Lamb and Cypriot New Potato Pittas

Most of the time I don't miss vegetables that aren't in season but one thing I'd love to eat all year round is new potatoes. I'm sorry to say I get quite excited when I see new potatoes in Tesco and can enjoy them with melted butter and mint or as part of a potato salad.

 

Well, now you can get new potatoes in winter, courtesy of the sun-soaked island of Cyprus. Tesco have started stocking the 'spunta' variety which are really versatile - they can be boiled, steamed, roasted or baked and you don't need to peel them so preparation is minimal!

You can even grate them, as I have done in this recipe; even when par-boiled the potatoes are still nice and firm. For this recipe I thought about what I associated with Cyprus, thinking back to a holiday I had there about 12 or 13 years ago. The things that stood out to me were lamb, feta cheese and pitta breads, so I decided to make some lamb and Cypriot new potato patties and serve them with feta cheese inside homemade pitta breads.

You can buy read-made pitta breads for this recipe but don't be afraid to have a go at making your own pitta bread if you haven't before, it's super easy and they taste amazing straight from the oven!

Ingredients (serves 4):

 

250g Cypriot new potatoes
1 egg
1 onion, grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
300g minced lamb
salt, pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
100g breadcrumbs
Oil or low-fat cooking spray
75g feta cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp. plain natural yogurt

for the pitta bread:
560g strong white flour

10g salt

300ml tepid water

20ml oil

5g dried yeast or 10g fresh yeast

Method:

Begin by making the pitta bread. If you have a freestanding food mixer with a dough hook, put all the ingredients for the pitta breads in the bowl of the mixer and run it for ten minutes until you have a pliable ball of dough. Alternatively, mix the ingredients in a bowl and knead on a lightly floured surface for 15 minutes then return to the bowl.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm and put in a warm place for an hour until the dough has doubled in size.

While the dough is proving, make the lamb and potato patties. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and simmer the potatoes for 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cold water and leave to cool; change the water a couple of times as you feel it getting hot as this is the quickest way to cool the potatoes.

Grate the parboiled potatoes - you don't need to peel them - into a bowl. Beat the egg and mix in.

Grate the onion and crush the garlic and stir in, then stir in the minced lamb. Season with salt and pepper. Finally mix in the oregano, cumin and coriander until well combined.

Put the breadcrumbs into a shallow bowl. Form the mixture into small balls and roll in the breadcrumbs, then gently flatten the balls until you have patties about three quarters of an inch thick. Press each side in the breadcrumbs again to coat.

Repeat until all the lamb and potato mixture is used up.

When the dough for the pitta bread has had 40-45 minutes to prove, pre-heat your oven to its highest setting and place a pizza stone or flat baking sheet into the bottom of the oven.

When your dough is ready to use, separate into 6-8 pieces of the same size and roll out flat on a lightly floured surface into the shape of pitta breads. Place them (you will need to do this in two or three batches) onto the hot pizza stone or baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes until risen. You will literally see them puffing up in the oven and start to brown then they are done. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Heat the oil or low-fat cooking spray in a frying pan and fry the lamb and potato patties on each side until golden brown.

Slice open the pitta breads (careful of the steam that will escape!) and spread 1/2 tbsp. plain yogurt into each one. Fill each pitta with a couple of the lamb and potato patties and crumbled feta cheese. Enjoy hot with a green salad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my entry into the Tesco Cypriot new potatoes recipe challenge. I received a £10 voucher from Tesco to pay towards the ingredients. Cypriot new potatoes are available in Tesco now

 

 

 

 

 

Lahmacun - Weightwatchers Turkish Pizza

This Turkish pizza is topped with minced lamb and spices - and has no cheese, so it isn't what some people would consider a pizza, but trust me, it's delicious!

 

I found the recipe in an old WeightWatchers magazine - I can't remember how they work out the Points system but they say this has 5 points per serving. It uses a packet pizza base mix and lamb is quite a fatty meat so is not what I would call super-healthy but it obviously does fit into the WeightWatchers plan if you are following that.

To serve 4, you need:
Low fat cooking spray eg Fry Light
145g sachet pizza base mix
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
225g lean lamb mince
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 large ripe vine tomato, chopped (I left this out as we don't like tomatoes)
4 tsp sun dried tomato puree (I used regular tomato puree)
4 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
lemon wedges to serve (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 C. Spray a large baking tray with low fat spray or Fry Light.

Make up the pizza dough according to pack instructions then divide into four and shape into ovals. Or if you want a larger meal make two - but if you are counting WeightWatchers points you will have to double them per person. Place the pizza bases on the baking tray and leave in a warm place for ten minutes.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until softened. Add the mince, garlic and cumin and fry for 5 minutes. Add the tomato and fry over a medium heat for another 5 minutes. Season.

Spread the pizza bases with the tomato puree and spread the mince mixture on top.

 Bake in the oven for ten minutes then sprinkle with parsley to serve, and squeeze over a wedge of lemon if desired.

Spiced Roast Lamb Chops with Roots and Alliums

I love lamb though my husband doesn't eat it so I don't cook it very often. But when I was looking through my Sophie Grigson recipe book Country Kitchen I decided it was worth cooking this dish even if I had to make him something else!

The book is divided into seasons and this recipe comes from the autumn section; even though I think we are probably in winter now it is really good for this time of year.

You can find the recipe on the Good Food Channel. It uses tamarind pulp; I wasn't sure where to get that from but was able to buy tamarind paste from the supermarket which seemed close enough. It gave the dish a lovely unusual flavour - a little sweet and sour at the same time.

I had a packet of nigella seeds in the cupboard - I can't remember where I got them from, I think it was a Turkish supermarket. I mixed the tamarind, oil, garlic, water, turmeric, cumin seeds and nigella seeds and drizzled it over some lamb chops, chantenay carrots, red onion and potatoes.

That's pretty much all you have to do; roast it all in one pan in the oven and allow the juices and flavours to mingle. Delicious!

Slow Food: Braised Lamb in Cider with Apple and Pear



This is a recipe I was asked to create as part of a campaign around “living slow”. This campaign couldn’t have come at a better time as I really do need to take time to slow down.

 

I’m always busy at work – my workload has at least doubled in the past year for various reasons -  I have a long and stressful commute (thank you, Southern Trains) and when I’m at home I'm running the house. I’m lucky to be able to afford a cleaner but between meal planning food shopping, cooking, tidying up, laundry, dishwasher, and all the little things – sending someone a birthday card, replying to emails, choosing a restaurant to go out to etc – I never seem to have any time to relax. On top of all that we are planning a wedding (there are so many additional things for the bride to think about than the groom!)- and linked to that, I’m now getting up even earlier before work to go for a run as I’m trying to lose weight for the wedding.

 

I’ve also found out recently that I have high blood pressure – some days it’s been extremely high. So I’m looking into ways to deal with that (including possibly medication) – but one thing that I know is important to reduce high blood pressure is to eat healthily, in particular eating less salt, and to do more exercise.

 

I took part in a ‘mindfulness’ session recently which was very relaxing – mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress and even mean employees take fewer sick days off work. But since then I haven’t felt like I’ve got the time to sit down and be mindful, even just for ten minutes – I am literally constantly on the go, and even when I am watching TV in the evening with my fiancé I am multi-tasking replying to emails or cutting out paper hearts for our wedding.

 

So before I keel over from stress I think it definitely is time that I ‘slow down and smell the roses’. I was asked by Simply Beef and Lamb to create a recipe for either beef or lamb, on the theme of ‘live slow’. You might already be familiar with their Red Tractor logo, which means you can find quality assured beef and lamb in the supermarket.

This doesn’t simply mean cooking something in a slow cooker – as well as being easy, one pot meals, it should be value for money and affordable, and reflect the ethos of ‘live slow’: stop living life in the fast lane and take it slow for a change.

 

That can relate to all aspects of our lives, whether that’s not rushing around trying to fit a million things in; spending time in nature or with friends; working on something handcrafted; travelling closer to home and enjoying the journey itself; sewing to repair or make your own clothing or being creative; and even spending your money wisely on things that really matter.

 

When I do feel able to push the ‘to do’ list to one side, I love to handmake greeting cards. I think (or hope) people really appreciate receiving something handmade as they know time and effort has gone into it. I also find it helps me switch off as I’m focused on cutting or stamping, and I enjoy feeling creative.

 

I also travel by train a lot – to work as I already mentioned, and when I’m lucky enough to get a seat I always read. Losing yourself in a good book is a great way to start the day or unwind after a day of work. I’m still a relatively new and pretty nervous driver, so when I have to travel longer distances on my own, I prefer to take the train. So again that gives me a lot of time to read; mobile reception is sometimes patchy so I resist the temptation to go on Facebook or reply to emails and instead pick up a decent-sized book I’ve been meaning to read but don’t want to carry on my daily commute (I do have a Kindle as well, but prefer actual books!). Recently I’ve been going to Salisbury by train a lot as it’s where my family live and also the nearest station to our wedding venue, and I always feel happy and relaxed to see the rolling Wiltshire countryside and the lovely views as we pull into Salisbury station. I’m sure that does help my blood pressure!

What does #slowliving mean to you and your family and what do you do to relax?

 

So finally onto the recipe. I was thinking about what slow living might mean in terms of cooking and came across the Slow Food movement, which promotes using local produce and eating less but better quality meat.

 

Thinking about what was local, I started with my own garden. I’m hoping to get a small vegetable patch started (I was growing peppers last year but slugs ate them all) but at the moment don’t have anything other than herbs. But what a good starting point for a recipe – I have rosemary and a lot of mint, and mint is of course well known as a pairing for lamb.

 

So that was my starting point: making a recipe with lamb and mint. I decided to braise the lamb, as that is a slow method of cooking that is fuss-free, but obviously there had to be more to it than that. Apples are abundant in a lot of areas – my late grandmother had apple and pear trees in her garden – and cider is very English (and to some, slow living might mean relaxing in the garden with a beer or cider…). Apple and mint does apparently go together – I found several mojito recipes online using those flavours! So my recipe was starting to take shape: spring lamb, mint, rosemary, apples and pears, cider. I used Pear cider in this recipe, and decided that because lamb is quite expensive I would go with a cheaper, bulking out ingredient: pearl barley. So you don't even need to serve this with potatoes as it's really filling and tasty.

Making the apples and pears at the start takes a little while but you don't need to do much; then you bung everything else into one casserole dish, put it in the oven and that's it - leaving you more time to relax and take it easy! This is what I came up with: I hope you enjoy it.

Braised lamb in cider with apple and pear - an original recipe by Caroline Makes

To serve 2, you need:

1 tbsp. butter
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 large or 2 small pears, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. raisins or sultanas

4 lamb rump steaks
500ml cider
half an onion, peeled and cut into chunks
100g pearl barley
half a leek, trimmed and sliced
sprig of fresh rosemary
handful of fresh mint

First make the apple and pear accompaniment and pre-heat the oven to 180C. Melt the butter in a pan, add the apple and stir. Cook for 5 minutes until it has started to soften then add the pear and the raisins. Add the sugar and 50ml water; stew, stirring occasionally, until the water has evaporated and the fruit has softened. This can be made in advance and kept in the fridge or made at the same time as the meal.

Rub the bottom of a casserole dish with a little oil and place the lamb in the dish. Cover with cider and add the onion and leek, pearl barley and herbs. Put the lid on the casserole dish and put in the oven for 1-1.5 hours, until the liquid has been absorbed and the lamb is cooked through.

Serve with the apple and pear mixture on the side.

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The apple, pear and raisin mixture



The ingredients for the casserole

Ready to go in the oven

Just cooked



Close-up

Served with the apple and pear on the side

 

Lamb Chop with Pomegranate Sauce

I was a little daunted when I came to look for a recipe from Abu Dhabi for the next round of Formula 1 Foods, but luckily happened across the website of Time Out Abu Dhabi which had a recipe feature. I really liked the idea of the sticky date cake with caramel sauce, but it sounded a bit too similar to the Christmas pudding I recently made, and didn’t think I could get hold of hammour (a type of fish I’d never heard of) and while there are almost certainly places in London that stock camel milk (since you can get pretty much anything here) I didn’t want to go on an Apprentice-style mission to track it down.

  

Instead, my eye was caught by a recipe for grilled lamb chops with pomegranate sauce, which sounded very nice – plus I had lamb in the freezer and a bottle of pomegranate syrup in the cupboard!

 

  

If you don’t have pomegranate syrup or molasses – though I’m pretty sure I bought it from Sainsburys rather than a specialist shop – the recipe does give instructions for how to make your own. But I skipped that stage and mixed the pomegranate syrup with the ketchup, honey, garlic and sugar – I left out the onion as such but used onion powder instead for a smoother sauce.

 

I brought the ingredients for the sauce to the boil, grilled the lamb and served the sauce over the top. It was delicious – if I did this again I think I’d finish the dish with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds.

 

 

I’m sharing this with Formula 1 Foods, the blog challenge I host based around the Grand Prix locations, as the next race is taking place in Abu Dhabi.

 

Slimming World Lamb Rogan Josh

 

 I made this when my parents came to stay and we were going to be out all day, as it's really easy to pop in the slow cooker and forget about.it. It's a Slimming World recipe from their website though is like a pretty regular curry really. The recipe wasn't actually intended for the slow cooker so I adapted it.

To serve 4, you need:

Fry Light cooking spray or similar
600g lamb fillet or leg, cut into chunks and trimmed of any fat
300g onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp mild chilli powder
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp tomato purée
salt
3 dried bay leaves 6 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
5cm cinnamon stick
4 cloves

Fry the lamb cubes with the onions in Fry Light.

Put the lamb and onion in the slow cooker with the tomato puree, 350ml boiling water and some salt. Add the chilli powder, coriander, cumin and garlic bay leaves, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves and cook according to your slow cooker instructions - mine has a 'keep warm' setting so it can stay on until I get home but not overcook the food.

 Serve with rice - a nice easy one-pot meal you can make on the hob if you don't have a slow cooker.

 

 

Baking and Butchery at Hobbs House with the Fabulous Baker Brothers

 

In the picturesque Cotswolds village of Chipping Sodbury there stands a bakery with a butcher’s shop next door. The bakery was established in the 1920s and there has been a butchers’ here for about 100 years – quite unusual perhaps these days where there are more convenience stores and supermarkets than independent food producers on the high street.

But this is not just any bakery or butcher’s – this is Hobbs House, the family business of Tom and Henry Herbert.

Tom and Henry – two of six siblings – are perhaps better known as the Fabulous Baker Brothers, thanks to their television show and cookery books. Despite their young age – Tom is 35, Henry 25 – are old hands. Henry has been cooking since he was a teenager and Tom won Young Baker of the Year when he was fresh out of college. Henry moved to London where he trained at Westminster Kingsway College and worked at Le Gavroche, the Michelin-starred restaurant, but when an opportunity came up to run the butcher’s next door to his brother’s bakery, he moved back to the Cotswolds.

Since the success of their TV show and cookery books, the brothers have started running cookery courses at Hobbs House, and it’s for this reason that I found myself standing on the pavement outside with a suitcase on a drizzly April morning. My boyfriend knows that I am a big fan of the brothers and for Christmas bought me a place on one of their courses –the only one that the pair of them teach together. Having said that, when only one is teaching, the other is usually present and will pop in to the classroom now and then – so if you fancy doing a course and want to meet both brothers you will probably still get the chance!

I was signed up to the baking and butchery class, which ran from 9am-4pm (though we actually finished at 4.30). It’s not cheap at £295, but it really is worth the money. There were only six of us and we spent the entire day with the brothers, and by the end I felt like they were old friends.

The school is above the bakery – I’m sure I remember Tom saying this is the house they grew up in and one of the classrooms was actually his bedroom. As I went upstairs I bumped into Henry and had a moment of celebrity-awe, then Tom came over to say hello as well and started chatting. I’ve met celebrities- or at least well-known people – before so wasn’t expecting to be fazed, but when it’s someone you are genuinely a fan of, it is still a little overwhelming!

I was shown into a room where tea, coffee and pastries were laid out and I ate the best almond croissant I have ever had – made by the Hobbs House bakery of course. I was joined shortly after by another attendee of the course and by 9, everyone had arrived – five women and one man. I was very jealous of a few of the women who lived half an hours’ drive away and one who had been to the school before – if London wasn’t so far away I’d be a regular!

The day started with Tom and Henry giving an introduction, talking about their background, the history of the bakery and what we were going to do that day. The brothers made a great double-act – teasing each other and chipping in with anecdotes. They handed out name badges and told us to write our names “or whatever you want us to call you today”. I thought best not to say that I’d like to be called  “the future Mrs Herbert” as the two actual Mrs Herberts probably wouldn’t appreciate that! Did I mention I may have the *smallest* crush on the rather Fabulous Baker Brothers and one of them in particular… 

They came across as really genuine, passionate about what they do and thoroughly nice guys. Before I realised, an hour and a half had flown by – by this point Tom was making some bread dough, explaining each stage in the process, giving each of us a specific tip to remember and passing on all sorts of advice on everything from types of flour to the advantages of fresh or dried yeast (dried yeast is fine, but never use the fast-acting kind as it is full of chemicals, which will change the make-up of your recipe, Tom said).

Often when I am doing a cookery course or cake decorating lesson, I would feel short-changed  if I was watching rather than doing anything. But in this case, I was so fascinated listening to Tom – and looking at him as well, as he is rather easy on the eyes – and was learning so much I didn’t notice that I wasn’t actively doing anything. 

Then it was time for us to get involved and we were put to work each kneading a piece of dough – for 15 minutes. I haven’t made bread very often before, usually using my Panasonic bread maker machine, but when I have made it by hand, I get bored or tired after just a few minutes of kneading. Tom stressed the importance of a full 15 minutes, and shared a tip – when covering the bowl when you leave the dough to prove, use a cheap plastic shower cap like the kind you get in hotels. That’s better than clingfilm as it gives the dough space to rise. I asked Tom where to leave the dough as the usual directions of “a warm place” aren’t very helpful; I know you can get kitchens these days with built-in proving drawers and I asked if those were needed. “Yes, there is a need for them,” Tom began, “if you are a kitchen company trying to sell an expensive kitchen”. So in other words, no. Any warm place will do – unfortunately I can’t put my dough next to an open fire like Tom did, but I could put it in the airing cupboard or even out in the kitchen if it is a warm day. On top of the fridge is another idea as that tends to be quite warm too.

We rolled out our dough to make pittas, bread rolls and pizza bases, and Tom also demonstrated making a focaccia. One handy trick I learnt if you are making a batch of rolls or pittas is to weigh your dough into 100g portions then they are all the right (and same) size.

I've never made pittas before and was interested to learn that once they are rolled out, they literally need just a couple of minutes in the oven, at the highest temperature your oven will go to. We watched them puffing up before our eyes, sliced into them and dipped them into some of Henry's homemade pesto - absolute heaven! I also learnt that you should never put bread onto a cold oven tray; always preheat it in the oven or better still, use a baking stone. I'd never heard of that but asked if it was similar to a pizza stone and Tom said it was the same thing but a different shape. So I will definitely get more use out of my pizza stone now!

We also rolled out circles of the same dough to make pizza bases; Tom demonstrated how to toss and catch them.

We then topped the pizzas and cooked them in this free standing mini pizza oven with Henry's help.

This was our lunch, accompanied by a glass of wine and eaten as we chatted to the brothers.

Tom eating a piece of the pizza that I made :-)

After lunch it was Henry's turn to take centre stage. He wrote a few rough recipes on the blackboard and explained what we were going to do... if you're squeamish about butchery you won't like the next few photos.

First we made a spice rub for some lamb

Then Henry took us down to the slaughterhouse and gave a very useful lesson in the different cuts of meat, by pointing to a side of beef and a whole lamb (well, minus head and innards) hanging on butcher's hooks. He then took a lamb over to the table and proceeded to joint it completely, explaining as he went how to make a rack of lamb, which cut is best for which dish and so on. It was very interesting and Henry is clearly passionate and very knowledgeable about butchery.

He asked for a volunteer so of course I put my hand up. Here I am (in an unflattering apron) about to joint a leg of lamb.

When we came back upstairs to the school, our bread rolls and focaccia were ready.

Mmm, very tasty... the loaf of bread looks good too!

Henry had prepared these lamb chops from the animal you saw in the photo earlier and we coated them in the spice rub. We were meant to be making lamb kebabs from neck and shoulder but a woman came into the shop and asked for the last shoulder just as Henry was about to start his demonstration, so rather reluctantly he sold it to her instead!

Some of the lamb was minced, by an assistant

We were making sausages and burgers which I was really looking forward to. I've made burgers several times before but never sausages. I have a Kitchenaid and have several attachments apart from the sausage maker, and was wondering if it would be worth investing in, but had no idea how to use it or how to go about stuffing a sausage. Luckily, Henry was using the exact same machine (well, almost- his wasn't pink) so now if I do get the attachment I know exactly how to use it. Don't ask what the sausage skins are made of though!

Stuffing the sausages is a two-person job but it was easier than I was expecting and lots of fun.

Here's my string of sausages. I flavoured my lamb mince with some herbs and spices.

Meanwhile we also made burgers by pressing a ball of mince into patties. Tom cooked them over an open fire.

At the end of the day - well, 4pm - we sat down to the most delicious meal. The burger buns were perfect and the burgers so juicy. I'm not sure what kind of cheese we had melted over the top but I was in heaven.

We also had the lamb chops, sliced up, with the focaccia and salad. At the end of the day I went on my way with a folder of recipes, a bag of leftover fresh yeast, a Hobbs House dough divider, my string of sausages and a burger to cook later at home, a signed cookery book (my own, which I had brought with me to be signed), a loaf tin for making bread (a large metal one the same as the one Tom was using), a bag of Shipton Mill flour (from a local mill, that they use in the bakery), loads of photos and many happy memories. Tom and Henry are thoroughly nice blokes, so easy to get along with that I envied their friends (and yes, their wives)! Their enthusiasm and passion for cooking is wonderful and it felt like this was the first time they had run this class - not because they were unsure of themselves or amateurish, quite the opposite, but because they were so excited and when one brother was taking the session the other kept popping in to see what was going on or help or just to stop and chat, which I really wasn't expecting. In short, I had a wonderful day and strongly recommend this class, which is well worth the money. I'm already hoping to go back!