Rolled & Stuffed Breast of Lamb

A lot of people like lamb, but few are prepared to spend out on an expensive cut, or buy a leg. However, there is an alternative - the rolled lamb breast. It's a very cheap cut, daresay the cheapest, and for good reason. There's not too much meat on the breast, and it can be quite fatty. However, to make the most of it, you just need to know how to cook it right, and of course i'm going to show you how!

You will need the following ingredients:

800g to 1kg of Rolled Lamb Breast, cheap as you like.
Bag of mixed leaf salad or rocket.
Three Cloves of Garlic
Coarse Ground Sea Salt

Utensils Needed:

Chefs Knife
Wooden Chopping Board
Small Roasting Tin
Scissors
Kitchen Twine or String

Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 7 (425° Fahrenheit / 220° Celsius) - you need it as hot as you can get!

As you're going to be stuffing it, the first thing to do, is cut off all the strings...

...and unroll it into the constituent 'sheets'. Notice that it's not a single strip, but several, layered one on top of another.

Finely chop your garlic cloves, and scatter them across the lamb, with a good pinch of salt. Don't skimp on the salt either. As the lamb cooks, the fat will render down, and take most of the salt with it, through the meat, leaving a deliciously moist, and seasoned piece of breast meat .

It's entirely up to you whether to use mixed leaves, or just stick to rocket - they'er both equally delicious to me. A good handful of the leaves on each 'strip' will do nicely.

Layer the strips back on top of one another and turn your board through 90 degrees, to make rolling it easier. 

Grab one end tightly and start rolling, keeping steady pressure on. Once rolled back up, break out your butchers twine or in my case, string, and tie it back up. Do the knots up as tight as you can, because it'll lose mass as it cooks, and the string will slacken.

Place in the roasting tin at the very top of the oven, for 20 minutes ONLY!

After 20 minutes, assuming your smoke alarm hasn't gone off in the interim, take the lamb out of the oven. Notice, the fat covering it has already rendered and created a beautiful crust. Turn the oven down to Gas Mark 2 (300° Fahrenheit / 150° Celsius) and put the lamb back in for a further 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

It might seem like a long time for a small piece of meat, but turning the heat way down will cook it perfectly. The meat will be succulent & moist, not tough and chewy. Once removed from the roasting tin, set onto your chopping board - notice one side of mine has a drain channel around the edge specifically for roasted meat. Let the lamb rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. If you carve it when it's too hot, it'll come apart on you, and you ideally want a nice, intact slice!

This goes wonderfully with the Gratin Dauphinois by the way, and the timings & temperatures of the oven match up perfectly...i wonder why that is ;)

Gratin Dauphinois Potatoes

This layed potato dish is something of a treat for me, i seldom make it outside the winter months because its very rich and quite heavy on the old stomach, but it's delicious - a guilty pleasure, if you will. If a food could be comforting, this'll give you a cuddle!

While it might seem daunting to make, the preparation is the only thing you need to be careful with, and there are no time constraints - you can prepare this before anything else you want to make, and it'll be absolutely fine sat on the side, or in the fridge, until you're ready for it. 

You will need the following ingredients:

1kg (2.2lb) of King Edward Potatoes
300ml of Double Cream
150ml of Semi-Skimmed Milk (Half Fat for Americans)
50g of Grated Cheese (Emmental or Medium Cheddar is ideal)
Three Garlic Cloves
Thyme
Salt & Pepper

Utensils Needed:

Large Mixing Bowl
Milk Pan or Small Saucepan
Ceramic Casserole Dish
Chefs Knife
Grater
Wooden Chopping Board
Mandolin (if you have one)

Before you do anything, pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 2 (300° Fahrenheit / 150° Celsius).

The most important part of any gratin, is the thickness of the potato slices.Too thick, and the resulting dish will be too hard/chewy. Too thin and you'll end up with mush! If you have a mandolin to slice the potatoes, by all means use it. If not, then you can achieve the same results with a chef's knife, but sharpen it beforehand, and take your time. You want the slices to be around 3mm thick - if they taper off a little, or are thicker on one side, that's okay, just try and keep to 3mm as a rough guide.

Once cut, add the slices to the bowl.

You'll need a fair bit of salt & pepper for seasoning here, rough guide again is around one heaped teaspoon of coarse ground, for both. Add the seasoning to the bowl, and mix through with both hands - try to get all the potato covered in at least a little bit, you don't want to leave any bits unseasoned if you can help it.

Once seasoned, take your casserole dish, and layer the slices in, no need for any kind of pattern, just keep them flat, and build up layer by layer...

...until you end up with something that looks like this.

Once that's done, take your garlic cloves and finely grate them into a bowl. Don't crush them or chop them. Add two heaped teaspoons of thyme, and set to one side. 

Pour the double cream and milk into your milk pan and put on the lowest ring at high heat to get it to a simme.

Once the milk/cream is starting to simmer, turn the heat OFF! If you don't, you'll end up with it foaming and boiling all over the stove. Add the grated garlic and thyme to the pan, and whisk in vigorously.

Pour the mixture over the potatoes in your casserole dish evenly. It'll seep through all the little gaps and reach the bottom level, don't worry!

Place on the top shelf of the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, before removing to sprinkle the cheese over the top. Place back into the oven for a further 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown as shown below. 

This will easily serve four very hungry people, it may look like a small amount, but the dense, rich potatoey goodness will fill you up very quickly!

Smoked Salmon Butter Terrine

As Christmas nears, people tend to start eating fancier things they would never consider during the rest of the year. One of the things i like to do, is buffet suppers. Just some crackers, melba toast, cheese, a little salad & cold cuts, and this brilliantly simple terrine.

Upside to this recipe? It takes minutes to prepare, and doesn't need to be cooked at all. The only downside to this recipe is that it's so delicious, it won't last long! Oh well, i suppose it gives you an excuse to make another one!

You will need the following ingredients:

2 x 280g Packs of Smoked Salmon
50g of Salted Butter (softened)
2 tablespoons of double cream
Lemon Juice
Herbs (optional)

Utensils Needed:

Food Processor (this is unfortunately mandatory!)
Palette Knife
Glass Bowl
Clingfilm (Saran Wrap for the Americans)

Open one of the packs of smoked salmon, and unceremoniously chuck it into the food processor. Set the speed as high as it'll go and turn it on, blitzing it until it looks like it does below.

At this point, add the 50g of softened butter, and the herbs (if you wish). I've used parsley, but chvies and dill work equally well - it's entirely up to you what to add. Also add the lemon juice at this stage. I generally use two capfuls, enough to give it a nice tangy edge, but not enough to overpower it. As with the herbs, it's optional!

Blend again to a smooth consistency...

...and then add the double cream.

That's it! From this point onwards it's just packaging, you could keep that in the fridge for putting onto canapés if you like.

Take your glass bowl and line it with clingfilm. It's a little fiddly because it seems to dislike sitting at right angles - don't worry about creases though, as long as it's not too creased.

Open the other pack of smoked salmon and line the bowl with it. Again, you don't need to worry about uneven edges - it'll all work out fine.

 Fill the mould with the salmon butter...

...and fold over the overhanging salmon, using any leftover salmon from the pack to seal the top. Fold over the clingfilm and press down lightly. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Once it's set, you can turn it out onto a serving plate. Do this by opening up the clingfilm, putting a plate over the terrine and turning the mould upside down. If the mould stays where it is, give it a little tug on the clingfilm to coax it out and onto the plate. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

If you're preparing this in advance of a party, be aware that you'll need to re-cover the plate with clingfilm, trying not to deform the moulded terrine. This will stop the smoked salmon on the outside from drying out - you want to keep it moist.

Once made, this will keep in the fridge for a maximum of THREE days. Any leftover after that point should be thrown away. Fish is the one thing i take absolutely no chance with when it comes to expiry dates - the risk is too great!