paper put on the top

Here is the pudding wrapped in two layers of foil, ready for steaming

Here is one of the small puddings once it was cooked. I ended up cooking the small puddings for about 3 hours and the large for about 4.5hours. I obviously haven't eaten one yet, but I was evry impressed with the recipe. Yet again Peyton and Byrne prove that British Baking is a classic, must have recipe book and as it is so beautiful is perfect for presents!

Mincemeat Recipe, from Delia Smith

1lb cooking apples, peeled cored and finely chopped
8oz shredded suet
12oz raisins
8oz sultanas
8oz currants
8oz mixed peel (I subsitute this with a mixture of the other dried fruits)
12oz soft dark brown sugar
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
2oz flaked almonds
4tsps mixed spice
1tsp ground cinnnamon
Half a nutmeg grated
6 tablespoons of brandy

Mix all of the ingredients together in an oven proof bowl and soak overnight. Bake in the oven at 120C for 3 hours. Once cool stir in the brandy and transfer into steralised jars.

Christmas Pudding, adapted from Peytin and Byrne, British Baking

200g raisins
150g currants
100g flaked almonds
75g dried chopped apricots
75g dates chopped
1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 medium carrot grated
1400g suet
140g plain flour
140g demerara sugar
75g fresh breadcrumbs
2 beaten eggs
4tbsps stout
Juice and zest of one orange
Juice and zest of one lemon
2tbsp brandy
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Place the dried fruit and all of the liquid (apart from the eggs) in a bowl and soak overnight. Add the remainder of the ingredients and place in well greased pudding bowls. Cover ythe top of the mixture with a small circle of baking paper and then cover the whole of the top of the bowl with two layers of foil, securing with string. Place the basin in a saucepan on a trivet or a srunched up piece of foil and fill the pan approx half full with boiling water. Place on the heat, bring to the boil and then turn down to a gentle simmer and put the lid on. Once you think it is cooked check by carefully unwrapping the pudding and inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean it is cooked. For me the small puddings took about 3 hours and the large 4.5 hours.

Once cooked put clean baking paper and foil on the pudding and leave to cool. Once a month carefully peel back the cover and 'feed' with a splash of brandy. Store in the fridge or a cool dark place until Christmas.

To reheat repeat the steaming process but for 2 hours this time (I'd suggest about 1.5 hours for the small puddings). Turn out the pudding onto a serving dish, sprinkle with sugar and top with a sprig of holly. Pour over some brandy and set alight. Serve with brandy butter.

Bonfire Night and Parkin

I haven't been able to post anything for almost two weeks so I have some catching up to do, starting with Parkin.

I love bonfire night, preferably on a cold crisp evening with fireworks and a bonfire and then maybe back for a big chilli or other warming dish. Bonfire night is also a great excuse to make Parkin.

I've always lived in the south so most of my friends haven't even heard of Parkin. I have to say I think they're missing out!

My mum is from Manchester and we have been making this recipe for years. It is from a recipe book she used in home ec at school called The Manchester Cookery Book. It was a real favourite of my grandad's and I'm always reminded of him when I make it.





Parkin is so easy to make. The only trick is to wrap it up tightly once it's cooked and leave it for around 2 weeks so it becomes all sticky and gorgeous. I always make two loaves so that when I can't wait I have one to eat and one to save.

You start by melting the fat and syrup slowly in a pan. I use half margarine and half lard (well I actually used the vegetable version). While it is melting put all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and make a slight well in the middle, stir in the syrup mixture and once incorporated mix in the milk. Pour into two 1 litre loaf tins and bake for about 1hr 15mins. As this is an old recipe book it doesn't specify the oven temperature but I sent it to about 140C in a fan oven so maybe 150-160C if you don't have a fan oven.

Once it's been left for a couple of weeks unwrap and serve with a glass of ice cold milk. Delicious!





Parkin Recipe

I have typed it up as it is in the book a lb is 16oz and approx 450g

1/4lb Margarine and lard
1/2lb Syrup (you can mix golden syrup and treacle)
1/2lb Oatmeal (the medium one is best)
3oz Plain flour
2oz Soft brown sugar (dark or light depending on how treacly you like it)
1tsp ground ginger
1/3 pint of milk
Pinch of salt
Bare 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

Melt the syrup and fats in a saucepan over a low heat
Place all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl
Mix the syrup into the dry ingredients
Stir in the milk
Pour the batter into two loaf tins and bake in a slow oven for 1hr15