First off the mark I wanted to chat about this incredibly easy lamb dish that I made a few days ago.
I had received a recipe book from my mom called 'Nice and Easy' and she bought it because she wanted me to make the dishes inside (no subtlety, indeed).
The recipe called for lamb shanks and I used a combination of chops and steaks. I was pretty excited to see the use of fresh tomatoes and happily went through our garden collecting the cherry tomatoes that had grown en masse and whose vines now cascade all over our giant rosemary bush. Needless to say, the cherry tomatoes have a beautiful lingering suggestion of rosemary when you eat them!
To make this recipe I placed a bed of fresh spring onions on the bottom of a square baking dish (about 20cm x 20cm), followed by the lamb, tomatoes and loads of rosemary with some salt, pepper and light sprinkle of olive oil. Although this sounds like a usual combination of flavours, what really gave it an incredible edge was the red wine which your poured over the dish once it had cooked for 30mins in the oven; placed the dish back inside and turned the oven off. Within 10 minutes, the wine had been absorbed by the meat and there was an incredible jus that had settled at the bottom. The roasted tomatoes were an absolute win and the dish paired incredibly well with roasted sweet and normal potatoes - done with rosemary, of course.
I usually have my reservations about a recipe book that has more than 5 recipes for different salads and has more pictures than random facts, but I loved how easy it was and most of my time had been spent picking the produce out of the garden.
If you love Greengrocers like I do, I hope that you have noticed the opulence of all the beautiful plums around! Although my favourite seasonal fruit arrives in Winter, I love the tartness of plums and fresh apricots. I chose to make 'Spiced Plum and Port Jam' and I learnt many lessons in this lengthily hour:
1. Trying to be "healthy" and cutting out some sugar doesn't serve you any favours. Watery jam anyone?
2. Remember that cooking syrupy sugar makes it really hot if it touches your skin. Note: never allow young siblings to try eat some out the pot.
4. On that point, when things go wrong, even though I didn't put enough sugar (1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of fruit and liquid), I discovered I could use lemon to serve as the required pectin. Don't I sound smart now - I blame taking science at school and not Home Education.
6. And finally. Set aside more than half an hour to clean up. EVERYTHING becomes sticky and your pot needs to have boiling soapy water to remove the treacle that covers a thick inch on the bottom of the pot. Get your snazzy dish-washing gloves out and prepare to scrub!
Needless to say the result was incredibly flavoursome as you could really taste the variety of spices I had used (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg replaced Star Anise, which I didn't have). My measly little third jar was demolished by my sister and her friend at their 'Midnight Feast' but I at least got to try some of it on these decadent chocolate muffins that I made - and had forgot to put in baking powder, oops!