pickled herring & grilled leg of lamb

my luch yesterday, new potatoes, serrano ham, olives, swiss cheese and tomatoes.







certain someone's lunch, similar but with pickled herring, which is supposed to be a delicacy...i have never been able to eat even a tiniest piece of pickled herring, there is something, well, fishy about it. but don't let me stop you from trying it if you ever get a chance...







this is how it's supposed to be at its best, with new potatoes...







another food that i'm not too eager to eat is lamb...we had a leg of lamb in the frrezer and i thiught it was time to cook it. i had decided on grilling it and made a marinade out lemons, fresh oregano, mint, thyme and parsley, garlic, salt and olive oil. put the ingredients into a plastic bag and let marinate over night.







wiped the surface clean before placing on the grill. 10 mins on both sides on a medium flame, then 15 mins on indirect heat.







let it rest for about 5 mins (we were hungry...)







only a minute longer and the meat would have started dry out, how lucky i was! certain someone thought that this was my best lamb ever, and better than anything we had in italy. well, thank you. i can't say it was bad but there is this thing with lamb and me...call it prejudice, call it something else, all i will say is that the marinade was spot on, will have to try it on something else as well.







heated some let-over potatoes on the grill and made a cucumber-avocado salad with lime-dijon -vinaigrette.







his and her drinks. white wine spritzer and tequila with lime, demerera sugar and soda water...

my lamb stew

lamb...hmm, one of my gastronomical challenges as in i usually tell people i don't like lamb. however, we had some in the freezer (very organic, it used mown our neighour's lawn...) and it was time to make us of it.

cabbage is in season so it was a natural accompaniment for the lamb. doesn't look too pretty, but was very tasty!







bought a savoy cabbage thinking it might cook better in the oven. had some carrots and parsnips in the fridge, so threw some in, too. and few onions and couple cloves of garlic, as well.







did some deep digging in the fridge and found these, threw them as they were about to pass their prime.







my original idea was to have the cabbage in rather big chunks, but had to make them smaller in order to fit everything in the pot...







browned the meat on all sides, in butter







and this isn't everything i wanted to fit into the pot!







didn't want to waste this goodness, rinsed it with 1 cup boiling water and poured that into pot (more flavor)







see? i had to use brute force to make the lid fit...







placed the pot into 250C oven with convection on for half an hour, then took the convection off and lowered the temperature to 200C for another hour and a half. 1 tsp of maldon salt in the whole batch, no other spices, so tasty, but then i love the sweetness of root veggies. the lamb was falling off the bone and cabbage had gone all mushy...certain someone and i had very generous portions for dinner and there was leftovers for a couple of lunches for both of us...

lamb & oven veggies

the leg of lamb used to be attached to one of our neighbours' lawnmower, namely a lamb. the neighbours bought 4 lambs last spring to take care of their lawnmowing. late autumn when there wasn't any grass for the lamb to eat...well, the ugly thing happened. you figure out what, or not, if you don't want to.

here's certain someone starting his cooking school by trying to debone the leg of lamb







certain someone did a good job. the dog got his share in form of the bone later on







fresh mint, thyme and rosemary







there was some leftover tapas in garlic oil that i used as base for the marinade. poured all that into a sturdy plastic bag, added the peel and juice of one lemon, 5 smashed gloves of garlic, few sprigs of the above mentioned herbs and a few tbsp of olive oil







placed the meat into the plastic bag and gave, sorry, certain someone gave it a good rub. the meat was then placed into the fridge for approx 5 hrs, overnight would have been optimal







after 5 hrs i took the meat out, removed herb springs and lemon peels and made a rub out of minced thyme, rosemary, mint, parsley, salt, lemon juice and olive oil







did leave the dried tomatoes of the tapas in, added the rub and tied the meat into a tight package and placed it into a oven roasting bag (see, i've now learned something)







the meat took about an hour in 200C, inside temp was 70C. after taking it out of the oven, poured the juices into a saucepan, covered the meat with foil and a kitchen towel. defatted the juices and made a sauce with a slurry (all purpose flour + cold water) and cream







still slightly pink, very tender







as a side dish i roasted these, potatoes, eggplant, carrots, parsnip, sweetpotatoes with minced thyme and rosemary and olive oil







love oven roasted veggies, would have been happy with eating just these







this went nicely with the meat







as did this







my portion plated. still feel a bit qualm about the taste of lamb... will eat it if i cooked it myself but have never ordered it in a restaurant, anywhere. have probably missed quite a number of decent lamb dishes but what do you do...







as usual i had bought a big punch of parsley as it freezes great. took out the top parts, minced them and placed in ice cube tray for easy use later on







tied the sprigs into tight bundles, bagged them individually and placed in freezer. the bundles come in handy when making stocks and stews







ps. this morning we woke up to -22C temp and no cold water... oddly the warm water was running. by the time we were done with breakfast (salmon omelett) the cold water was running again. don't call this place shack for nothing...

happy easter!

got the little cute green bird as a gift, it's from pentik, as are the glass eggs which i got last year. metal eggs are from indiska, also last year.





was supposed to work this easter but my left wrist got sore, well it's been sore since january, anyways, sore enought that i went to the doctor's. got 1 week off, we think it's carpal tunnel and since pain killers are out, i've been treating the wrist with felden, and now the wrist is turning yellow... been also wearing a rehband support wrist band, which is great but limits movement





because of the wrist easter menu wasn't as elaborate as i would have liked it to be. this is what got done with one and a half hands, medley of kitchen machines and very little effort


for starters, hummus and oven baked eggplant and spanish peppers. hummus was easy enough: 1 can of chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, some chili and jeera, salt and black pepper, olive oil into a blender and prrr, there it was. inspiration was from jamie oliver's book the naked chef. eggplant and peppers were done under the broiler in the oven, tossed with olive oil, tiny bit of garlic, salt and pepper, splash of apple sider vinegar. both hummus and eggplant/pepper salads were made the day before, hummus got smoked paprika and eggplant/peppers some parsley as garnishes. most difficult part was peeling the peppers and you all know that ain't hard





now the lamb... hmm, as a rule i don't eat lamb, don't like the taste too much, but my lamb, it turned out ok even for my taste. i ate it, took seconds, but there is a limit of how much lamb i'll eat, not like some other foods (ice cream and chocolate come to mind first!) this leg of lamb (finnish, from roslund) swam overnight in lemon juice, olive oil, mint, garlic (loads of it), thyme and salt. another adaptation from jamie oliver. usually i put meats in a roasting bag to keep the meat juicy. this time i didn't use one and was pleasantly surprised, the meat turned out just perfect. later on, i did realize the real reason why i like the bags, the oven needed a scrub...





the lamb got company from roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips





dessert was a very retro and super easy fruit salad, just open a few cans (pineapple and peach), dice a pear or two, add some orange, grapes and a banana (or any combination of fruits you like or happen to have) and a spoonfull of grandmother mami's secret indredient, brandy. when i was a kid we used to go to my dad's parents for sunday dinners, fruit salad was one of the foods i remember from that time. oh, and mami's pork chops, and stroganoff... just to name a few





later on, this sour lemon cake from the latest issue of donna hay magazine was served with coffee. this must be the easiest cake, just put all ingredients into a bowl, mix, pour into cake tin and bake





this was earlier from the week, salmon soup with a tad of thai. started with fennel, leek, potatoes that were boiled in fish stock. when they were almost done, lemongrass and tom yam pastes were added, heat was turned off, 1" cubes of salmon added to the hot soup. as with any fish, you don't wat to over cook it, the salmon cooked perfect in 10 mins in the hot soup, delish!