Category: potatoes

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carrots lamb mint mustard potatoes tomato

spring lamb, vegetable platter, mint sauce and chianti gravy

spring lamb

 

 

I thought I’d tried all the Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals that I wanted to, until the photo-ninja Nga commented about the spring lamb recipe… I couldn’t believe I’d missed it! So I tore off to try it.

It’s a relatively simple recipe, with seared & roasted lamb, and a big bowl of pots ‘n’ veg boiled up. But it’s a great way to multi-task without actually too much effort, and the result is dis-proportionately good. If you’re at all skittish about whether you can manage the 30 minute thing or not, give this one a whirl as it’s not too busy (I should point out that Jamie did a fondue in with his full recipe but that was simply microwaved chocolate and chopped fruit). Well worth a go.

Jamie recommends rack of lamb and neck fillet here. I find rack of lamb really hard to find now, hardly anyone stocks it and it’s very expensive when you do. Lamb chops aren’t as fancy but very tasty. A rack of lamb is a cut of meat from the rib section of a lamb. It is made up of a row of bones with meat on the top and sides. The rack of lamb is a popular choice for roasting and grilling but can be pricey.

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Spring lamb, vegetable platter, mint sauce and chianti gravy

A refreshing yet wholesome dinner.
Course Main Course
Cuisine British
Keyword quick
Servings 4
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the lamb:

  • 4 lamb chops
  • 3 sprigs rosemary
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • White wine vinegar
  • 300 g cherry tomatoes on the vine

For the gravy:

  • 4 rashers smoked bacon
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • ½ glass red wine

For the veg:

  • 400 g baby new potatoes
  • 4 carrots
  • Stalks from a bunch of mint
  • 1 chicken stock cube
  • 300 g fine beans
  • ½ Savoy cabbage

For the mint sauce:

  • ½ a lemon
  • Leaves from a bunch of mint
  • 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon caster sugar

Instructions

  • Get the oven on 220C, a frying pan and saucepan over high heats and get that kettle a-boilin'.
  • Add some olive oil to the pan. Season the lamb all over and pop it in.
  • Wash the potatoes, chop the carrots into nice chunks and add to the saucepan. Cover with boiling water and toss in the mint stalks and stock cube.
  • Turn the lamb well and make sure it's browned all over. While it's finishing bash the garlic and rosemary together in a mortar and pestle. Season, add the mustard and spread the lot over the  lamb. Transfer the lamb to a roasting dish with the tomatoes and slam in the oven for 9-14 minutes until done to your liking (for me, internal temp of 55°C before resting). Keep the frying pan on the heat and add the bacon, chopped.
  • Re-using the mortar from before, add the mint leaves with vinegar, sugar, pinch of salt and a splash of water from the veg pot. Mix it together for the mint sauce.
  • Add the red wine to the frying pan to deglaze the pan, scraping around. Add the flour and rosemary to the gravy pan, and stir for a minute to coat everything in flour. Add a few ladles of cooking water. Cut the Savoy into thin wedges and add to the boiling pot with the beans.
  • The lamb should be done about now, so get it out of the oven to rest for a minute while you sort out the veg. Once the beans are tender, drain the lot and return to the pot. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, some salt and pepper and the juice from the lemon. Toss well and serve. Cut the lamb into chops, check the gravy for seasoning and get stuck in!

Notes

The lamb can be any cut of lamb you like that fries quick, or would work pretty well with beef steaks - though the mint sauce wouldn't work for me then. It's your dinner though!
Categories
beef carrots peas potatoes sweet potato

cottage pie with vegetable mash topping

I’ve been trying out Sainsbury’s ‘Feed Your Family for £50’ meal planner lately, and this recipe is a real crowd-pleaser: tasty mince with piles of mashy veg on top.

Have you tried any of the recipes or the whole Meal Plan? If so let Sainsbury’s know. Very soon they’ll be giving you the chance to win a £50 meal plan and put it to the test, feeding your family for a week, see the Sainsbury’s site and follow them on Facebook and Twitter for details.

Cottage pie with vegetable mash topping (serves 4):

1 onion, peeled & finely chopped

350g lean beef steak mince

400g sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 4cm chunks

300g carrots, peeled & chopped

300g potatoes, peeled & cut into 4cm chunks

30g Butterlicious spread

380g Basics frozen British Garden peas

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled & finely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato purée

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs

200ml beef stock (1/2 stock cube)

  1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion for 5-10 minutes, until soft, adding in the garlic for the last minute. Turn the heat up to medium/high, add the mince and cook for 5 minutes. Stir through the tomato purée and mixed herbs, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, until thickened. Add the peas at the last minute.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6. Cook the sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes, until soft. Drain and mash with the Butterlicious.
  3. Spoon the mince mixture into a 1.5 litre-baking dish and top with the mash. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the top is crispy and browned.
Categories
potatoes

jean christophe novelli’s roast potatoes

You manage to get some up-close-and-personal time with a skilled and famous chef. You’re spending relaxed time in his company after watching the man cook food for you in his whites. He’s poured forth detail on his family life growing up and told you of the bittersweet feeling as he approaches a milestone birthday.

Jean-Christophe Novelli is being nothing less than his charming self. He’s opened his heart and his kitchen to you. So what do you ask him?

“What your recipe for perfect roast potatoes?”

How could I miss that opportunity? I admit I was a little surprised by his method. But I can’t ignore a new technique for roast potatoes!

It throws a lot of what I usually do out of the window. It’s very simple though: mix with seasonings, a quick flash-fry on the hob, then straight in the oven with no fat. Weird.

I was cooking a lovely sage butter-smeared roast chicken this weekend so I tried them (alongside a batch of regular roasties in case they disappointed!). And they were pretty good. Crunchy, tasty, and very potatoey – leaving the skins on and not diluting in water retains the potato flavour strongly. And very healthy, given there is no fat involved at all, and because the skins stay on many nutrients are kept there.

But make no mistake, while interesting and useful to know they are not classic roast potatoes to put alongside my Sunday lunch.

Jean-Christophe Novelli’s roast potatoes:

1 potato per person, diced to about 2cm pieces (skins left on)

A couple of fat cloves of garlic, squashed

A couple of rosemary sprigs

  1. Pop the oven on to 220°C. Get your sturdiest baking tray on the hob heating up to very hot.
  2. Toss the potatoes with the garlic and rosemary, adding some salt and pepper (you could add pretty much any seasoning you want here; curry powder, cumin, paprika etc.). Chuck them in the baking tray and get shaking and stirring. You’re looking to build up a slight crust on the outside which will make them kinda non-stick, as well as getting the cooking started quickly.
  3. After 5 minutes of shaking and tossing, transfer the baking tray to the hot oven and bake for 45 minutes or until tender. Shake regularly to free any crusty bits.
Categories
chicken mustard potatoes

mustard chicken with potato dauphinoise

This recipe is taken from Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals. It’s a tale of two halves really; the chicken is brilliant, punchy mustard yet restrained creamy leeks. And the dauphinoise is… OK. And far too anchovy-y. Even as a fan I think these are too stinky. And the potatoes didn’t cook in time, so I’d much rather give it longer and do it right.

Mustard chicken with potato dauphinoise (serves 2):
For the dauphinoise:
1 red onion
500g Maris Piper potatoes
¼ nutmeg
2 cloves garlic
150ml tub single cream
2 anchovies
Parmesan
1 bay leaf
Fresh thyme
For the chicken:
A few sprigs of rosemary
2 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 leek
2 cloves garlic
White wine
Splash of cream from the dauphinoise
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard

  1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Peel and halve the red onion. Leaving the skins on, slice the potatoes in the food processor along with the red onion. Tip into a sturdy roasting dish and grate over the nutmeg, crush in the garlic and pour in most of the cream. Add the anchovies and grate over a layer of parmesan. Add the bay and thyme and pour over 200ml boiling water. Give it a quick mix and cover with tin foil, then put on a medium hob.
  2. Put a frying pan on a medium heat. Spread the mustard on the chicken and pat over the rosemary Season, drizzle over olive oil and put in one side of the pan.
  3. Remove the tin foil from the potatoes and transfer it to the oven until it is golden brown and bubbling (about 15 minutes).
  4. Trim the leeks and finely slice. Add to the other side of the chicken’s pan. After a couple of minutes frying crush the garlic into the leeks and stir about. The chicken probably needs flipping at this point, so after that add a few splashes of white wine. When the chicken is cooked through remove to a board to rest for a minute. Add the remaining cream to the leeks and stir in the mustard. Season to taste and serve with the chicken.
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