Marinated rack of lamb

This is so good we had to have it twice in one week. Best with French trimmed racks (very lean lamb) as the lamb racks will not be so fatty. Although it is a bit more expensive, we still found French Trimmed racks in Coles (for Brits this is Tesco/Sainsbury/Booths equivalent)  How big a rack depends on how many cutlets you allow per person.  We have big appetites so go for 4 – you may wish to cater for less.

This recipe is adapted from Otto Lenghi. We do not like too much hot and spicy stuff but we love tasty food so we have omitted a few red chillis and resized the marinade ingredients to just how we like it. We generally eat this with simple boiled potatoes and broccoli. Prepare 24 hours in advance for the marinade to do its stuff.

Foodstuff you will need: 

• Rack of Lamb (French trimmed or with most of fat cut off) 

For Marinade

• Handful of fresh curley or flat parsley (stalks and leaves)
• Handful of fresh mint (stalks and leaves)
• Handful of fresh Coriander (stalks and leaves)
• 6 cloves of garlic – peeled and chopped in ½
• Fresh ginger – (about size of golf ball) – peeled and sliced
• 1 large red chilli (chopped and de seeded)
• 120ml grape seed oil
• 3 tbsp of honey
• 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
• 4 tbsp of water
• 60ml lime juice
• 70ml soy sauce

Equipment:

• Electric blender 
• Sharp knife to cut lamb /+ 1 to cut herbs
• Glass board for chopping
• Glass or china dish to marinate lamb in overnight in fridge
• Glad Wrap/Stretch n Seal to cover lamb (needs to be airtight)
• Griddle pan or BBQ
• Roasting tin 
• Small saucepan – with pouring spout

How to throw it together

• Wash and drain the fresh herbs. Use about half of a bunch from the supermarket for each herb.
• Put all the ingredients for marinade in a food processor and blend until totally mixed together into a paste/thick liquid.
• Cut up rack into 2 or 3 chop pieces and place in glass or china dish (not plastic)
• Pour over marinade (ensure meaty parts of lamb are covered /baste with marinade) 
• Cover with air tight seal and place lamb in fridge overnight/24 hours

Next day

• Heat oven to 200C
• Remove lamb from fridge 
• Heat a griddle pan or BBQ. 
• Remove lamb portions from marinade and place in the griddle pan. 
• Sear lamb on all sides for approx 5 mins in total.
• Place in roasting tin and place in middle of the oven for 15 minutes 
• If you like lamb well done, leave it for longer. This time is for medium/M-rare depending on size of lamb racks

• Remove lamb from oven and cover with tin foil to rest for 5 mins. 
• Heat the marinade in a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes (do not boil it may go very frothy – but will still be ok to eat) 
• Please lamb on warm plates and pour over marinade
• Serve with boiled potatoes and greens on warm plates

Beautiful with Aussie Shiraz or Cabinet Sauvignon.

Egg white frittata

Whenever we cook we always seem to have left over egg whites and cold potatoes. Low fat, high protein but seeming indestructible, egg whites and cooked potatoes can last up to 4 days in the fridge.

This is my own recipe and one that I adapt to whatever is leftover. We like it so much that sometimes we use whole eggs and buy the ingredients especially to make it. I think that the key to getting a tasty frittata is the combination of the garlic, the smokiness of the bacon and the cheese you use.  If you choose mild cheddar instead of Parmesan, the result can be bland. Care is required with addition of salt and you need to keep stirring and keep an eye on all ingredients so they do not burn. Any fresh chopped herbs can be added too,  if you like specific tastes in your food e.g. chives, parsley, thyme, rosemary (add with the tomatoes)

Foodstuff you will need: (for 2 portions)

• Egg whites /eggs or mixture of both (at least 4 per person)
• Cooked potatoes (sliced to the size you like- skin on or off)
• Grape seed or sunflower oil for frying 
• 200g smokey bacon chopped into bite size/bacon bits 
• Garlic cloves chopped (as many as you like)
• Red Onion or a few shallots sliced to the size you like
• 4 large mushrooms sliced (optional)
• 2 chopped tomatoes (optional)
• Mug of frozen peas or handful of spinach
• Handful of grated Parmesan cheese 
• Salt and Pepper

Equipment:

• 2 Heavy based frying pans 
• Fork / wooden spoon
• Large spatula to remove and turn eggs
• Oven or microwave to warm plates

How to throw it together

Divide portions in half. Use 2 frying pans on a medium heat. For each:

Heat oil in the frying pan and sauté the onion

Add the potatoes as the onion starts to cook and brown potatoes on all sides

Add the bacon and sauté until it is cooked to your preference. 

During this stage add the chopped garlic. I add this now so it does not burn 

Once all is almost cooked, add mushrooms and sauté until brown

Add frozen peas for 3-4 minutes until they are soft, then add chopped tomato.

Mix eggs with egg whites or simply pour egg whites into the frying pan

Sprinkle on cheese and add ground pepper & salt to taste (if you want it salty)

Leave the mixture alone to cook for a few minutes

Once it has started to congeal at the edges and in the middle, lift the edges to check the consistency (is it strong enough to be flipped over in half and is the base brown?)

• Turn over half of the frittata and leave it to cook through the middle.

• Serve onto warm plates
• To garnish, make a green salad. If it is not tasty enough for you - you can always cover it with HP or Tomato sauce ☺ and try again next time ...

Eric's Scones

Thanks to Eric Culley of Austwick Hall we have been eating scones since last summer at least once and sometimes twice a week. These are amazing - quick to make, taste fabulous and are quickly wolfed down. Tatty sometimes adds banana or cranberry or even soaks the sultanas in water to make them extra soft. The result is the same: they get eaten hot or cold (without butter, cream or jam) and within 24 hours, they are all gone. Great food for cycling!

Foodstuff you will need: (makes about 12 scones)

• 150g self-raising flour (if you can’t get that use plain flour plus 2 teaspoons of baking powder 
• 50g caster sugar (preferably brown)
• pinch of salt
• 50g unsalted butter
• milk
• 2 (or more) good handfuls of raisins or sultanas

Equipment:

• Large mixing bowl
• 12 cup muffin baking tin 
• Wooden spoon
•  2 teaspoons
• Oven
• Wire rack for cooling scones

How to throw it together

• Mix flour, salt and butter together with hands until it forms “breadcrumbs”
• Stir in sugar and then mingle in by hand raisins or sultanas
• Add enough milk so that mixture holds its shape but is moist
• Place whole lot in fridge for at least 30 mins to rest (just as good if left overnight)
• Heat oven to 170 degrees C
• Use 2 teaspoons to place mixture in muffin/ baking tray (after greasing and flouring the pockets in the tray) 

• Place in oven for 15 to 20 mins. As you close the door on the oven spray tops of scones with fine water mist - this will help the scone tops to turn brown.

Eat hot or cold (if you can wait long enough).

Recipes we love: 2014

Why write this?
We are always trying out new recipes but despite sites such as www.eatyourbooks.com (giving ingredients but not the recipe) we get frustrated by having to carry the recipes around in our heads when we travel.

This is one answer: to store them on a blog to ease the burden on memory, reduce frustration and to enable us to enjoy our favourite things anywhere in the world.

As for our culinary expertise...we are not master chefs and we subscribe to the simple mantra: "we can read therefore we can cook.."

We love culture, travel and multiple forms of exercise, but above all love trying out new recipes and delicious food as much or more :)

We are fed up with instructions missed out of recipes, or not explained properly, but as we are not the experts, please accept our apologies in advance if we miss something in our recipes...

Starting in March 2014, we have decided to record 3-4 recipes per month; a mixture of delicious food inspired by a variety of chefs, with some of our family favourites.

Neeps and Tatties are not on the menu (until we can find a recipe with haggis that we both like)

We thought we would start off with what to do with leftovers e.g. Egg whites and cold potatoes and Chocolate (somehow we always have some of this available to eat ; it just slips into the shopping basket by itself..honest!) plus Eric's scone recipe and a fab rack of lamb recipe from Otto Lenghi.

After that, who knows...

Naughty but scrumptious milk chocolate treats

If you/we do not care too much about counting calories and have any spare chocolate, milk, cream or eggs (possibly leftovers from Xmas or Easter) this is the dessert for you/us.

It is a baked milky chocolate mousse adapted from a Neil Perry dark chocolate recipe; a winner with any child (especially the one within us all) It is rich but not as bad as a dark chocolate mousse that can be too cloying and bitter with more than one teaspoonful. This goes well on its own or with red fruit: raspberries and/or strawberries.

Foodstuff you will need: (8 portions or 4 large ones)

• 220g bar of milk chocolate divided into chunks (Cadbury’s dairy milk works very well)
• 250ml thick cream
• 250ml full fat milk
• 60ml caster sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• Kettle full of boiling water
• A handful of raspberries/strawberries per person

Equipment:

• Heavy based saucepan (that retains its heat once taken off the stove)
• Large mixing bowl
• Heat resistant pouring jug
• 8 ramekins/cups approx 8cm diameter & 4cm deep photo below is 6 + 1 larger size
• Large baking tin to take all the ramekins without touching each other
• Plastic spatula to scrape the bowls/jug/saucepan
• Electric whisk
• Heat resistant sieve
• Plastic waterproof heat resistant oven gloves
• Oven
• Wire rack for cooling ramekins

How to throw it together

• Heat oven to 175C
• Mix milk and cream together and bring to the boil in heavy based saucepan (but do not let it boil over)
• Meanwhile whisk the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla essence together in a large mixing bowl until all dissolved and mixture starts to thicken.

• Remove milk and cream from the heat and add the chocolate chunks into the saucepan, stirring all the time with the spatula until the chocolate is dissolved
• Heat a kettle or prepare boiling water
• Slowly add the chocolate mixture into the egg/sugar/vanilla essence mixture (whisking each time you add a bit more chocolate until all blended together)
• Pour the chocolate mixture through the sieve into the glass jug
• Pour the chocolate mixture from the jug into the ramekins to desired level. 
• Arrange your ramekins in the baking tin. With all the ramekins in the baking tin, pour in the boiling water until ½ way up the side of each ramekin.

• Place on a baking rack in lower half of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. The mixture should start to bubble and move once it is set. If nothing has happened after 30 minutes, leave for another few minutes.
• Remove the baking tin from the oven. Carefully remove each ramekin from the boiling water using the plastic oven gloves and place them on a wire rack to cool down. 

• Once cool, place in fridge overnight to fully set. You can eat these the same day, but it is better to leave overnight.
• Chop up strawberries and/or raspberries as garnish. Suggest eating the desert with a teaspoon. If you really want to be naughty, you can pour on a bit more cream. :)

Yummie!