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.

Chorizo and potato stewed in verjuice.

Ingredients

• Corn
• Sliced beans (frozen)
• Thyme
• Tarragon
• Coriander
• Onion (grated)
• Chorizo (sliced)
  
• Potatoes (new, sliced)
• Vegetable stock (store bought, but good quality)
• Olive oil
• Butter
  
• Salt
  

Method

1. Sweat onion in olive oil and butter, with a few sprigs of tarragon and thyme
2. Fry chorizo in oily mess until soft
3. Throw in potatoes and deglaze pan with verjuice, then add a splash more (maybe 1/2 cup total)
4. Almost cover potatoes with vege stock and stew until the sauce reduces to a nice consistency, the potatoes are soft and your mouth is watering.
   
5. When just about done pick out the thyme and tarragon and add the chopped coriander.
6. Serve with steamed corn and beans

Time to cook: About 20 minutes
Cost of per serve: $5.50
Inspiration: Last weekends good weekend.

I'm back

It's been a while, but I'm back. General laziness, and lack of time stopped me from taking the photos that the blog revolved around and I figured that why bother posting without 'em. However we just got a new camera (Nikon D40X and compared to my sony cybershot, I may as well have been taking photos before with chalk and a slate).

The garden has gone great guns, and I'm looking forward to harvest time. Anyone know how to tell when to harvest carrots? I guess I can pull a few and see what happens.

Here's the garden as it stand now:


We've also added a tomato patch


Next post has dinner from tonight in it, with a slightly different format.

Takeaway: KFC

Takeway: KFC

Had to grab something on the road today, so KFC chips it was. You don't need any more information than that and I don't need any more shame that this either.

Lack of development: Fajitas again

Lack of development: Fajitas again

Another meal selection by the 3 year old, another meal of fajitas. I threw in some prawns again this time for a bit of variety and it wasn't too bad at all. But really I think I need to declare fajita a "naughty word" in our household.

New Development: Vegie Garden Planted

New development in the food arena in the household. Today we finished planting the first (of the many many planned) bed in our conversion of the back garden to a productive plant only garden. The theory behind this is two-fold. Firstly to get our children interested in where food comes from and hopefully by extension interested in eating it. Secondly to try and do a little towards reducing our foot print on the planet (okay, okay it's a lot cliched but what the heck).

The theory is I'll take a photo every day (well every day it's possible) and document the inputs and the outputs of the garden.

Soil was purchased from Rye Sand and Soil (no website, checkout the whitepages) for $64 for 0.75 of sifted topsoil, 0.5 of mushroom mulch and delivery.

Makings of frame was purchased from Bunnings for about $140, and consists of 6 * 2.4m lengths of redwood, 16 * 100mm galvanised wood screws.

Garden implements: Wheelbarrow $49.95 (bunnings), shovel $20 (bunnings too).

"chemicals" purchased from bunnings: Seasol $12 for 2 litres, Chook poo $12

Seeds and seed potatoes were purchased from bunnings, total cost $22

The seeds planted today: kipfler potatoes , sebago potatoes, brown onions, shallots and carrots.
Running total time invested: 9 hours (6 hours barrowing soil up a 1:8 hill, 1 hour planting, 2 hours making frame)
Running total cost: $319.95
Running total vegetables harvested: nil
Day One Photograph:

Chili on Garlic Toast with Melted Cheese and Cream Fraiche

Chili on Garlic Toast with Melted Cheese and Cream Fraiche











Another reuse of leftovers recipe, this one looks like a white trash meal, but tasted divine. The chili had stewed away nicely in the fridge and had developed a real depth of flavour that it missed the first time. Whacking it on garlic toast and smothering it with cream fraiche and melted cheese meant it was a hit with the 3 year old as well. I noticed that my wife also polished her plate.

Ingredients

• Chili (reheated from the other night)
• Garlic toast
• Cream fraiche
• Grated cheddar cheese.

Garlic toast

• Sourdough bread (from flinders bread)
• Garlic
• Butter
• Parsley

Method
Stick some unpeeled garlic in some foil and whack in the oven until it's soft and squishy. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and mix with some soft butter and minutely chopped parsley (think wet green powder, we want the taste not the texture). Slice bread thickly and smear with garlic goo. Then whack in the oven to crisp up. Whip chili out of fridge container and whack on the stove and stir whilst it heats. When it's hot spoon on top of garlic toast and then top with cream fraiche and grated cheddar, then stick under the grill to melt.

Cost of ingredients: $8 (excluding chili)
Time to prepare: 20 minutes
Number of serves: 3
Recipe inspiration: None.