Lamb Shoulder

Easy as anything .. A monkey could do this one.

As always get your Lamb of your craft butcher, its traditional an Easter lunch dish but I think its at its best late summer when the lambs have had time to fatten up. The shoulder is a great roast as its far cheaper than the leg and takes a long time so as long as its prepared properly you cant really overcook it.

My butcher rolls the shoulder up for me but any way it goes in oven is fine.

First step.Leave it out of fridge for a few hours, as you know from my other blogs I try to always cook meat from room temperature its a good habit to get into even with this dish that cooks for a long time at low temperature.

Marinate the shoulder. In the pictures shown I used garlic, salt, mint sauce, English mustard, wholegrain mustard and olive oil give it a good rub and get it into all the nooks of the joint. Do this the night before or when you take it out of fridge in morning.

Get a heavy based frying pan smoking hot and seal all the sides of the joint don't worry if some of the marinade goes black just make sure there is good dark colour all over.

Next step it to prepare your vegetables, for this recipe I use all root veg, butternut squash, carrots, parsnip & swede, cut them all into large chucks. I fry them in the same dirty pan from lamb and add water, about half a pint should do. This veg and water goes into a roasting tray then lamb on top and seal it very tightly with tin foil.

The only thing that can go wrong with this dish is that the water and juices will evaporate in oven so make sure the tinfoil is tight.  

Put it in a hot oven 250oc or as high as it will go then once lamb is in oven turn it down to 140oc for 4 hours. Plenty of time to do whatever you do on Sundays walk the dog, go to the pub, shopping etc

After 4 hours is done drain off the juices for your gravy (ill put up a blog for fresh gravy soon but if you thicken the juice with gravy granules and some water it will be fine)

The vegetables at bottom of tray will taste brilliant you can serve them as is or I like to mash them with potato masher.

The meat will not slice its far to tender at this stage so just pull it off with a thongs, add your rich gravy and serve with roast or mash potatoes..

Easy..............

Making Fresh Pasta...


Ok this might sound like a lot of effort but its a great way to spend time in kitchen, you have complete control on the quality of ingredients and most people will be more than impressed when they see you doing it.




First step is the dough. You need to find and buy type 00 flour and fine semolina. I buy a few kilos at a time so I don't have to go looking in shops. Its not in every supermarket but they can be bought in specialist food shops and deli's. They only other ingredients are eggs I use free range organic ones from my mother in laws hens (thanks Molly!!!) because they are far better than any supermarket ones but any eggs are fine.

To make the dough I try to keep it simple so for every 2 people 150 grams of type 00 flour and 50 grams of fine semolina then bind with 2 eggs... that's all ... no salt nothing. This gives 2 very large portions

you need to bind these together with your hands until all the flour in absorbed then knead for 5-10 minutes the. It will eventually become a ball of smooth dough so don't worry when its lumpy and dry at start it will all be fine after a lot of kneading. Wrap it in fridge in cling film and leave it for at least half an hour but if you can an hour.

I use this time to get a bit of fresh tomato together sauce in a pan than have a coffee.

The next step is to roll out the pasta either with  rolling pin or a pasta machine. I use a machine but don't let that be an excuse just roll it as thin as you can then slice it about quarter of an inch thick to make Tagliatelle. If you have a pasta machine just follow the instructions they cost less than €30 so not that big an investment.

Finally the golden rule for cooking pasta is about a litre of water per every 100 grams of pasta so for 2 people a large pot with 2 and a half litres of water it it on a very high boil. Add a large teaspoon of salt but don't add oil. A lot of recipes dictate adding oil to the water to stop it sticking together but this just makes pasta oily when cooked. The best way to stop pasta clumping is to just stir regularly for first minute of cooking

Boil your pasta for 2 to 5 minutes until its cooked to your liking then strain into the sauce (I always put a few teaspoons of pasta water into the sauce also). Toss it altogether then serve with a generous grating of parmesan.

A fresh made dough will keep for a week so make the dough ahead of time if you wish so that way you can have a restaurant quality pasta dish in minutes when you come in from work...

Stocks!!!

Home made stocks are easy, nutritious, very tasty and the best way to use up you leftover meat and vegetable trimmings.

While I was a commis (apprentice chef) I was working in a high end restaurant in Dublin and we made fresh stocks every day for demi glazes and reductions, all very posh and fancy. The head chef would be very particular about how they are made , the ingredients that went in and how we separated the fat from stock. He had good reason as the stocks had to be clear, shiny and flavourful on the plate.

At home all this goes out the window I have 2 objectives get flavour and use up trimmings to avoid waste. It might seem extra work but its really not. here is the idiots guide to doing it,

Firstly there is no measurements here use as much our as little as you have you need. Any type of bones will do bit I prefer pork, lamb or beef but chicken or turkey is fine.

First roast your vegetables and bones until its a good colour, not just golden but properly dark brown colour. Make sure your bones are cut small enough for the pot your making stock in.You should try to include celery and carrots with the vegetables but always onions any other vegetables is fine. Most chefs wouldn't put swede or squash in but my attitude is if its going to waste chuck it in. When it comes out of oven into a pot it goes into a pot cover with cold water and bring to boil the leave it simmer for at least 2 hours but no more than 4 hours for chicken or turkey stock or no more than 6 hours for anything else.

Keep an eye on it and be careful not to leave it simmer dry.

Strain and leave reach room temperature
then chill in fridge. Once cold scoop the fat off the top and your stock is ready to use in soups , sauces, gravies anything you wish.

If it sounds like to much work just taste it compared to a stock cube.

You will see why its worth the effort

Eat in season!!!

The months leading up to Christmas are my favourite for seasonal produce. From September onwards all the good root veg comes into season. This means less salads and more veggies on the diner plate. Its important to eat in season for a few different reasons the first is the produce is more abundant therefore it costs less. Just as Wexford Queens Potatoes are at their cheapest in July other veggies become cheaper when they are in season. Another reason is that through tens of thousands of years people cultivating crops we associate seasonal foods with dishes we eat at different types of the year for example at this time of year we tend to cook more stews and casseroles with root vegetables, apple pies in late September & pumpkin soup in October.
But the most important reason to buy produce in season is the flavour. If you buying fruit and veg off a local veg shop or farmers market they will only have local grown produce not some tasteless poly tunnel grown vegetables that have travelled halfway around the world just because they look the part or consumer demands means there is a market for them.
The vegetables you buy that are produced locally will taste great but no as good as the ones you grow yourself if you have the time and commitment (which I don't to be honest). 
There are lots of resources to tell you what's good to buy when my favourite is website is bestinseason.ie but my normal way of doing things is to stroll into my local greengrocer and ask him what's good, the dishes I produce at home and menus written by Potbelly are dictated by this.

Try this autumnal recipe out....
2 tblsp olive oil
30 g butter 
1 butternut squash, chopped into half inch chunks
Small bunch fresh rosemary 
1 red onion, sliced
1 stick celery diced
1 small carrot grated
300 g  fresh farfalle pasta
250 g tub ricotta or cream cheese 
50 g freshly grated parmesan

• 
  
• 
  
• Heat up the oven to 200C . Melt the oil and butter in a pan then fry off the squash until golden transfer to roasting dish and roast for 15 mins
• Throw in the rest of the veg and rosemary, salt and pepper then give it another 10 mins in oven stirring every few mins

while this is roasting boil a large pot of salted water put in the pasta for 2 mins only (it will be slightly hard dont worry bout that) Take out the roasting tin then put in the pasta (drained but keep a few tablespoon of cooking water throw that in aswell)

Stir in the cream cheese  mixing well, have a taste and season with a little salt and pepper if needed

sprinkle over the parmesan and back to the oven for 10 more minutes

Serve with garlic bread and / or a green salad.......