Moroccan Lamb, Potato & Aubergine Stew

Although I've never been to Morocco, I adore Moroccan cuisine. My first taste of Morocco was in a small little family run restaurant in the heart of Paris; and I've been hooked ever since. I love slow cooked meats, and I love one pot wonders even more!!! This dish actually tastes better if made a day ahead of needing it. Moroccan dining is my way of eating, its about being social and sharing; lots of accompaniments and everyone just digging in. Super casual. it's not fussy nor posh.

I entered a Lamb Tagine recipe in a Kerrygold Recipe Book competition a few years back and my recipe was selected to be published in the recipe book. This Lamb, Potato and Aubergine stew is a twist on my traditional Tagine recipe Serena's Moroccan Lamb Tagine

This recipe is perfect to feed a crowd and can be easily doubled or trebled, and just supply more pittas and yogurt for scooping up the yummy sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs diced lamb
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp of maldon sea salt
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground Cinnamon
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 1 diced onion
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 carrots thickly sliced on diagonal
• 3 potatoes,peeled and quartered
• 1 aubergine, diced
• 2 tbsp runny honey

Cous cous to Serve

• 100g cous cous
• 1 tsp of turmeric
• Generous handful chopped Coriander/flat leaf parsley
• 50g of flaked almonds
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 250g tub Greek yogurt (to serve)
• 4 mini pitta breads (to serve)

Method

1. Combine all the spices, garlic and onion and rub into the meat
2. Leave to marinate, preferably overnight, although an hour should be sufficient.
3. In a lidded oven proof casserole dish, add the olive oil on a medium heat. Brown the meat, in batches if necessary.

4. Add all the meat back into the casserole dish, adding the carrots, tinned tomatoes, potato & aubergine.
5. Bring up to the boil and put lid on the dish and put in a preheated oven for 1.5 hours at 180 degrees.
6. Meanwhile, put cous cous in a bowl, add the olive oil and the turmeric and mix well; season with salt and pepper and pour over 180mls of boiling water. Cover for ten mins.
7. Fluff with a fork, adding half the chopped coriander or flat leaf parsley.
8. Put the flaked almonds on a baking tray and toast in the oven, keeping an eye on them as they can burn in matter of seconds. Once toasted add to the cous cous.
10. Remove the casserole dish from the oven and add the runny honey.
11. Return the dish (uncovered) to the oven for a final 20 mins to brown.
12. Put the pittas in the oven to warm through.
13. Remove the dish from the oven and present to the table in the dish adding the chopped coriander/flat leaf parsley.
14. Put the cous cous, yogurt and pittas in bowls on the table and let your guests help themselves, Moroccan style! Enjoy.

Italian Lamb Hot Pot - My Lambsagna

I have been fortunate to be married to not only a wonderful, handsome strapping man from Roscommon. I have the added fortune that this strapping man comes from a farming background; sheep farming no less. This means that from time to time my very generous father-in-law bestows on us a slaughtered lamb; cut into various cuts; shoulders, leg, cutlets, rack, chops etc; fresh off the farm, grass fed only. Now you can't get much better than that!!!

I adore lamb, and my diners do love my lamb tagines, my slow roasts, and slow stews. However recently I decided to give the humble lamb chop a make over. I decided to cook my chops in layers in my trusty Le Crusset and give this some punchy Italian flavours, using beautiful juicy cherry tomatoes, high quality olive oil, fantastic Parmesan cheese and thinly cut potatoes. The layers are similar to how one would layer up a lasanga and the slices of potatoes are similar to those used in a tradition hot pot. Hence my Lambsanga.

 Rosemary is a classic herb combo with lamb; but so is mint. Mint is usually used as an accompaniment with roast lamb in the form of a sauce. But here I decided to add fresh mint to the layers of meat.

It's a rather simple rustic dish but the flavours are outstanding. It did of course help that the lamb was of a superior quality; so buy your lamb cutlets in the butchers not  from your supermarket pre packaged.

Ingredients

• 9 good quality lamb cutlets (bone intact)
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced finely
• 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved.
• 1 wedge of parmesan cheese (for grating) -do not attempt to buy pre-grated plastic parmesan
• 3-4 tbsp of the best olive oil you can buy (I'm using oil bought in a vineyard in Frascati this summer)
• 5-6 leaves of fresh mint, finely sliced
• 8-9 potatoes, peeled and sliced very finely.
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. In a large oven proof casserole dish, pour in some oil.
3. Cover the base of the dish with a layer of potatoes, season with salt and pepper, scatter a 1/3 of the tomatoes over the potatoes, followed by a 1/3 of the mint and finally 1/3 of the garlic.
4. Lay 2 -3 lamb cutlets on top of the potatoes and grate over a layer of parmesan cheese.
5. Repeat step 3 again with the potato layer.
6. Repeat step 4 again. 
7. Continue the layering until all your ingredients are used up, seasoning as you go. This usually gives 3 layers but it depends on the width of you dish.
8. Make sure the final layer is potatoes, season well and grate some parmesan over them
9. Cover the dish with its lid and baked in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the lid for the final 5-10 minutes to get the poatoes brown and crisp.
10. To serve simply with a shallow ladle divide the potatoes and the lamb cutlets between bowls and perhaps scatter with a few remaining mint slivers if you have some leftover.

Such a comfort dish, doesn't style well and it isn't easy to make it photograph pretty. But that's not the aim here. The aim here is to display an immensely comforting dish in all its glory.

  Be sure to try this the next wintery cold night outside.

Shepards Pie Gratin - My Back to School Special

I can hardly believe that yet another summer is over and the kids are back to school already. I feel cheated out of a sun shining heatwave this year, but we usually get a final blast of sun when the kids go back; so basically I was looking forward to the schools reopening.

Growing up Shepard pie was a weekly staple in our house, indeed probably in every house in Ireland. I don't think that has changed since I was going to school. In fact I make Shepard pie regularly now that my little girl has started to eat the same dinners as ourselves
.
I blogged my favourite recipe for Shepard pie a couple of years back and this is still my 'Go-to' recipe for Shepard's pie and the same recipe I used to make the gratin.
 Here's the link to that blog post, but the recipe is almost identical below, except for the potatoes part.  My Childhood Shepards Pie.

As I make this recipe regularly, I just wanted to give an old classic a new little twist. I decided to slice the pototoes thinly and use the meat sauce filling in the form of a gratin for a change. It might be just something different to give the kids when they come home some evening from one of their first days back at school next week.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• ·         1 lb lamb mince
• ·         1 onion, diced
• ·         10 mushrooms, sliced
• ·         3 carrots, parboiled
• ·         6 large potatoes, sliced very thinly
• ·         200ml of beef stock cube
• ·         5 splashes of Worchester sauce
• ·         1 tbsp of tomato puree
• ·         1 tbsp of tomato ketchup
• ·         20g of real Irish butter
• ·         Salt and white pepper

Method

1. Put a pan of potatoes in cold salted water and boil for 4 - 5 minutes, then drain and cool.
2. Put the peeled, diced carrots in another pan and boil for 5 minutes, then drain and set aside.
3.  In a frying pan, fry off the mince then add the diced onion and fry for 3 minutes
4. Add the tomato puree, ketchup and most of the stock into the pan and simmer.
5. Add the mushrooms and carrots and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, adding more stock if necessary
6. Add frozen peas to the mince mixture and let them thaw for a minute or so.
7. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
8. Grease a baking dish, and line with a layer of sliced potatoes.
9. Then cover with some of the meat sauce and add another layer of sliced potatoes. Season the potato layers as you go. Layer up with the rest of the meat sauce and cover with a final layer of potatoes.
10.  Season and grate some butter over the potatoes. 
11. At this point I would top with grated cheese, but both my husband and daughter have a huge dislike for cheese so I left it out of this recipe.
12. Finally, bake in the oven for 25 minutes; until the top is golden and crisp.

The only way in my opinion is to serve this with baked beans and brown sauce. It's one of the most comforting meals I know. 

Tip: Use steak mince or turkey mince in place of lamb mince if preferred. Also I love potato skins so I left my skins on (the most nutritious part of the potato don't you know!!!)

Lamajun - Turkish Lamb Pizza

When I  attended the Ballymaloe Sushi course in 2011; not only did I learn how to make all types of sushi; but there was an added bonus of learning a few Turkish dishes also, as Shermin Mustafa was giving the course with Darina Allen. What a treat!!!

I intending on trying out Shermins Lamajun (Turkish pizza bread) many a time, but I never got round to it. Now all day I've had a hankering for this truly delicious pizza; it's like an itch I gotta scratch. So I  rooted out my Ballymaloe notes and googled Lamajun for a while before I decided on how I'd like to cook my own.

This recipe is adapted mainly from Shermins notes from the Ballymaloe Cookery School.  I've just substituted a few items, based on availability to me and also to satisfy my feta craving.

You can also eliminate the use of a food processor by using lamb mince as opposed to chunks and finely dicing everything by hand. Do whatever works for you! That's my motto!

You can use this recipe to create smaller lamajuns, a great little canape for that perfect mezze party.


Ingredients


For the Base

• 275g of plain white flour
• 225ml of natural yogurt

For the Topping

• 1 Tbsp of olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 1 garlic clove
• 200g of lamb, diced
• 4 tomatoes, deseeded and diced
• 2 tbsp of chopped fresh mint
• Salt/pepper
• 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper

To serve

• Cous Cous
• Feta cheese, cubed
• Lemon Wedges

(Shermins recipe calls for lots of flat leaf parsley, but I've substituted mint and coriander as I couldn't get hold of the parsley and I wasn't waiting to pick some up to make this dish.)

Method

1. Using a food processor, blitz the onion, garlic, spices, tomatoes and lamb together. Season well.
2. Mix the flour and the yogurt together to form a soft dough
3. Divide the dough into balls (50g each) and roll out as thin as possible.
4. Spread the whizzed lamb mixture on to the rolled out base, on a baking tray dusted with flour. Close in the sides of the dough to prevent the mixture pouring out onto the baking sheet.
5. Bake in a preheated oven to 200 degrees for 17 minutes.
6. Serve with lots of lemon and herbs and scatter over the feta. (You can put the feta onto the lamajun before baking if you wish.

This is a different method to Sharmins recipe, this for me is the express lazy method, as Shermin would sweat and cool the onions first before add to the raw lamb mixture.She then would fry the prepared lamajun and then grill the lamajun; as opposed to my 1 step of baking in the oven.

 But this works just as well; its probably not as authentic, but that's alright with me. As long as something's tasty and easy, that for me is the main thing.

Italian Inspired Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb

When holidaying in Sicily I had the good fortune one night of choosing the lamb dish on the menu in a local trattatoria, the lamb was so divine I vowed to try to recreate a similar dish when I got home. The cut was a lamb shank and the meat was so juicy and tender there was no need for a knife at all; and you just knew it had been cooking for hours.

On my trip to my butchers to buy the lamb shanks to try to recreate the dish, I was disappointed to learn that they wouldn’t have shanks this week. Being one never to give in, and one who hasn’t an atom of patience I decided to get a shoulder of lamb boned and rolled instead. I wasn’t going to let a lack of shanks scarper my plans for dinner!!

I decided to pair the lamb dish with a white bean mash instead of pasta or potatoes, much to my husbands disgust! He saw the lack of potatoes (spuds) as ludicrous. However he was singing a different tune when he tasted the bean mash. So I’d definitely recommend giving it a go. I got the inspiration for this from a Nigella Lawson episode.

 

I don't claim this to be an authentic Italian recipe, but this is my take on a wonderful meal I had in Sicily.

 I would add some juicy black olives to the end dish normally, but as this was a birthday dinner for the hubbie, (who hates olives) I decided to leave them out). 

So here’s how I did it, my Italian Inspired Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb; the perfect Sunday winter warmer!!!

Serves 4

Ingredients

·         1kg shoulder of lamb, boned, rolled and tied (by your butcher)

·         Olive oil

·         Salt/pepper

·         4 sprigs of rosemary

·         2 cloves of garlic, diced

·         1 white onion, chopped

·         4-5 carrots, peeled and cut into wedges

·         1 tbsp tomato puree

·         2 glasses of white wine

·         1 tin of chopped tomatoes

·         Pinch of sugar

·         2 Bay leaves

White Bean Mash

Ingredients

·         2 tins of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

·         ½ tsp of chopped rosemary

·         ½ a clove of garlic, minced

·         Salt & pepper

·         A knob (or 2) of butter

·         2-3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.

Method

1.       Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

2.       Season the shoulder well with salt and pepper

3.       In a large frying pan, add the oil and sear the meat on all sides until browned

4.       Add the rosemary and toss to infuse the meat

5.       Remove the meat to a casserole dish.

6.       Deglaze the pan with the white wine and allow to bubble for a moment or two.

7.       Add the garlic, onion and tomato puree. And sauté for a few moments

8.       Add the carrots, rosemary, sugar, and tinned tomatoes.

9.       Refill the empty tomato tin with water and add this to the pan.

10.   Once the liquid has come to a boil, then pour over the lamb into the casserole dish.

11.   Cover the dish and put in the oven for 2 ½ to 3 hours.

12.   To make the mash, sauté the garlic in a little oil with the rosemary.

13.   Add the beans and warm through.

14.   Using a potato masher, mash well ( I like it chunky)

15.   Add the seasoning, butter and oil and mix well.

16.   Keep warm until needed.

I must apologise for the end dish pictures. The problem I find with slow cooked meats is it can be quite a task to make them look super pretty & attractive and plated up in a mega fancy way. This is what it is, which is a modest and delicious home cooked dish - no frills, no beauty contest winner, just seriously good meat.

*** Rest meat for min. 15-20 minutes under some tinfoil before cutting****

Irish Lamb Stew

My Traditional Irish Stew certainly wouldn’t win any beauty competitions, but it’s a delicious flavourful one pot wonder, so I make it time and time again.

When we were young, you were guaranteed Irish Stew for dinner at least once a week (along with bacon & cabbage), though with the introduction of foreign cuisines into our diets we have these traditional Irish meals less frequently now.

There are umpteen recipes out there for Irish stew, but this is a simple stew, leaving the meat on the bone for extra flavour.  Irish stew traditionally is made from lamb or mutton, boiled with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. Though these days you can make any stew with these ingredients or similar and call it Irish Stew. A particular popular Irish Stew is Beef & Guinness, though I think this is more of a casserole. 

Everyone’s interpretation is different and usually it stems from ‘how mammy used to make it’, and I sure as hell amn’t going to knock any! I actually like tasting different variations of Irish Stews, I think the difference might stem from region to region, though that’s just an idle theory, that I have no basis for funnily enough, just a ‘thinking out loud’ ramble!!!! Anyways…..moving on to ‘how my mammy made it’…

In honour of St Patrick’s Day this year, I thought I’d revisit my mom’s recipe for a lamb stew and share it round. (The secret ingredient here is the Worchestshire sauce).

Serves 2

Ingredients

 

·         4 Lamb chops on the bone

·         4 peeled rooster potatoes, quartered

·         3 carrots, peeled and chopped into thirds

·         2 onions, quartered

·         2 bay leaves

·         4 sprigs of thyme

·         500ml of chicken stock

·         7-8 mushrooms, halved

·         3 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce

·         Salt and pepper

Method

1.       Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2.       Get an oven proof casserole dish on a medium heat.

3.       Brown the chops on either side.

4.       Removed from the pan and add the onions, carrots, potatoes, bay leaves, thyme, and mushrooms. Sauté for 3-4 minutes.

5.       Return the chops to the pan and cover with the chicken stock and add salt and pepper. Add the Worcestershire sauce.

6.       Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and place in the oven for 1 ½ - 2 hours. (alternatively, turn the heat on the hob down to the lowest setting and simmer for 1 hour).

7.       Once completely cooled, the stew will keep for up to 2 days when stored correctly, i.e in fridge

My Childhood Irish Shepherd’s Pie

Me and my brother and sister grew up on Shepherd’s Pie, with either my mom or my dad making it for us at least once a week. In recessionary times in the 80s in Ireland we were always having dinners that stretched  that little bit more, embracing leftovers, and having a dish that would keep if my dad came in from work late. Growing up in my house in the 80s,rice and pasta were never heard of, even pizza was exotic to us. Or dinners were always meat, potatoes, and two veg, like all my other friends homes at the time. Coming from a town in Co. Kerry, rice and pasta came later to us than Dublin City and Cork City. We were a real typical Irish family of the time, very traditional.

With all that said, that is not to say we didn’t eat well!!! To the contrary, my mom’s shepherd’s pie is delicious and so tasty,  I’ve failed to taste another as good. And my dad’s Irish stews with lamb cutlets, or the Irish fry up we used to have every Saturday with chips......these are all fond memorable family meals and I still try to re-create them today.

I’ve tried to put a fancy shmacy spin on some of my childhood classics, but for me I thought it was taking away the most important component of the meal. I make these dinner to evoke these wonderful memories of my family table back in the 80s when I was growing up with my brother and sister. Granted half the time I was arguing at the table with either my brother or sister, but I think of those times with a smile, delighted that not much has changed in our house when we go home to visit, though now there’s more of a variety of things to cook and there’s plenty of wine. The only arguing is over who gets to do the cooking (everyone wants to show off their dishes). It’s family times like these that are so important these days, especially as we hit recessionary again. We must be thankful for our families and the time we get to spend together.

Now on with the Shepherd’s Pie.....I’d mortify myself by saying that I’d always been of the opinion that shepherd’s pie was made with minced meat and potato on top cooked in the oven. So for years previously I’d been cooking it with mince beef/steak. It was to my horror that I learned Shepherd’s Pie is only made with LAMB mince. It was like a light bulb going off. I Mean come on, duh!!, the clue is in the name, like!!! What I’d been making for years was in fact Cottage Pie. Morto!!

So today I’m here to set the record straight and, and go back to my roots and questioned my mother on how she used to make it back in the olden days,  and here’s her recipe:

Serves 4

Ingredients

·         1 lb lamb mince

·         1 onion, diced

·         10 mushrooms, sliced

·         3 carrots, parboiled

·         6 large potatoes, peeled and diced

·         200ml of beef stock cube

·         5 splashes of Worchester sauce

·         1 tbsp of tomato puree

·         1 tbsp of tomato ketchup

·         20g of real irish butter

·         3 tbsp of warmed milk

·         Salt and white pepper

To serve: has to be baked beans and Chef brown sauce

Method

1.       Put a pan of potatoes in cold salted water and boil until soft

2.       Put the peeled, diced carrots in another pan and boil for 5 minutes, then drain and set aside.

3.       In a frying pan, fry off the mince then add the diced onion and fry for 3 minutes

4.       Add the tomato puree, ketchup and some stock into the pan and simmer.

5.       Add the mushrooms and carrots and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, adding more stock if necessary.

6.       Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

7.       To get amazing mash potatoes, warm some milk. Drain the potatoes and allow them to stem for a minute or so.

8.       Break the potatoes up with a knife, add the butter, salt and pepper and mash well with a potato masher.

9.       When mashed, add the milk, little at a time (you can always add more, but never take it back).

10.   Set aside and keep warm.

11.   Add frozen peas to the mince mixture and let them thaw for a minute or so.

12.   Add the mince evenly to an ovenproof dish.

13.   Spoon over the mash and if you like make some gashes in the potato for decoration.

14.   Add a further few knobs of butter over the pie to get a golden crust and bake for 20 minutes in the oven.

Everyone has they’re own way of eating shepherds pie, for me only baked beans and brown sauce will do.