Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb with Rosemary

Posted on 22 July 2013 by Linda Peek

I haven’t cooked a shoulder of lamb for some time, but we ordered one recently in a restaurant, to share between four, and it was delicious. When I saw them for only $7.99 a kilo at a local butcher’s this week I bought one.

A roast is perfect to serve in summer or winter because you can adjust the accompaniments to suit the weather. Oven-roasted vegetables served hot in winter or at room temperature in summer. A tabouleh, lentil or couscous salad or my Spinach Salad with Red Dressing are all good side dishes in summer.

As the lamb was roasting delicious smells wafted through the house. Our golden retriever Danske and our son’s chocolate lab Hershey, who was staying with us for the weekend, twitched their noses appreciatively each time they stirred from dozing.

Lamb cooked this way is moist with a delicious lemony-herby flavour. The outsides which have been in contact with the pan are chewy and slightly crispy. Very moreish. I served it with oven-roasted parsnips and carrots, with a drizzle of honey. The dogs had some of the pan juices from the lamb mixed with their biscuits for breakfast, which caused much excitement and tail-wagging.

1 shoulder of lamb, bone-in, weighing 1.8kg to 2kg
¼ cup olive oil
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbs fresh rosemary sprigs
4 cloves garlic, crushed
½ cup dry white wine
½-1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 140°C. Place remaining ingredients except wine in a food processor or mortar and pestle and crush to a paste. Smother the lamb with this paste then place in a deep roasting pan, pour in the wine and cover with foil. Roast for 5-6 hours, or until lamb is very tender and falling off the bone. Ovens vary, so if the meat is ready but not brown enough, remove foil, turn oven up to 200ºC and put the meat back for about half an hour – you want some nice brown crispy bits. Serve with vegetables or salad.

Serves 4-6

Variations: use mint and oregano instead of rosemary.

Oven-roasted parsnips and carrots – peel 4 parsnips and quarter lengthwise. Peel (if necessary) 4-6 carrots and quarter or halve lengthwise depending on size. Place in a roasting pan, in a single layer. Drizzle with a little olive oil and roast for 30-40 minutes at 180°C. If you’re cooking them with the lamb at 140°C they will take longer – between an hour and an hour and a half. Turn and baste from time to time. Season to taste with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little honey.

Roasted Vegies with Hummus

Posted on 19 July 2013 by Linda Peek

My daughter Catherine invented this delicious vegetarian recipe when she only had some beetroot, a leek and an avocado as inspiration. It’s at times like this when some of the best dishes are created. Remember the TV programme Ready, Steady Cook where participating cooks were handed a bag of ingredients and had to whip up a meal with no recipe, or even time to plan?

This recipe is flexible because you can use any vegetables you have on hand. I didn’t have any leeks so used a big onion and instead of potatoes I added carrots. I also used a creamy Danish feta rather than goat’s cheese and pecan nuts instead of walnuts.

Hummus – homemade or bought
1 avocado
3 small beetroot
2 carrots
1 red capsicum (pepper)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 onion or 1 leek, or both
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs coriander leaves
50 goat’s cheese or feta
2-3 Tbs walnut or pecan halves, toasted
Balsamic glaze or a fruity finishing vinegar (I used apricot, Catherine used cherry)

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Cut vegetables into even-sized chunks or sticks, mix with a good slug of olive oil, salt and pepper and spread out in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 30 mins or until tender and starting to brown at the edges, turning them about halfway through. Remove from the oven and let them cool a bit. Spread about 3 Tbs hummus on two large serving plates. Arrange half an avocado, sliced, on each plate on the edge of the humus, as shown in photo. Pile the roasted vegetables on top, then garnish with the coriander, the crumbled cheese and the toasted walnuts or pecans. Drizzle with the vinegar.

Serves 2

Salted Caramel & Macadamia Cheesecake

Posted on 17 July 2013 by Linda Peek

Salted caramel desserts are very “in” at the moment. I first tasted this combination of flavours in Brittany, where you can buy a salted caramel spread in jars to eat on toast like Nutella. The Bretons also use it as one of the many fillings you can choose for crepes sold by street vendors in the region. I know it’s not good to eat too much, but Matthew and our two boys are very keen on anything salty and this includes salted caramel desserts.

Israeli-born chef Yotam Ottolenghi created this delicious caramel and macadamia cheesecake. All I have done is to add salt to the caramel sauce, cut down a bit on the biscuits in the crust and the sugar in the cheesecake filling.

Base:
About 130g plain sweet biscuits (I used 9 Digestives)
40g unsalted butter
Filling:
500g ricotta cheese, at room temperature
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
4 eggs
½ cup sour cream
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod or 2 tsp essence
Topping:
150g macadamia nuts
90g caster sugar
Sauce:
65g unsalted butter
160g caster sugar
100ml cream
½ to 1 tsp salt, to taste

Base: Preheat oven to 140ºC. Lightly grease a 20cm spring-form cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. Whiz biscuits to crumbs in food processor. Melt butter in microwave, add biscuit crumbs and mix. Tip into the cake tin and flatten with the bottom of a glass to create a level base.

Filling: In a bowl with electric beaters or in a food processor, mix all ingredients for filling until smooth. Scrape into cake tin and bake for 50 mins or until set in the middle. Cool then refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight, covered.

Topping: Preheat oven to 140ºC. Spread macadamias over a baking sheet and roast for about 15 mins or until light golden brown. Watch them carefully – mine got a bit too brown as you can see in the photo. Remove and set aside. Place sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently until it turns golden-brown. Do not stir, but you can lift and swirl from time to time. Add nuts and mix gently with a wooden spoon. Pour onto a tray lined with foil or non-stick baking paper and leave to set. Chop roughly with a large knife, leaving some of the nuts halved or whole.

Sauce: Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add sugar and stir constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth, dark caramel. It may split, but that doesn’t matter. Add cream carefully – it will splutter – and stir to combine. Sieve to remove any gritty bits then cool.

To serve: Remove sides and base of cake tin and place cheesecake on a serving plate or board. If you want to present it whole, spoon the sauce in the middle, allowing it to spill over the sides a bit and scatter the nuts over the top. Alternatively arrange slices on individual plates, then decorate with the nuts and spoon over some of the sauce. Keeps for 3 days in the fridge.

Serves 10

Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Caramelised Onions & Apples

Posted on 11 July 2013 by Linda Peek

When we were growing up my sister Dee used to say she couldn’t eat pork which tasted “hairy”. I think I know what she meant. If you’re going to serve pork with the skin it has to be crunchy. There’s nothing attractive about soft pork fat and skin.

Pork belly has become quite trendy in the last few years and there are lots of recipes on Google for different ways to cook it. Some are quite complicated, involving lots of ingredients. This is one of my favourite recipes for pork belly. It combines just two flavours with the pork – onion and apple – plus a few herbs.

1kg boneless pork belly with skin
salt, olive oil and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
2 large onions
2 large green apples
¼ cup water
1 Tbs sugar

If the butcher hasn’t already done so, score pork skin all over in parallel cuts just under a centimeter apart, cutting through the skin only. Preheat oven to 160°C. Peel onions, cut into eighths and place in a roasting pan in the middle, like a nest. Rub pork all over with a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Press herbs into the meat side. Place pork skin side up on the onions and bake for about 2 hrs. During this time do not baste. If after an hour or so you think the onions are starting to burn, take them out and put the pork back. You want them to be caramelised, but not overly so.

Meanwhile peel core and slice apples and place in a saucepan with water and sugar. Simmer for 10-15 mins until cooked. After 2 hrs, remove pork from oven and take it out of the pan. Tip off all the fat which can be kept and used for roasting potatoes. Turn oven up to 200°C. Mix onions with apples and place in the pan as before, like a nest, with pork on top. Bake for 30 mins or until skin is blistered and crunchy all over. Divide apples and onions between six plates. Cut pork into six neat squares or rectangles with a sharp heavy knife and place on top.

Serves 6

Pumpkin Soup with Chorizo

Posted on 8 July 2013 by Linda Peek

This year we successfully grew our own pumpkins for the first time, on our property Woodlands. We only harvested six and the one in the photo is the biggest. Next season we will try to plant them earlier and see if we can do better. The good thing about pumpkins is that they keep for several months without refrigeration, until you cut into them.

2 Tbs olive oil or butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 kg pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or use a cube and water)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup cream or sour cream
2 Tbs pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted in a dry frying pan
1 chorizo, casing removed, finely diced (see variations below)
Extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Heat oil or butter in a large, heavy-based pan and cook onion and garlic, stirring often, until softened. Add pumpkin, carrots, stock, cumin and paprika and simmer for 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Allow to cool a bit then blend soup in a blender until smooth. Soup can be stored in the fridge at this stage for up to 3 days, covered.

Fry chorizo in a frying pan without oil for 3-4 mins, stirring, until browned. Reheat soup with cream and season to taste. If it’s a bit too thick add some milk. Serve soup garnished with pumpkin seeds, chorizo and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve with fresh bread or toast.

Variations: instead of chorizo use pepperoni or bacon. If you don’t have smoked paprika use ordinary.

Serves 4

Satay Beef in Lettuce Cups

Posted on 1 July 2013 by Linda Peek

This quick mid-week dinner will be popular with all the family. If you have young kids who don’t like things too spicy just leave out the chilli. If you don’t put too much filling on the lettuce you can roll them into parcels to eat with your fingers. Otherwise eat with a knife and fork. Serve the filling in wraps or pitta breads instead of lettuce leaves to make them more filling for growing kids. I like mine drizzled with Thai sweet Chilli sauce, as you can see in the photo.

1 Tbs oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
500g lean beef mince
½ cup satay sauce (see note below)
1/3 cup beef stock
1 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs sherry
1 Tbs grated ginger
1 tsp sugar
1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
½ cup chopped fresh coriander and extra to garnish
1 butter lettuce, washed and dried, leaves left whole
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and chopped
¼ cup roasted peanuts, chopped

Heat oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and beef and cook, stirring, for 6 minutes or until onion is soft and meat has browned all over. Add satay sauce, stock, soy sauce, sherry, ginger, sugar and chilli and continue to cook for a minute or two until the liquid has almost gone. Add coriander. Season to taste – you probably won’t need any salt. Serve beef in lettuce cups garnished with cucumber, peanuts and extra coriander.

Serves 4

Note: I used Ayam brand Satay sauce but if you don’t have any substitute crunchy peanut butter – not quite the same, but it will do.

Joan’s Apple Crumble

Posted on 24 June 2013 by Linda Peek

We all know that children need good role models. But do we ever stop growing up? I think adults also need older friends to look up to and think “That’s how I want to be when I’m that age”. Such friends are a rare commodity and to be treasured.

When I married and moved to Canberra I left my friends and family in Europe. Fortunately a lovely lady called Joan Tyrrel, thirty years my senior, took me under her wing. She became my surrogate mother, friend and confidante.

As our family grew Joan and her husband John became an extra set of grandparents for our kids and godparents to our daughter. John had taught Matthew English at Canberra Grammar School where he was also the Chaplin for many years. The Tyrrels had three married children of their own and grandchildren. But they had enough love to go around and we were the fortunate beneficiaries.

When I rang and asked if it was okay to call in for coffee or lunch Joan never said sorry I’m busy, or it’s not convenient. She led a very full life – one of the secrets to longevity – but she always had time for me. Our shared love of cooking meant we often talked about food and swapped recipes, home grown vegetables, jars of home-made jam and chutney. People of all ages enjoyed Joan’s company because she was interested in what they were doing. With such a positive and vibrant personality, she never seemed old. I remember once asking John how he was. “I’m very well thank you” he replied, “Joan says I’m not allowed to say anything else”. We all laughed, but it was so like her.

Having grown up during the War Joan hated waste. When she switched on her dishwasher there wasn’t room for another spoon or fork. And she always cut the Finish tablets in half, swearing that half did just as good a job as a whole one.

Joan died in February 2011 aged 88, after a short battle with cancer and John followed about a year later of old age and because he was completely lost without Joan. They were very much a team and I miss them both, but mostly I miss my special friend and mentor. Her last words to me were “We had such fun together, didn’t we?”

Joan’s recipe for a quick and delicious apple crumble is different because she always left the skin on the apples and melted the butter for the topping.

5 apples
1-2 Tbs sugar, to taste (Joan always used raw sugar)
Topping:
125g butter
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup plain flour

Preheat oven to 180°C. Core and slice apples and arrange in a buttered pie dish or in 6 individual ramekins. Sprinkle with sugar.

Melt butter, add sugar and cinnamon. Lastly add flour and crumble between fingers. Sprinkle over the apples, then bake at for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve with cream or vanilla ice cream.

Once cooked the individual apple crumbles will keep in the fridge for 5-6 days, covered. Just zap in the microwave for a minute, top with some ice cream and serve for an instant mid-week dessert.

Serves 6

Beef Massaman Curry in a Slow Cooker

Posted on 20 June 2013 by Linda Peek

Of all the posts on Café Cat, the most popular to date is the Beef Korma cooked in a Slow Cooker. When people search on Google for a beef curry cooked this way, my recipe comes up first.

A slow cooker is the perfect way to cook a curry or a stew. As the meat cooks slowly the liquid doesn’t evaporate the way it does in the oven, so it’s best to add about a quarter or half the amount you would normally use. You can always add more later if necessary.

I’ve adapted this Thai Massaman Beef Curry by Bill Granger for the Slow Cooker. It’s nice and spicy, without being overly hot. If you’re going to serve it with rice, we didn’t think the potatoes were really necessary, so leave them out if you prefer.

1 tsp crushed dried chilli
1 Tbs finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp cumin seeds
Seeds removed from 5 cardamom pods
1 red onion, cut in half
6 cloves garlic
1 stalk lemongrass (white part only)
2 Tbs coriander roots
1 Tbs Tamarind paste
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1.2kg stewing beef (blade, shin, chuck) cut into 3-4cm pieces
400ml can coconut milk
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs fish sauce
¼ cup water
400g small potatoes, scrubbed and halved (optional)
To serve:
1 Tbs lime or lemon juice
Fresh coriander sprigs
2 Tbs roasted peanuts, chopped
Steamed rice

In a mortar and pestle pound the chilli, ginger, cumin, cardamom and 1 tsp salt until finely ground. In a food processor whiz the red onion, garlic, lemongrass, coriander root, tamarind paste and 1 Tbs of the oil, until finely chopped, then mix in the chilli-spice mix.

Heat remaining 1 Tbs oil in a large frying pan and brown the meat in 2 or 3 batches, for about 2 minutes each side, then place in slow cooker. Add the curry paste to the frying pan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Add to slow cooker with the coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce, potatoes (if using) and water. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until beef is tender. Stir every couple of hours, adding a little more water if necessary.

To serve: Add lime or lemon juice, check seasoning and serve garnished with the coriander and peanuts, with steamed rice on the side.

Note: If preferred curry can be cooked in a heavy casserole with a lid in the oven where it will take about 3 hours at 160°C. In this case increase the water to ¾ cup and add the potatoes, uncooked, about halfway through cooking time. For low-carb version omit the potatoes.

Serves 4-6

Moroccan Lamb

Posted on 17 June 2013 by Linda Peek

I started making this Moroccan lamb when we were living in Paris. I served it when my Dad came over from the UK with the rest of my family to celebrate his 80th birthday in 2000. The recipe has evolved over the years and become a family favourite. Our eldest son James makes it so regularly it has become his signature dish.

1 leg or shoulder of lamb, trimmed of excess fat
1/3 cup lemon or lime juice
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tsp sambal ulek (harissa or chilli paste)
1-2 large cloves garlic crushed
1 Tbs fish sauce
Moroccan vegetables:
Oven roasted vegetables
1 can chick peas, drained
1-2 tsp cumin, to taste
Mint Yoghurt:
1 cup thick Greek yoghurt
½ cup chopped fresh mint
1 clove garlic, crushed
pinch salt
1/2 tsp honey

Place lamb in a roasting pan. Combine remaining ingredients and spread over both sides of lamb. Cover and leave to marinate for several hours or overnight in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Remove lamb from fridge and allow to come to room temperature, then add 2 cups water. Bake lamb, covered tightly with aluminium foil, for 3 hours, turning and basting every hour or so. Increase temperature to 180°C, remove foil and cook for another 30-40 mins. If all the liquid has evaporated, add it bit more water. Meat should be very tender and almost falling off the bone. Slice and serve on a bed of Moroccan vegetables, garnished with a dollop of Mint Yoghurt.

Moroccan vegetables: Click on the link to find the recipe for oven roasted vegetables. Mix in the chick peas and cumin about 10-15 minutes before the vegetables are ready. As the lamb and veggies need different oven temperatures you may prefer to make the roast vegetables earlier in the day, mix in the chick peas and cumin and leave the baking tray aside. Then to serve, if they have got cold, put the tray into the oven for the last 20-30 minutes of cooking time of the lamb, then they will both be ready at the same time.

Mint Yoghurt: mix yoghurt with remaining ingredients and refrigerate until serving time.

Serves 6-8

Quick Banana and Oat Bread

Posted on 13 June 2013 by Linda Peek

Matthew’s not mad about bananas or coconut, so I usually avoid using them in cakes. Sometimes I sneak them in and hope he won’t notice.

This recipe only uses one banana, so the flavour isn’t overpowering. It’s delicious served fresh on the day it’s made. Or you can keep it in the fridge, well-wrapped, for up to a week and serve it toasted.

As it doesn’t contain any fat this banana bread is quite healthy, eaten on its own. But of course it’s even nicer with things on top! Serve it toasted for breakfast, topped with butter and jam; with a sliced banana, ricotta cheese and a drizzle of honey or with home made strawberry jam and ricotta as shown in the photo. I like to freeze the individual slices wrapped in plastic wrap so they can then be toasted from frozen and are ready in a jiffy.

1 ripe banana
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (see note below)
2½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
½ cup oats
½ cup desiccated coconut
¼ to ½ cup honey, to taste
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup sunflower kernels (shelled sunflower seeds)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a large loaf tin and line the bottom with baking paper. Place banana in food processor and process till smooth. Add remaining ingredients except sunflower kernels and process just enough to mix. Add sunflower kernels, tip into prepared loaf tin and smooth the top. Sprinkle with a few more oats, press them in, then bake for an hour, or until well-risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Can take up to an hour and a quarter, depending on your oven. Cool and serve fresh or toasted. Can be frozen.

Makes one loaf

Note: if you don’t have buttermilk substitute half milk and half plain yoghurt. If you don’t have any sunflower kernels, double the oats or the coconut.