peter gordon Archives

the lovely squished layers of a muffeletta sandwich — muffuletta wedge

Gor blimey I luv a sarnie. And the Americans really know how to do it. This Scooby snack of a sandwich is a New Orleans specialty, supposed to be a big enormous circular loaf that lasts a working man all day. The olive mix is the base of this, the rest is essentially a deli in a bun. As you sink your teeth through the bread you get all sorts of wonderful flavours popping through, pickled veg, smoked cheese, salty ham, sweet tomato… a real treat. The recipe listed below is a suggestion, nothing more. Add or delete as your cupboard and deli provide.

I first saw this sandwich back in 1998, back on the inspiring and pornographic Nigel Slater’s Real Food, where calm Kiwi cook Peter Gordon pressed layer upon layer of ingredient on to this bap. I salivated over it at the time then promptly never made it. Fastforward 11 years, I finally get round to it. If you want to see it, as with much of Channel 4’s content, it can now be seen on Youtube.

Muffuletta:

1 large round loaf, about 30cm across (focaccia works well)

Mixed olives

Sundried tomatoes

Sliced fresh tomato

Sliced artichoke

Parsley, chopped

Spring onions, sliced

Pancetta, grilled

Gruyere cheese, thinly sliced

Slice the loaf horizontally and drizzle olive oil on both sides.

Layer the ingredients as generously as you can. Season the fresh tomatoes when you get there. It’s also a good idea to dribble a little extra oil near the top layers to allow the flavours to be drawn down.

Put the lid back on, cover with clingfilm and press down with tins and other heavy things. Leave for a couple of hours if possible.

Spring is surely here when lamb is on the menu. Wonderful, succulent, English lamb. I used a shoulder; just as interesting and tasty as a leg, but half the price. A trickier carve I’ll grant you but I can suffer that for luscious tender meat.

With the benefit of ample time on a Sunday, I fancied a slow roast on this occasion. I turned to two inspirations, food pornographer Nigel Slater and laid-back New Zealander Peter Gordon. If Kiwis know how to cook something, it’s lamb. I started by slashing the meat all over with deep grooves, reaady for flavours. I arrived at a baste of juicy garlic, aromatic garden-picked rosemary, prickly mustard seeds and of course s&p. I mashed all this together and smeared it into a paste with olive oil, then eagerly rubbed all over the meat. I put this in an oven of 150c, over some onions, carrots and celery, covered with foil.

As pungent garlicky smells filled the air, I basted the meat every half hour or so then removed the foil after about four hours. A further twenty minutes just to brown a little more of the surface, and left it to rest for an hour. The meat came off with no effort at all, and made piles of juicy lamb. I served with roast potatoes (natch), carrots, yorkshire puddings (it’s not beef, so sue me) and broccoli cheese. The meat was filled with savoury, tender juice and had a wonderful flavour. It’s a crappy old ad slogan, but there’s never a better time to “Slam in the Lamb”.

roast lamb

This British Sunday classic is easy to do but just needs time.

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Keyword lamb, meat

Servings 8

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

1.5 kg lamb shoulder
1 bulb garlic
1 tablespoon rosemary chopped
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 onion roughly chopped
1 carrot roughly chopped
1 stick celery roughly chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 150C.
Bash together the rosemary, mustard seeds and half the garlic in a pestle and mortar. Add salt and pepper and stir through a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Massage this all over the lamb.
Put the rest of the garlic, the onion, celery and carrot in the base of a deep roasting tray. Put the lamb on top with a mugful of water and cover with foil. Roast in the oven for 4 hours.
Remove the foil for the last 20 minutes of cooking. Make sure you leave to rest for about an hour before carving.