roast

Slow Roast Mutton

TheseNovelThoughts8 Comments

Beetroot and Tomato Soup

It was Mother’s Day on Sunday, and to celebrate my parents invited me, my siblings, the partners and the grandchildren around for a 3 course meal. There were 12 of us in total, and it was great for us all to be there together.

My parents are great cooks, and the food was delicious, so below is a guest post from my mum and dad! Enjoy.

Slow Roast Mutton

“We decided to invite all our family round for a Saturday lunch on the 14th of March. After mulling the recipe books we plumped for mutton and there were no regrets at all. One hour at Hartshorn’s butchers in Oswestry (that story’s for another day) resulted in a 10.5lb leg – we put the oven on at 08:30 and blasted it at 200 degrees (centigrade) for 30 mins and then dropped the temperature to 140 degrees. Potatoes, onion and garlic were placed under the meat at the time the temperature was dropped and it was cooked in the oven  at this low temperature for 7 hours.

Whilst the meat was cooking we popped down to the Stonehouse brewery (to have this gem on your doorstep is to die for) and had a couple of pints of Cambrian Gold – we met all of the children (and grandchildren there too).

Our starter was Hugh F-W’s bloody tomato soup (with beetroot) together with Spanish ham, rocket, parmesan and balsamic vinegar (shot of vodka in the soup optional) …….all twelve wolfed this down.

The main was complemented with purple sprouted broccoli and Alex’s homemade apple and mint jelly!!

Desert (sorry no photo) was Alex’s tiramisu which was sublime…….

We had a Tanners malbec with the main and Prosecco throughout…..”

Roast Potatoes

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Slow Roast Lamb with Dauphinoise Potatoes

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I have to firstly make an apology for my absence for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been moving house and have only just regained internet access so I hope I can be forgiven.

Due to moving house, I was very keen to test the capabilities of my brand new (to me) oven – and what better way of doing this than having it on for five hours. It passed the test!

I’ve always loved slow-cooked, pull away from the bone with a fork, lamb (who doesn’t!) and so I thought it would be a fantastic recipe to christen my oven with. I’ve served it with some cream and calorie laden dauphinoise potatoes, seeing as it’s Sunday, and peas to give the recipe at least the illusion of health.

Be warned before you start – this recipe really does take 5 hours, however there is very little effort for the chef (the potato peeling can, of course, be delegated to your sous) and you will be delighted with the results. This will serve 4.

Slow Roast Lamb with Dauphinoise Potatoes

For the lamb:

Approx 2kg leg of lamb

2 large onions

1 bulb garlic

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

200ml red wine

For the potatoes:

3 large baking potatoes

300ml single cream

4 cloves garlic

25g gruyere

For the gravy:

2 tbsps plain flour

2 tbsps madeira

100g frozen peas, cooked, to serve

1. For the lamb, preheat the oven to 120 degrees. Take a large casserole dish (large enough to fit the whole leg of lamb and put the lid on) and place on the hob on a medium heat. Brown the lamb on all sides – you shouldn’t need any oil, but if it starts to stick add a little olive oil.

2. Throw in the thickly chopped onions, peeled (but not sliced) cloves of garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme and red wine. Put the lid on and put in the oven for 5 hours, cheking every so often that it’s not catching.

3. For the potatoes, peel and thinly slice the potatoes and garlic cloves. Layer potato and a sprinkling of garlic until all are used, then pour over the cream and top with the cheese. This is best cooked at 180 degrees for an hour, but if you don’t have a separate oven section you can put it in with the lamb for 1 1/2 hours.

4. When the lamb and potatoes are done, remove from the oven and set aside. You can cook your peas now. To make the gravy, carefully remove the lamb from the casserole dish (it will try to fall apart!). Put the casserole dish containing all of the cooking juices on the hob and stir in the madeira. In a small cup, mix the flour with a few drops of cold water then stir into the gravy until it thickens. Enjoy!