Roast Lamb with Beans

Lamb is probably my favourite meat, and I come to that conclusion not just because of how tender and delicious it can be in dishes, but because it was the food I missed the most while I was living in Thailand. You basically can’t find lamb anywhere in Thailand except for expatriate pubs, and I definitely didn’t go to Thailand to associate with drunken English ‘farangs’ who had no interest in immersing themselves in Thai culture and customs. So the first thing I always asked for from my mum when I paid visits to Sydney was Roast Lamb. It’s actually quite ironic, given that I used to hate roasts of any kind, finding them bland and boring. Maybe it’s one of those things that grows on you with age, such as wine and staying in rather than getting drunk and enduring a hangover the next day. I was even thinking to myself today how averse I’ve become to the thought of having a hangover – so much so that I really have no desire at all to get drunk at all! I suppose that’s a good thing, isn’t it, but I think it’s a sign that I’m approaching thirty.

Indeed, I would cook lamb frequently if it wasn’t for the outrageously high cost of it. My mum was telling me a few months ago how much lamb used to cost just after her and dad had gotten married, and it amazed me! Roast lamb and the more prime cuts of lamb are becoming luxuries in our day and age. For example, I bought some lamb to cook an African Peanut Stew yesterday, and just pure diced lamb (not specified as shoulder or leg) cost me $25. I’m going to have to stretch that food for a while! This recipe, one of the earlier recipes in my cooking journal, is also a Jamie Oliver recipe (don’t worry – my sources are very diverse), and I decided to cook it because I’ve really come to enjoy leeks and I was intrigued about the combination of the lamb with the bean mixture.

As always, I enjoyed the preparation of this meal just as much, arguably even more, than the meal itself. I just find the process so relaxing, and I sit on a stool in my kitchen preparing the ingredients with a beer and some comedy on in the background – I’ve recently gone through the entire Seinfeld season again just during my cooking. I think the combination of relaxing with the food, the beer and the comedy has an effect on me, because when I looked back over my notes for this recipe, I saw this arbitrary entry that simply went “I wish I was Kramer!” I have absolutely no idea how, at the time, I thought that was somehow connected with the process of cooking this dish. Anyway, one of the techniques that infused the lamb with flavour was to stab it all over and to stuff it with the garlic, thyme and rosemary. It smelled absolutely beautiful. Preparing the bean mixture was also quite enjoyable, and seemed like an example of very rustic French cooking. The direction to blitz half of the bean mixture reminded me how Jamie Oliver loves contrasting textures, such as in his Mushroom Risotto with the contrast between the oozy mushrooms in the risotto and the grilled and crispy mushrooms on top of the risotto. Perhaps the most important thing that I learnt about cooking lamb from this recipe was how to get the meat right. In other words, there are only two ways to cook lamb – relatively quickly, or very slowly. Cooking it quickly results in red and moist meat, while cooking it slowly (my preference) makes it tender and allows it to fall apart. While I was very happy with the result, I think I became stuck in no-man’s land between these two methods of cooking. I was cooking it slowly, but I was becoming so tired and hungry that I decided to cut the cooking short and eat it as is. Nevertheless, the lamb was delicious and the beans gave it that satisfying accompaniment.

Recipe (serves 4):

2kg leg of lamb

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

8 garlic cloves, peeled

Small bunch of fresh thyme

Couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary

3 medium leeks, peeled and sliced diagonally 2cm thick

2 onions, finely sliced

1 bay leaf

2 small bunches of fresh parsley

4 x 400g tins of flageolet (or cannellini) beans

1.5L lamb, chicken or vegetable stock

Preheat the oven to full whack. Stab the lamb all over with a small sharp life, then rub all over with a good pinch of salt and pepper and a lug of olive oil. Slice 4 garlic cloves and poke the slices into the incisions made, along with some small sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Put the tray on the top rack of the oven.

Add the leeks, onions and remaining garlic cloves to another roasting tray with a good lug of olive oil, along with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Place on a medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until the leek and onions have softened.

Add a bouquet garni of the bay leaf, remaining thyme and 1 bunch of parsley and add to the leeks, together with the tinned beans and their juices. Pour in the stock, give a stir and put in the oven.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180 degrees and cook for 1¼ hours. While the meat rests for 15 minutes, place the beans on a high heat and reduce to desired consistency.

Remove the beans from the heat when ready to serve and spoon a third of them into a bowl. Mush them up then stir them back through the rest of the beans to make them creamy. Finely chop the remaining parsley and stir through the beans. Serve the lamb over the beans.

Category: French

Source: “Jamie does...” by Jamie Oliver

Rating: Five stars

Mushroom Risotto

I was going through my plans for a dinner party that I was throwing in a week’s time and thinking about what I would cook. Firstly, I didn’t want to cook an Asian dish as that would probably be expected, given that it’s my favourite cuisine. The other major issue was that my friend’s girlfriend is a vegetarian, so I wanted to cook something that was tasty and satisfying. Not too long before I had cooked a Cauliflower Curry and thought that I could serve that, but I just didn’t think it had the depth of flavour or may not be a sufficient main course. So I decided that a risotto would be appropriate, and this mushroom risotto seemed perfect. The great thing about mushrooms is that they are quite fleshy and meaty and they seem to retain flavour so well as long as you don’t wash them with water and drain away all their flavour.

The first time I ever cooked risotto, years ago obviously, I had no idea that you had to use Arborio rice, so I just picked up a random packet of rice which happened to be basmati rice. As you can imagine, it didn’t exactly turn out the way it should have! Now, I really enjoy cooking risottos, as it’s a balancing act to make sure the rice turns out well. Whereas when you cook paella you pour in all the stock at once, with risotto it’s a very caring form of cooking – constantly paying attention to the condition of the rice and ‘feeding’ it more stock when it gets ‘thirsty’. I got this recipe from Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals, and the thing that I really love about it is that it produces two different textures of mushrooms. Half the mushrooms go in the risotto and so become soft and oozy and the other half are placed in a pan and dressed with oil and herbs and then grilled to produce a crispy texture that produces a nice juxtaposition to the risotto. Because I cooked this recipe twice in one week, I bought so many mushrooms from my local grocer. The second time I was there, she gave me almost a disturbed look and asked me “What do you do with all of these?”, as if I go home and do something inappropriate with mushrooms!

So the evening went well, and this is definitely one of my favourite risotto recipes. It has an earthier flavour than some risottos because of the flavour acquired from the mushrooms, but that adds richness to the risotto. The only thing that produced a bit of consternation was when I was about to add the ‘large knob’ of butter. I’m a generous person, and that’s certainly the case with butter! We had a two minute conversation about what constitutes a ‘large knob’ (double entendre?), and unfortunately I had to tone down and think about everyone’s arteries, but butter and stock are the vital elements in a risotto!Jamie's 30 Minute Meals is a good cookbook, but as with my friend, I actually enjoy the long process of cooking and the preparation of all the ingredients. I know it would be different if I was married and had children, but hey, that’s never going to happen.

Recipe (serves 4):

1 large white onion, finely chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

15g dried porcini mushrooms, finely chopped

300g risotto rice

½ cup white wine

1 chicken/vegetable stock cube

500g mixed mushrooms (chestnut, oyster, shiitake etc)

4 garlic cloves, crushed

Small bunch of fresh thyme

Large knob of butter

40g Parmesan cheese

1 mug boiling water

½ lemon

½ small bunch flat-leaf parsley

Heat a large high-sided saucepan on a medium heat. Add the olive oil, onion, celery, porcini mushrooms and half the garlic, stirring regularly. Turn the grill to high.

Add the rice and rosemary leaves to the pan. Stir well for 1 min, then pour in the white wine and crumble in the stock cube, stirring until the wine is absorbed. Season and add a mug of boiling water. Stir well.

Add half the mushrooms to the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer. Continue to add boiling water or stock every minute or so for about 15-18 minutes.

Add the remaining mushrooms to a frying pan over a high heat, together with extra virgin olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Crush over 4 cloves of garlic. Add half the leaves from the thyme to the pan, stir them in, then take off the heat. Pick the remaining leaves and add to the risotto.

Put the frying pan in the grill on the top shelf. Continue to stir the risotto. Remove the frying pan when mushrooms are gold and crispy.

When the risotto is porridge-like, stir in the butter and finely grate over most of the parmesan. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Add water or stock if needed.

Serve and garnish with the crispy mushrooms, parsley and some grated parmesan.

Cuisine: Italian/Vegetarian

Source: “Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals” by Jamie Oliver

Rating: Five stars