The Sugar Bar

It hailed today! And it’s supposedly going to again on a perfectly good Sunday tomorrow. To salvage my sacred weekend, I literally fell out of bed in a panic – pulled on my jeans, hoodie, jacket, slipped my shoes on and barely fiddled with my bed-hair – before dashing out the door in the direction of G.A Lockhart. That would be my local butcher. Friendly, fairly good-looking in a buff, burly type of way, he offers a great selection of meats and home-prepared sausages, meat pies, parcel pastries and special sauces (I noticed a jar of goose fat atop the counter as well). If you’re looking for affordable and quality meat, G.A Lockhart is a good place to go – not only does he offer you personal advice on how best to cook the meat, he gives you tips on what meat is good for what, is lovely to talk to and makes a lot of effort to give you the best. Did I mention he doesn’t mind customers, specifically ones that make a breathless entrance with no make-up, a hairdo that magpies would mistake as a sad, abandoned, weather-beaten nest too?

I was really hoping for Best End which would be those fancy, posh-looking lamb racks often found in French restaurants. They are so tender and have a lovely flavour. Unfortunately, there weren’t any today so I was stuck between the lamb shoulder, lamb shank and leg fillet (at least that’s what I think it was). I’m the kind of eater who, other than fish, likes seeing bone on her plate. Not only do I think it makes my meal more heartwarming and real, knowing that this really came from an animal (I never trust what I get at supermarkets anymore), the bone is really what adds to the overall flavour and presentation. My parents have said the bone is where all the flavour lies and I’m sure my dogs would agree plenty. Having watched my mum slow-boil herbal soups, I understand pork rib bones produce one of the best flavours in oriental cuisine.

So of course, I totally chose the leg fillet with all the bone-age over the beautiful shoulder cut Lockhart had lifted out to give me a closer look. This bit of meat comes from the shin of the lamb and is perfect for slow-roasts. A good-sized chunk of leg cost me about 6quid. After getting the bones loosened up a little for easy cooking and carving, I popped into the off license to get a bottle of red wine. I would’ve gone for a good bottle of French, but the wallet has taken a bad turn and I’ve lucked out on moolah. Knowing this would definitely affect the sauce, I still went for a cheap bottle of Kumala: a mixed-grape (and this was seriously quite a bad mix) red hailing from West Cape.

Anyone hoping to keep a lookout for this butcher’s will find the address below. Great meat, great service, good range, free delivery:

G.A Lockhart
Raddlebarn Road
Selly Oak
Birmingham
B29 6HQ
0121 472 2545

The sun came back out for a tiny bit whilst I was preparing the meat in the kitchen. So I took that as a sign that lamb for Saturday lunch was the way to go. I’d had my doubts about having such a large lunch when it wasn’t even Sunday but seeing as I was finally in a good mood, I thought ‘screw it’ and was determined to have a good time this weekend. Of course, that would be balanced with revision. I can’t afford to let myself go completely.

This recipe has been inspired by Gordon Ramsay, kitchen genius, and from some lamb recipes from Delia Smith. There isn’t exactly one recipe that I followed. What I did was kind of got a general idea of the sauces they made and went forward with my own. I’d been playing with the idea of fruit and lamb for some time now. I love pork with sweet sauces, apple sauces and marmalade sauces. But I might have been a little conservative with my lamb. On a day the weather went slightly freakish, I really wasn’t all that bothered about taking the radical train to experiment with some flavours. Just a note: as I’ve cooked this by taste, all measurements stated are written as close to what I can remember. Should you wish to replicate this recipe for your own cooking, I’d advice some watchfulness over the sauce as these measurements are not as accurate as I’d like them to be. I’d served the lamb with garlic mash. Was intending to do a parsnip-potato mash which I’d done once for a Cottage Pie but I was wary of overstepping the line by just doing way too much on a plate. So I left it as it was. Here is a recipe good for 2 with some leftover for a salad or sandwich tomorrow.

Roasted Lamb Fillet in Blackberry and Red Wine Sauce

Ingredients

good chunk of lamb fillet
salt & pepper for seasoning
sprig of rosemary
olive oil
about 1 1/2 cup of red wine
a garlic clove, skinned and crushed
1/4 of a large leek, thinly sliced into rounds

For the sauce:

about 3tbs chopped red onion
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup beef stock
2 tsp mild honey
1/3 cup or a handful of blackberries

For the garlic mash:

a clove of garlic
2 medium potatoes
tbs of butter
some milk

The lamb will take 1 3/4 – 2 hrs in the oven so get to work early. Preheat the oven to 200d Celsius. Season the lamb and rub the crushed leaves of rosemary onto it. Place it in a casserole dish with crush garlic and olive oil, rubbing it all around. Pour the wine into the dish and give the lamb a turn to coat it. Cover with aluminium foil and roast. After an hour, remove and give the lamb a turn. Baste it in its juices. Cover with foil again and return to oven to continue the cooking process.
About 10min to end of cooking time, get to work on the sauce. Prepare the onions and stock. Crush about half of the blackberries, be careful not to waste any of the juices that spill from its insides. Using a tiny bit of oil, fry the onions in a large shallow pan. Remove the lamb from the oven and pour the juices and some of the leek into the pan. Cover the lamb with foil again, lower oven temperature to about 100d Celsius and return to oven to keep warm.
Add the stock, vinegar and honey into the pan and stir gently. Let simmer as you want this to reduce a little. Add the crushed berries and stir.
Whilst the sauce is slowly cooking, peel and chop the potatoes. Then peel off the skin of the garlic. Boil altogether. When it is soft, strain the water and mash with butter and milk till it reaches a creamy consistency.
Get back to the sauce. Add the last of the berries that were not crushed. Taste it. It should be slightly tart but having a full, savoury, lamb flavour. The honey and berries work strangely well with the wine.

Plates up. 1.Mash, 2.lamb then 3.ladle the sauce over it making sure to spoon some berries on it. Serve with some cracked black pepper and chopped herbs.

I was honestly thinking this might go very wrong what with fresh blackberries in the sauce. On the contrary, the full blackberries gave the lamb an awesome flavour and when eaten together, was refreshing and almost like a time-out from the bang of the sauce. Indeed, the red wine had taken its toll on the sauce but overall this worked out as an ‘Exceeding Expectations’ meal.

Diva gives her stamp of approval and a pat on the back. Not bad for a sleepy-head and/or lazy fart.

Easter Weekend officially started on 21 March and ends today Easter Monday 24 March. As everyone knows, I broke Lent and had chocolate way before Easter Sunday so really, I couldn’t very much celebrate by tucking into chocolate as I felt too guilty and naughty already. However, it didn’t actually faze me from getting into the festive mood with Easter Lunch! It’s really all about the feasting. Easter calls for easter eggs, hot cross buns, the Easter Bunny and simnel cake. It too, with the advent of spring, presents us with lamb – a lovely, fragrant, sweet-smelling meat which is a high source of high-quality protein, vitamins and minerals. Lamb, a feature of Easter, was sacrificed at Jewish Passover. For Christians, it came to symbolize Christ’s death on the cross and hence, is very apt for having it on the day we celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

You’d be glad to know that lamb, as compared to other red meats, has very little marbling of internal fat. With most of its fat on the outside edges of the meat (kinda like really good lean back bacon), it’s so easy to trim off excess fat. Apart from its low-calorie potential, lamb meat is high in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) which possesses antioxidant activity. This acid is produced naturally in the stomachs of herbivores. And unfortunately, cannot be found in our own bodies since we do not produce it. Conclusion? Lamb is great!

Ben & I went to the butcher’s 3 days ago and purchased a couple of lovely double lamb chops. They were really tender and this dish really came together in terms of flavour and fragrance. Have to say I might have piled it up with garlic and rosemary too, which I believe are one of the best ingredients that go with lamb.

Oven-baked Lamb Chops, Roasted Root Vegetables with Rosemary Onion Sauce

Ingredients

lamb chops for 2
clove of garlic
olive oil
rosemary
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
For the roasted vegetables:
1 large parsnip, peeled
2 carrots, peeled
1 large sweet potato, peeled
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
New Zealand honey
fine herbs
olive oil
For the onion sauce:
25g salted butter
some plain flour
half an onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup milk (I used whole milk for extra goodness)
175ml stock (chicken or vegetable is best)
2 tbs double cream
freshly ground black pepper

Start work about an hour before. This is so simple to do and once you get started, it really is just a chuck it aside then whack it in the oven type of meal.
To marinade the vegetables, crush the garlic cloves and put it in some olive oil in a bowl. This will flavour the oil which will be used to coat the vegetables. Add some honey and mix it in. Chop the root vegetables into nice chunks then coat them in your honey-oil mixture. Add the herbs, a bit more olive oil and leave aside to marinade.
On to the lamb. Finely chop the clove of garlic. Using either fresh rosemary or dried rosemary leaves, crush these leaves in a bowl. Add some olive oil to your baking dish and throw in your garlic and rosemary. Put your lamb chops in and coat well. Season with salt and pepper. Leave aside for the flavours to set in for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 200d Celsius.
Root vegetables go into the oven about 15min before the lamb chops. Put it in the bottom layer. After 15min, shift it to the top layer in the oven and slide the lamb chops beneath that. Leave to bake for 30-40min. Do a quick check about half way through. Once the vegetables start to go crisp and brown about the edges, shift it to the bottom layer and move the lamb chops to the top layer. About 10min before taking the meat and vegetables out of the oven, get to work on the sauce.
Melt some butter in a saucepan. Once melted, let the chopped onions sweat in this lovely hot butter. Remember this should be done on low heat. Add the stock bit by bit, followed by flour, all the while stirring constantly. You should be aiming to liquefy the sauce with stock and then thickening it with flour. You have to judge this carefully to reach the consistency you’re aiming for. Once the sauce is thickening up well, add the milk and stir carefully. The sauce should have become a lovely white thick sauce by now – the heat should have started to weld the flavours together and if you smell it, be careful not to swoon! Finally, add some grated pepper in and 2 generous tablespoons of good double cream. MMMM.

Dish up and spoon out the sauce over the lamb chops. Serve lamb chops slightly pink and tender or well-cooked. Either way, this is delicious.