Lamb Kofta, Cucumber Salad and Raita.

Ingredients:

Kofta

• Lamb mince
• Fresh coriander
  
• Coriander seeds
• Cumin Seeds
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Salt
• Chillies
  
• Egg yolk
• Yoghurt
• Onion

Salad

• Cucumber
• Coriander leaves
  
• Capsicum
• Red Onion

Raita

• Yoghurt
• Mint
• Cucumber

Method:

1. Mince together all the kofta ingredients in a bowl. Remember when scaling down a recipe to scale all of the ingredients especially the yoghurt, otherwise you get:
   
   
   strange liquid things that don't stay on the skewer as they should (solve this by pan frying them for a little while to form a crust before skewering)
   
   
2. Form sausages of the mush on skewers and char grill for about 8 minutes.
   
3. Meanwhile, finally slice the red onion, capsicum and 1/2 a deseeded cucumber and chuck in a bowl with the coriander leaves.
   
4. Finely chop the mint and mix with 1/2 a grated cucumber (don't peel it!) and yoghurt, to make the raita.
   
5. Plate it up thusly:

Time to cook: 45 minutes (15 minutes less if you don't stuff up)
Cost per serve: $8
Inspiration: A taste weeknight recipe

Herb crusted lamb with sage butter potatoes, corn and chargrilled asparagus

Ingredients

• Lamb racks
• Breadcrumbs
• Parmesan
  
• Mint
• Parsley
• Sage
• Mustard (english)
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Asparagas
• Olive oil
• Clarified butter
  
• Salt
  

Method

Sorry no (relevant) pictures for this bit, I was a little busy taking batteries out of smoke detectors.

1. Heat oven up to about 200 degrees C.
   
2. Slice potatoes up into even thickness slices (about 1cm)
3. Cut the lamb racks up into 3 cutlet portions.
4. Steam the corn
5. Put ghee and chopped sage in pan and when hot pour in the sliced potatoes.
   
6. Oil the asparagus and place on char grill (Do not do what I did and oil the hot chargrill or else step 5 will be (like mine ) remove batteries from smoke detectors.)
7. Seal the lamb racks on all sides
8. Place pan in oven to cook the lamb (about 10 minutes) and then let rest.
   
9. Stick breadcrumbs, herbs, Parmesan in food processor and blitz until green.
   
10. Slop mustard on lamb, then firmly squish on crust.
11. Put back in oven for 5 minutes to crunchy up.
12. Plate up potatoes, corn and asparagas and then slice lamb into cutlets and whack it on too.

Time to cook: About 30 minutes
Cost per serve: $9.00
Inspiration: A Gordon Ramsey recipe Foxtel was using as a promo for the FoodChannel.

Bangers and mash

Bangers, mash and steamed vegetables




Sorry, I completely forgot to take a photo which is probably just as well as I made the bangers and they weren't the prettiest things you have ever seen. Anyone that tells you it's tough to make sausages is lying, it's a snap, all you need is the right skin (I bought my from the butcher, he told me not to ask what they were made from), no soaking, stretching or hassle required. Simply mince up the sausage ingredients and squirt them into the skins. Much yum. Didn't have any butter tonight for the mash and it _really_ shows.

Ingredients

• Lamb sausages
• Mashed potato
• Carrot
• Sugar snap peas
• Baby corn

Lamb sausages

• Lamb shoulder
• Lamb fat
• Sausage skins (no idea what they were)
  
• Rosemary
• Salt
• Pepper

Mashed Potato

• Pontiac potatoes
• Salt
• Milk
• Nutmeg

Time to prepare: 60 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $25
Number of serves: 10 (cooked 4)
Recipe inspiration: Those over priced "gourmet" sausages (70% meat! Hah!) in the supermarket meat locker.

Lamb Racks with Steam Vegetables

Lamb rack with steamed vegetables.












Meals are mostly back to normal after a steady diet of white toast and floppy white protein masquerading as chicken. The rack of lamb was great and a very very simple recipe. Although I did have to bribe/threaten/cajole the three year old into eating it. But he did like chewing on the ribs. It even got the thumbs up from the mother out law.

Ingredients

• Lamb racks
• Garlic
• Dijon mustard
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• Corn
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Beans
• Butter

Time to prepare: 20 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $30
Number of serves: 4
Recipe inspiration: The 18/5/2007 episode of Better Homes and Gardens on tv.

Citrus Lamb Cutlets with Polenta and Mini Veg Salad

Citrus Lamb Cutlets with Polenta and Mini Veg Salad













I'd never made polenta before so I thought I'd give it a go, I really shouldn't have bothered. It wasn't worth the effort, I might have to visit an Italian restaurant to see if The Real Thing(tm) is any better. The lamb was extremely tender and had a nice zang to it, the salad was just like an ordinary salad except cuter.

Ingredients:

• Lamb cutlets
• Citrus marinade
• Salt
• Parmesan polenta
• Mini veg salad

Citrus Marinade

• Lime zest
• Lemon zest
• Orange zest
• Lemon juice
• Lime juice
• Olive oil
• Salt

Parmesan Polenta

• Polenta
• Chicken stock
• Salt
• Butter
• Water
• Parmesan cheese

Mini Veg Salad

• Baby cucumbers
• Red cherry tomatoes
• Yellow cherry tomatoes
• Roast capsicum

Time to prepare: About 45 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $40
Number of serves: 3
Recipe inspiration: A recipe magazine I found in the supermarket

Lamb Rump with Crushed Peas and Bacon

Lamb with Crushed Peas with Bacon.

Idea came from a website, it looks nicer than it tastes. Although eveyone else seemed to slurp it up.

• Lamb rump
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil
• Peas
• Bacon
• Mint
• Butter

Time to prepare: about 20 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $25
Number of serves: 4
Recipe inspiration: Lamb chops with pea puree

Restaurant Meal: The Dava

Baked "American Style" ribs

Holy smokes they didn't mess about, an entree serve was 14 (yep 14) ribs. Very tasty sauce, very mediocre meat. What the heck, yum.

Detectable Ingredients:

• Beef ribs
• BBQ sauce

Open Yiros

Another monster serve, this time char grilled (within an inch of shoe leather) lamb, piles of tomato, onion and lettuce, all mixed up with tzatziki on a pita.


Detectable Ingredients:

• Lamb
• Oregano
• Tomato
• Lettuce
• Pita
• Tzatziki

Time to cook: about 20 minutes (entree was up in 5 minutes, pays to be the first in the restaurant)
Cost of meal: $29.90
Number of serves: 2 (I ate both)

Lamb Pie

Lamb Pie, with Kumato Tomato Salad












Another recipe adapted from Delicious magazine. Eaten with gusto by one and all.


Lamb Pie

• Lamb shank, removed from bone and diced
  
• Lamb shoulder, removed from the bone and diced
• Onion
• Rosemary
• Garlic
  
• Potato
• Peas
• Corn
• Plain flour
  
• Salt
• Water
• Puff pastry (straight from the packet)
  

Kumato Tomato Salad

• Salad leaves
• Cucumber, telegraph
• Kumato tomatoes
• Salt
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil

Time to cook: 120 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $25

Tomato Ricotta Risoni with Lamb Cutlets

Risoni with Tomato, Ricotta and Lamb Cutlets











Fairly yummy, but nothing to write a blog about.

• Risoni
• Lamb Cutlets
  
• Ricotta
• Semi Dried Tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Spinach
• Garlic
• Salt
• Lemon juice
  
• Olive Oil
• Pepper

Time to cook: 15 minutes.