Quick Suppers: Spiced Lamb Pinches

These are highly spiced and a great alternative to meatballs.

Preparation time is just 15 minutes and cooking time is for a similar length of time, so whether you have these with a salad or with a batch of savoury or plain rice, this can be a very quick supper.

This quantity should be just right for two people or with a small salad as a base and topped with a little yogurt, just great for 4 starters.

Ingredients:

12 oz (300 grams) of minced lamb
2 tablespoons of dried marjoram and thyme
1 tablespoon of Ras El Hanout
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 oz of salted butter
2 large tomatoes (cored, and diced)

Take a large bowl and place the dried herbs and spice in the bottom, combined together.

Drop small pinches of the lamb, and drop into the mixture, toss lightly and leave to stand.   The dry mixture should fully coat the pinches.

Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan on a medium heat.  Add the pinches to the pan and brown adding the onion and garlic at mid-point.

When done, toss the diced tomatoes into the pinches and serve.

Slow braised Rabbit with mint and parsley

A relatively simple dish especially good as an alternative to a Sunday roast. 

Depending on the size of your rabbit, portion wise, one saddle is generally fair for each person. 

For four, simply increase all the ingredients by a similar ratio, although the amount of parsley should only be increased by half. 

Marjoram and Thyme are also great additions to the herb mix for this particular recipe and if using either, I would tend to use 15 grams of parsley to 5 grams of either of these herbs; i.e. still maintaining a 20 gram portion of fresh herbs in total.

For two saddles of Rabbit:

• Four dessert spoons of good olive oil
• 10 grams of mint, chopped finely
• Three large cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• Two good pinches of salt
• Two good pinches of caraway seeds
• 20 grams of flat leaf parsley, chopped roughly
• Two large onions, sliced
• 500 mls of good vegetable stock, reduced by half
• 50 mls of good balsamic vinegar

Place your Rabbit in a large bowl.  Add the oil, mint and garlic, the salt, the caraway seeds and the sliced onions and ensure the meat is evenly covered.

Place to one side, covered, at room temperature for 30-40 minutes or, in a sealable plastic bag in the fridge overnight, taking the bag out about an hour before you need to start cooking.

Pre-heat oven to 160c.

Reduce your stock and allow to cool slightly, then add the balsamic.

In a heavy oven dish, scatter a little more oil in the base and put half your parsley/herb mix onto the bottom.  Place the rabbit and onion mixture and the remaining parsley scattered on around and on top.  Add the liquid to the side rather than pouring over the top of the meat.  Cover tightly with oven foil and place in the in oven, for an hour.

At the end of this period, uncover, increase the heat to 180c and cook for a further 25/35 minutes, depending on the size or the number of rabbit pieces you have placed in your oven dish.

Take out of the oven, cover loosely and allow to stand in its juices for 20 minutes. 

Serve on a bed of Spring greens or puy lentils.

If you are serving with roast potatoes and want a thicker gravy, I would transfer the remaining juices into a saucepan and whisk in a little butter and flour, perhaps adding a little pinch of ground black pepper at the end.

Goats' cheese and baked tomato pastries

One of a number of fresh and very quick supper ideas which will always hold my heart.  As a tart this makes a very attractive starter or main course.

Using either shop bought or freshly made (I always go for the former) puff (or short crust) pastry, this is a quick savoury tart which is goes well on its own or with a fresh green salad or a few mini roast potatoes on the side.

• 250 grams of puff pastry - rolled out to cover a medium greased and floured baking tray (30/20 cm)
• 250 grams of baked tomatoes
• 150 grams of goats' cheese - crumbled
• 100 mls of passata
• three or four sprigs of fresh thyme
• milk, for brushing

Pre-heat your oven to 190c.

Draw a border around the edge of the pastry about two cms wide and brush the outer rim with a little milk.

Thinly spread the passata in the middle of the pastry, within the limits of the border.

Add your baked tomatoes on top of this along with the goats cheese. 

Take the leaves of the fresh thyme and sprinkle evenly.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes

Making individual ones of these are also good as well as a "pasty" version. 

For a pasty version (best made with short crust), use a round dessert bowl for a template.  Draw a border as before.  In the middle, spread a little passata and on only half of the round, add your baked tomatoes, cheese and thyme.  Then fold and crimp the edges and placed on a baking tray as before.  Brush with milk.

Bake for little longer or until golden brown.

Baked Mediterranean Asparagus with Parmesan

This is a great "reserve" dish.  Equally good as a starter for a dinner party or, as I normally serve it, a supper dish over fresh tagliatelle.

The fresh favours in this dish really do lift you up after a long day.  Great for that feel good factor on a rainy day!

For two people:

Use a portion of my black olive salsa verde or the more classic green variety, either is a great base for this dish.

• Twelve to sixteen asparagus spears, trimmed and blanched briefly
• Two large ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced across the lateral
• A couple of tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan or your favourite hard cheese of choice

On a lined shallow baking tray, spread half your black olive or classic salsa verde and then place your spears on top, adding remaining amount on top.

Place in the top third of a medium to hot oven (190-200c) for 10-12 minutes.

On your serving plates, if using these as a starter, arrange tomato slices.  Add half the hot asparagus on top with a generous sprinkling of cheese.

If serving with tagliatelle, chop the tomatoes roughly and add to the drained pasta so that it is warmed through just before putting on the plate. Lay the asparagus on the top of the pasta, adding the cheese to taste.

This is also extremely good on some toasted rye bread.

Post Eurovision recipe - number one

After a busy Eurovision weekend, I'm catching up with recipes that people have been asking about.

The turkey papettes are a take on a French left-overs in which rolls of cooked meat are given a filling and then recooked in a gravy or sauce.

These particular "rolls" are dry and make really good party food.  The rolls once cooked and cooled are cut on the diagonal and served with cocktail sticks and a Dijon mayonnaise.

Turkey Papettes

The turkey papettes are easy.  The filling is for about 700 grams of turkey meat (which have been cut into steaks and beaten thinly).

• One large onion
• 150 grams of pork liver pate
• Three or four generous pinches of dried herbs (an equal mix of tarragon, thyme and sage) and a good pinch of salt.
• A good glug of olive oil and a generous knob of butter.

Slowly melt the filling ingredients over a slow heat for about 20-30 minute and allow to cool.  The onions will have needed to soften and pate amalgamate into a rough paste.

Take approximately two dozen thin asparagus spears (or slice thick ones lengthwise) and cut to approximately 8-10 cms in length.

Spread a two generous teaspoons of the pate filling onto the thinned turkey steaks and arrange two to three spears down the centre.  Roll the meat and pin together shut with cocktail sticks or tie with string.

Once all the rolls have been done, rub olive oil over the top and place in a pre-heated oven (@200c) for between 30-40 minutes - or until the rolls are bronzed.

Take out and cool and once they have rested for 30 minutes or so, slice on diagonal to serve. 

An alternative that I've used is a neck lamb joint - sliced along its length and opened up butterfly fashion.  Beat to very long, thin (about a cm or less).  The filling is along the same lines as the one below, but using a layer of cooked spinach instead of the asparagus and using three times the amount of herbs - albeit a fresh mix including tarragon, thyme and flat leaf parsley.  I roll this length wise - quite tricky - and tie it with string - putting this in a medium oven 165-175c - covered for the first 30 minutes of cooking and then a further 30 minutes without.  The final 30 minutes I put a mix chopped sweet peppers and courgettes around the meat.

For a light supper (with no carbs) this would serve two easily.