St. Patrick’s Day Special: Irish Shepherd’s Pie (the real one, not the stuff they eat in cottages)

I know I may have used a few atypical ingredients in this, but as far as I’m concerned, the only two things that are mandatory to make a “real” Shepherd’s Pie are potatoes and lamb. While the ground beef version is also very delicious, it’s not considered a “Shepherd’s Pie,” since shepherds raise sheep, not cows.

The real mystery is why the beef version is called “Cottage Pie,” and not “Cowboy Pie,” or “Rancher’s Pie.” When I think about cattle, many things come to mind, but cottages aren’t one of them. Okay, now that we have all those search keywords inserted, we can moooo’ve on.

By the way, I know it’s something of a Food Wishes tradition that I do a cheap, culturally insensitive joke about Irish-Americans drinking too much in our St. Patrick’s Day video, but this year I decided not to do any. In fairness, I know hundreds of Irish people, and several of them have no drinking problem whatsoever, so it just didn’t seem inappropriate.

Anyway, as I say in the video, this would make a lovely alternative to the much more common corned beef and cabbage that you may have been planning for dinner. Also, I really hope you find some nice Irish cheddar. I used one called “Dubliner” by Kerrygold, which can be found in most large grocery stores.

If you’re curious about beverage pairings, may I go out on a limb and suggest a nice Guinness, or other Irish beer…just hold the green food coloring, please. Erin go bragh, and as always, enjoy!

Ingredients:

For lamb mixture:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 diced onion

2 pounds lean ground lamb

1/3 cup flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp minced fresh rosemary

3 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp ketchup

2 1/2 cups water or broth (use more or less to adjust thickness as needed)
12 oz bag frozen peas and carrots, thawed, drained well

For the potato topping:

2 1/2 pound Yukon gold potatoes

1 tbsp butter

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of cayenne

1/4 cup cream cheese

1/4 pound Irish cheddar

1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tbsp milk

Vinishas - Sri Lankan in Lewisham

My friends told me excitedly about a new Sri Lankan place near where I live; their tales of fiery curries and bargain prices meant a trip was scheduled soon after. The restaurant isn't big, with a handful of tables and we were the only customers there for a late lunch. Handed takeaway menus to peruse, the plasticky tablecloth and the radio station playing wasn't exactly a promising start.

Chilli paneer (£4.79) was cloyingly sweet and only with the gentlest of chilli kick. When our lovely waiter later came to take our dishes away and asked if it was ok, we told him how we felt and he took our criticism with enthusiasm. "Next time, we'll make it spicy!".

We fared better with the rest of our meal. Chilli appam (£1.19 each), also called hoppers were pancakes made with ground, soaked rice. This is mixed with coconut milk and water to form a batter, and then left to ferment for a few hours. This resulted in a pancake that was spongy in places and crisp in others, great textural contrasts. The chillis were atomic and my heartbeat rocketed after eating this. My stomach, so laden with cheese and cream and butter of the Christmas just past, was roused from its cosy swathes of fat.

The menu was littered with curry classics but I wanted to try the typical Sri Lankan dishes so instead opted for 'pittu (3 pcs) with mixed vegetable curry' (£4.29). The pittu (below picture, foreground) was 3 pieces of cylindrical ground rice layered with coconut and spices. This was a stodgy cake to be broken off into chunks and dipped in the vegetable curry. The curry was deceptively delicious; when it was first placed down it looked common enough, but on first taste it revealed complex and ferocious spicing. The pittu grew on me. At first I found it a bit bland but soon grew to love it as a coconut-tinged vehicle for the curry.

Mutton Kothu (£5) was on the lunchtime specials blackboard outside. When my friend ordered this he asked for 'proper spicy please, not mild white man stuff', to the amusement of our waiter. The silver dish turned up which contained far more than one would imagine; this fed both of us easily. The menu says you can choose what your Kothu is made up of and in this instance, it was parotta. Parotta is a Tamil Nadu layered flatbread, much like the Northern Indian paratha. Chopped up, the parotta is cooked on a hot griddle with egg, meat and spices and served with what is listed on the menu as bone gravy.

This was fantastically textured, the small pieces of bread feeling a bit like noodle. Everything is chopped up the same size giving a really pleasant mouthful. The pieces of mutton were sparse but tender, and the heat of the spices were a slow burn, gathering momentum as the dish was eaten.

We paid a paltry £8 a head for the above plus service. Although it wasn't a comfortable dining experience - don't sit by the window, unless you like cold gusts of wind freezing your sides - the food more than made up for it. The menu is extensive and I'm looking forward to going back to try the dosai, idiyappam, idly and sambols.

Vinishas

2 Loampit Hill
Lewisham SE13 7SW

Tel: 0208 691 7944

Merguez Sausage & Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash – Let’s Go Edible Bowling

I’ve received a few requests lately for a demo on how to do chili in an edible bread bowl. I’m not sure if these people don’t know it’s simply a round loaf with a hole dug out of it, or if they’re just into watching me teach incredibly obvious things, but that’s one food wish that may not come true. What’s next, watch Chef John make ice?

Anyway, unlike the aforementioned bread bowl, this sausage and rice stuffed acorn squash recipe is an example of an edible vessel that begs for a detailed demonstration. The stuffing is very easy, as is the cooking method, but the acorn squash prep does need to be done carefully and with precision.

As far as the ingredients go, this will work with any sausage, but please keep in mind you’ll want to adjust your seasonings depending on what you choose. I used mint because it pairs very well with the spicy lamb sausage, but basil or parsley may work better with a hot Italian sausage, for example.

This really is a recipe that’s greater than the sum of its parts. I love the way the flavors seep deep into the soft, sweet flesh of the squash. What a great cold weather meal. I hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 Portions:

2 acorn squash, halved, seeded

8 oz spicy lamb sausage, or any raw sausage

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

3 tbsp buttermilk or plain yogurt

1 egg

1 cup cooked rice

1 tbsp plain breadcrumbs

1 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

2 tsp olive oil

*Bake at 350 degrees F., loosely covered for 1 hour, then uncover for 30 minutes or until tender.

Pomegranate Braised Lamb Shoulder – “Seasoned” Perfectly

This pomegranate braised lamb shoulder is about as seasonally appropriate as it gets, and one of the best things I’ve tasted in a long time. Actually, that’s not technically true, since I ate this same dish at the neighborhood restaurant I stole the idea from last week.

The place is called, Bar Bambino, and if you’re ever in San Francisco, you should give it a try. Anyway, I was so impressed by the combination of fall flavors, colors and textures that I decided to replicate it here. I think it’s a gorgeous plate of food, and all modesty aside, it tastes even better than it looks.

As I joke about in the video, braised lamb is pretty tough to screw up. Simply cook it until it’s tender, and if it isn’t quite succulent enough, leave it in a bit longer. That’s the reason that shoulder chops work so well, as they have the right amount of fat and connective tissue for the long, slow braise.

By the way, if you don’t have a large skillet with a lid like I used here, simply transfer everything into a Dutch oven before putting it in the oven. In a pinch, you could even do this in a stockpot, on top of the stove, over very low heat.

Anyway, the timing is perfect for this lovely fall meal, especially with the roasted pumpkin I used to dress up the plate. I will show you that simple procedure in a future video soon. In the meantime, I really hope you give this a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 servings:

3 lbs thick-cut lamb shoulder chops (of course this would work with shanks as well)

salt and pepper to taste

vegetable oil as needed

1 sliced onion

4 cloves sliced garlic

2 cups pomegranate juice

1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp dried rosemary

8 whole mint leaves, plus more to garnish

1/4 tsp hot chili flakes

1 tbsp honey, or to taste

1 tbsp freshly sliced mint leaves

1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp Pomegranate “jewels”

Xinjiang Lamb Skewers

Yes, that's right; I've been skewering again. For what might be one of the last barbecues of the year, I brought along Northern Chinese lamb inspired by Silk Road, one of my favourite restaurants. Their skewers come out threaded on metal rods, each cube of lamb alternated by a chunk of lamb fat to moisten each mouthful and to make your arteries contract with fear. I couldn't find any pure lamb fat for sale so I used shoulder instead. It's quite a fatty cut anyway, so I thought I'd be safe.

After a few hours marinading in a lot of cumin, chilli and other bits and bobs, they were slapped onto a fiercely hot barbecue. I was worried that the lamb would be a bit tough, what with shoulder being traditionally a slow-cooking kind of cut, but my fears were unfounded and each mouthful was a juicy and tender spice bomb. Served with smacked cucumber salad to cool the mouth, I found them borderline too salty, though I am quite sensitive to salt and the rest of the diners thought it fine. In any case I've reduced the salt content to what I used (1 tsp of the white stuff), as you can always add but you can't take away.

Xinjiang Lamb Skewers

650gr lamb shoulder
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
4 fat cloves of garlic
2 inches of ginger
2 tbsp cumin seeds
3 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp chilli bean paste (you can buy this in Chinatown)
4 spring onions
A pinch of salt
Wooden or metal skewers - metal are better as even with ample soaking, the wooden ones still caught fire

Chop your shoulder up into cubes. Toast the cumin seeds and grind to a powder. Do the same with the Sichuan peppercorns, and add this to the lamb along with the salt and the ginger and garlic, minced. Add the chilli bean paste. Cut the spring onions into 1 inch long sections and add to the lamb. Leave this to marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Thread the lamb onto the skewers, alternating with spring onion. Cook over a hot barbecue for a few minutes each side so that they are charred and cooked through but not burnt. Serve with a cooling salad.

Beautiful Breast of Lamb with Honey Parsley Vinegar Sauce - Hey, My Eyes are Up Here!

You know I love lamb, as evidenced by the various chops, shanks, legs, and shoulders I've featured in the past. These are among the most popular meat recipes on the blog, so it seems many share my love. Here we have a brand new cut to celebrate, the lamb breast.

This is not common in your regular supermarkets. There's an inverse relationship between the size of the parking lot, and the chances you'll find breast of lamb in the meat case. However, a visit to a real butcher (look for lots of tats and facial hair) should be rewarded with some slabs of this bony, fatty, but richly flavored meat.

Since I hadn't cooked this in ages, I decided to play it safe, and use a time-tested Mediterranean-inspired spice rub, and it could not have worked more perfectly. The exotic spices made the rich meat seem even more decadent, all of which was nicely balanced by the vinegar sauce's astringency.

A bright green chimichurri sauce on a well-marbled piece of meat is one of the best things ever, and this dish definitely borrows from that playbook. It's not like you'd want to eat a spoon of the condiment right out of the bowl, but slathered over the glistening meat, it's a thing of beauty.

I hope that if you are a fan of lamb, and you haven't tried lamb breast yet, that you give it a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 pieces lamb breast, about 3 1/2 pounds

For the spice rub:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs seasoning (dried rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano blend)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon paprika

For the sauce: (note - this is all "to taste")

1/2 cup packed chopped Italian parsley

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/3 cup white wine vinegar, more as needed

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 or 2 teaspoon honey

juice from 1 lemon

pinch of salt

Roganic

I wasn't going to write about Roganic; every man and their dog has written about it so far so what more can I add to it? But there were some flashes of jaw-dropping brilliance, so here we are. I was lucky enough to be treated to lunch there on a rainy Saturday and upon arrival, the decor was startling; I was expecting a bright, carpeted room, and I got a small room with stark, dark furnishings. Open for only two years, this is Simon Rogan's (of L'Enclume, oop North) London outpost. We kicked off with an apricot vodka drink, expressed from a cream canister that was reviving and sprightly. Fritters adorned with flowers accompanied it. We opted for the 10 course blow-out lunch (there are 6 and 3 courses available) at £80.

The menu was peppered with words I didn't recognise, such as hyssop; a type of herb with a slight minty flavour. Visually a delight, the flavours of the beetroot, broadbean and curd were simple and refreshing.

Scarlet ball turnip was baked in ash and served with a smoked egg yolk. Sunshine-yellow, the smokiness of the yolk could be smelled as soon as the plate arrived. The velvet texture of the yolk married well with strands of crunchy samphire and soft turnip. Our lovely and knowledgeable waiter was only too happy to explain the technicalities of the dish.

Seawater cured Kentish mackerel had a crisp skin, as it should do. Broccoli was dehydrated and pureed; Regent's Park elderflower honey drizzled about the plate seemed strange, but in fact brought it all together nicely.

Shredded ox tongue was served sandwiched between two sourdough crisps, and reminded me rather of a Viajante dish. When eaten with the blobs of cauliflower puree, the combination of lightly pickled vegetables and the ox tongue reminded me of Heinz's sandwich spread. I love that stuff.

Flaked crab was served atop cubes of compressed cucumber and raw cubes of squid. The dark bits are squid ink croutons, allowing some crunch within the slightly slimy soft bites. Mallow cream, another new one on me, sauced the dish nicely. It became evident that Roganic's people are quite the foragers.

Heritage potatoes with onion ash, lovage and wood sorrel was a hefty number. While the potatoes and onion ash were delicious, the heavy tread of the lovage came stomping through it, spreading it's medicinal, acid flavour over everything and lingering on far more than it was welcome.

Roasted brill with chicken salt and clams was the first course to make me go "oooooh!" delightedly. The fish was served with a cracked wheat crust which had been soaked in rich chicken stock and then roasted and the plate delivered an aroma like that of your kitchen on a Sunday when roasting a chicken. Intensely savoury, the fish flaked apart beautifully. Dabs of mushroom puree were insanely rich, but well matched with the fish itself.

Cumbrian hogget with sweetbreads, artichoke and chenopodiums (I know - eh?) was another masterpiece. The nugget of hogget was pink within and the sweet, fluffy sweetbreads were pillow-soft and mellow. Chenopodiums are in fact the leaf on the plate; they taste much like spinach.

With most of the menu done, we were offered cheese; naturally this led to a hot debate on cheese before or after pudding. I won, and we selected a few English cheeses and a stinky Irish from the cheeseboard. Served with excellent crackers and a tart gooseberry and celery relish, these hit the spot nicely.

Our first dessert was strawberry glass with sweet cicely, buttermilk and verbena. This was one of my favourite courses of the meal. The sweet ciceley is the green liquid; slightly aniseed in flavour, it went brilliantly with the macerated strawberries and the strawberry glass. The buttermilk was like a sort of pannacotta, lending creaminess to the plate. Upon enquiring, we were brought a stalk of sweet cicely to satisfy the curiosity.

The highs of the last dish made the crashing low of the next only too evident. Spiced warm brioche with smoked clotted cream, salted almonds an buckthorn curd is apparently a Marmite dish; you either love it or hate it. I hated it. It tasted disturbingly of bacon and though I love the pig, I did not love it in dessert form.

How appropriate, then, that the final offering should boggle my mind so. A Douglas Fir milkshake with flapjack has the rare quality of being able to make me giggle delightedly; it tasted like Christmas! Woody pine flavoured the sweet milk and if I was wanky enough to have closed my eyes while supping on it I'd have imagined myself in a forest.

Teeny tiny fairy cakes topped with a raspberry accompanied coffee, and off we toddled back out into the rain. I felt thoroughly well looked after - at no point did any of the waiting staff or manager seem harried, but they were personable and answered our many questions patiently. I didn't enjoy every course I had, but they were all an education. Though 10 courses seemed a lot, we found portion sizing perfect, and it never became overwhelming. That said, I still fell asleep on the tube.

Roganic

19 Blandford Street
Marylebone
London W1U 3DH

Tel: 0207 4860380

Some Happy Easter Lamb Ideas

I want to wish everyone who celebrates, a Happy Easter tomorrow! No fresh new holiday-appropriate video to post today, but since lamb is such a classic Easter dish, I wanted to share some of my favorite lamb recipes from posts past.

All of these would make for a lovely Easter dinner tomorrow. For dessert I'd go with hollow chocolate rabbits and marshmallow peeps. Enjoy!

Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb

Toasted Sesame and Root Beer Glazed Lamb

Grilled Lamb Chops with Orange and Fresh Mint Sauce

Jinx-Proof Braised Lamb Shanks

Grilled Lamb Steaks with Minted Honey Sherry Vinaigrette

Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve

I can’t believe tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day! Seems like just yesterday I was shoveling snow at my mother's house. Anyway, it's too late to do any new Irish-inspired recipes, so I'll do the next best thing and post links to these three delicious videos (click on the recipe captions, and away you go).

By the way, any Irish drinking jokes you may hear in these clips were only meant to offend my Irish friends and family members, and not the general Irish-American community. Having said that, most of them will be too drunk to care tomorrow, so I guess it really doesn’t matter. Erin go Bragh!

Coconut Milk Red Curry Corned Beef and Cabbage

Hearty Irish Stew

Classic Corned Beef and Cabbage

Lamb Stew with Feather Dumplings

I picked up some really nice lamb shoulder the other day and decided to make a tasty stew with it.



Stews are one of the best things about winter. So comforting and delicious, and so easy to make. You just can't enjoy a stew in the summer time . . . they are too heavy and they heat up the kitchen too much, but in the winter? Bob's your uncle!



It's stew time! Simply browned meat, simmered together in a tasty gravy with some winter vegetables. What could be any better?



Oh . . . mmmm . . . feather dumplings, plopped on top and steamed until they are light and fluffy as . . . well . . . a feather!!



Lamb Stew with Feather Dumplings. Make some today. Your tummy will thank you and so will your family! Exceedingly so!



*Lamb Stew with Feather Dumplings*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Simple goodness. Tender chunks of lamb and vegetables beneath a blanket of feather dumplings.

2 pounds boneless shoulder of lamb, trimmed
and cut into cubes
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS plain flour
500ml of hot lamb stock (2 cups\0
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into slices
2 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 small swede, peeled and cut into cubes
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp summer savoury

For the dumplings:
4.25 ounces of plain flour (1 cup)
3/4 ounce fresh bread crumbs (1/2 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 of a small onion, peeled and minced
2 TBS butter melted
100ml of milk (1/3 cuo)
1 large free range egg
1 TBS finely minced parsley
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Boiled potatoes to serve

Heat a large skillet (with a lid) over medium high heat. Add the oil. Once it is heated add the cubed meat. Brown well on all sides, taking care not to stir it too much. If you stir it too much it will stew instead of browning. Just leave it be and give it a stir ever five minutes or so. This will take about 15 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat. Add the onions and swede. Season with some salt and pepper and add the summer savoury. Pour on the hot stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour. Add the carrot and parsnips. cover again and simmer for an additional 30 minutes. Check for seasoning and adjust as desired.

Make the dumplings as follows:
Whisk the flour, bread crumbs, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk, butter, onion, parsley and pepper. Stir into the dry ingredients all at once and mix to a stiff batter. Drop by heaped spoonfuls onto the top of the bubbling stew. Cover with a lid and cook, undisturbed and without lifting the lid for 20 minutes.

Serve the stew immediately, spooning some of it onto each of six heated plates along with a dumpling and with some boiled potatoes on the side.
Delicious!

Little Lamb Meatballs in a Spicy Eggplant Tomato Sauce – Please Come Out with Your Hands and Forks Up

There's one thing I learned a long time ago; if you add a little cinnamon to a savory recipe, you are allowed to describe it as "exotic." That's just the way it works. And really, who doesn't need a little more "exotic" in their lives?

As far as the easy part, well, that is a more relative term. There are no difficult techniques here, and after cutting up an eggplant and onion, most of your prep is done. The only step that one would describe as "not easy," would be the shaping of all those little meatballs.

Eating little lamb meatballs is fun, but it does take a while to portion them out. Happily, I've included a top-secret restaurant trick for making lots of small meatballs very quickly, by using your hand as a sort of extruding device. Spoiler alert: it's pretty vulgar (but highly efficient).

By the way, this lamb meatballs recipe video was done as part of a special feature my friends over at The Daily Meal are doing. Once a week they have something called "Recipe SWAT Team," where they tackle a new ingredient with one goal in mind: creating easy and delicious dishes.

This week it was "Recipe SWAT Team: Meatballs," and I was asked to throw on my bullet-proof vest, grow a mustache to look more like a cop, and bust through the door both barrels blazing. You can check out the entire feature here, and see some other great meatball recipes.

I hope you give this delicious lamb and eggplant recipe a try soon. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
For the sauce:
1 eggplant, cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup minced onion
red pepper flakes to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup marinara sauce
1½ cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chiffonade
For meatballs:
1 large egg
1½ tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
1½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
4 cloves finely minced garlic
¼ cup finely minced onions
1 pound ground lamb

Lamb Caldero – A Shank that Won't Break the Bank

This lovely Latin lamb shanks recipe is the result of a little experiment I just did with the help of my friends from Imusa. You all know how much I love my Le Creuset Dutch oven, but I realize the high cost puts it over the budgets of most home cooks. So, I was interested to see how this "caldero," which costs under $30 would perform.

The model they sent me looked like a Dutch oven, but was so incredibly light that I really wasn't sure how it would work. I assumed the caldero would be fine for the browning step, and it was. My main concern was would the ultra lightweight lid be heavy enough to keep in enough moisture?

To my surprise it did very well. As you'll see, we only add a cup of broth to braise the lamb, and it didn't even come close to drying out. So, if you are looking for a really light and inexpensive Dutch oven, this one performed well in regards to cooking the food. Of course, I can't give any opinions on the durability, and how this would stand up to normal wear and tear, but you can check online user reviews for those issues.

The recipe itself is very straightforward. You don't often see lamb cooked with these spices, and I'm not sure why, as they really work together wonderfully. The final plate ended up being a sort of North African/Central American fusion thing, with the fragrantly spiced meat and peppers resting on a simple bed of couscous.

Please note: I was using relatively small lamb shanks for this recipe. If you are using larger hind shanks, then you will need a longer braising time, probably 30 minutes more at least. Either way, I hope you give this comforting lamb recipe a try. Enjoy!

Disclosure: Imusa sent the caldero to me free of charge, and also contributed to the production costs of this video recipe. For more information on this product you can contact Imusa directly, or check out the product page here. Thanks!




Ingredients:
4 lamb shanks
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
vegetable oil as needed
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chicken broth, plus more as needed
3-4 large jalapeños, seeded, cut in strips
1 red bell pepper, seeded, cut in strips
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb – You'll Go Nuts for this Beautiful Rack!

The holidays bring us so many joyous things. Sharing time with family, watching your boss do a drunken karaoke version of "It's Raining Men" at the office party, and of course, those special meals. This super easy rack of lamb recipe has special written all over it – well, actually more like has special all pressed into it.

Sure, rack of lamb is a little pricey, but no more so than other special occasion meats like prime rib, beef tenderloin, or goose – and since they're sold completely trimmed, you'll have virtually no waste. Also, if you haven't had lamb in like the last 20 years, you're in for a nice surprise; the meat is lean, tender, and not at all gamey.

The other great thing about today's rack of lamb is it's consistent size. They will have eight rib bones, and run just under 1 1/2 pounds each. The fact that these are all the same weight makes life a lot easier when cooking more than one. Speaking of which, portioning here is very easy; simply allow one rack per two guests.

As far as the crust goes, we've added rich, sweet pistachios to the traditional Dijon mustard crust. This gives the lamb such an interesting flavor and texture. It may be my imagination, but I think there's something about what makes the pistachios green (chlorophyll?), which makes it pair so perfectly with the meat. It also looks pretty damn cool.

I'm a big turkey-for-Thanksgiving guy, but if you're looking for a unique dinner entrée idea for that Christmas or New Years feast, this pistachio crusted rack of lamb would be an excellent choice. Enjoy!




Ingredients for 4 Portions of Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb
2 fully trimmed racks of lamb (just under 1 1/2 pounds each)
1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence, or dried Italian herb blend
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tbsp vegetable oil or olive oil for searing
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
For the crust:
2/3 cup finely chopped roasted pistachios
2 tablespoon plain bread crumbs
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper
*Note: the cooking time given in the video of 25 minutes will work if you are doing one or two, but if you load up the oven for a large group, you'll obviously need to increase the cooking time, as the oven temperature will drop. Use a thermometer to check the internal temperature. Remove at between 125 and 130 degrees F. for a nice pink center.

On the Lamb

Hello there! Just a very quick update from New York. Last night was the big Burger Bash, which was a lot of fun. We got to go because I received two tickets for winning the American Lamb Board's third annual “Get Your Grill On” video competition. Below I've posted the wining recipe in case you missed it. You can read the full, original post here.

Since this is our anniversary weekend, I've been trying to just enjoy myself without worrying about taking pictures of everything and blogging every detail. I think I needed a little break, and thanks to the American Lamb Board and Food Network, I'm certainly getting a great one!

The Winning Lamb Burger Recipe!

Ben Greeno's Supperclub

Deep in the heart of Hackney, Ben Greeno cooks up a storm maybe twice or three times a week at his flat. We navigated the streets of East London, armed with wine. On entry, we were armed with a glass of deliciously fizzy cider and were directed towards a bowl of radishes, a roasted pepper sauce and basil emulsion to dip them in. Guests were confused and bemused by their leafy tops. I munched them up.

I first heard about Ben Greeno cooking at Nuno Mendes' Loft Project. Having had worked at Copenhagen's Noma, he has a great background but the £125 'membership fee' was too prohibitive. Much more wallet friendly was the £35 menu he was serving up.

As we stuffed delicious hunks of bread slathered with nasturtium flavoured butter, we met our fellow guests. Four Singaporeans sitting immediately next to us kept us entertained, and there were many guffaws throughout the night. The first course looked simple enough; carrots. But lurking underneath the carrots were sour cherries that had been steeped in dashi. They were intensely savoury, and I mopped up the umboshi sauce with the carrot. Looks can be deceiving.

Next was one of my favourite courses of the night. Raw slices of mackerel were dotted with a tart berry sauce - jostaberries, not one I've heard of before. Peppery watercress was scattered over the plate, and sweetness came from apples Ben had picked earlier today. A stand-out dish, a perfect balance of a sour, fruity foil to the mackerel's richness.

Slow-cooked egg burst seductively over the plate, saucing the next dish. Pork rillette, wrapped in Brik (a Moroccan, filo-style of pastry) was accompanied by pretty flowers and intensely sweet onions. I would buy a sous vide just to make that gooey, creamy egg.

Lamb belly was paired with roasted parsnips and parsnip puree. The fat! The silky, mouth-coating fat was absolutely incredible, the meat tender as anything.

Blobs of lemon curd, blackcurrants, sweetcorn and rose meringue was intruiging. Sweetcorn is used in some Chinese desserts, but not any I had tried. Their sweetness was key here. Slightly chewy, they provided excellent texture to the smooth curd and the juiciness of the blackcurrants. The rose flavour in the meringue was so very subtle, and I only noticed it when it was pointed out to me. Ginger crumbs finished the dish off nicely, rounding it together with warm spice.

Ben Greeno was an excellent host, sitting down with us to chat after the plates had been cleared away. To my astonishment, soon it was 1am and we were drunk as hell with no signs of our host waning. We even snacked on more pork rillette, bread and pickled walnuts; not that we were left wanting, but given the opportunity I wasn't about to say no - have I ever mentioned my love for all things pickled? It was a week night though and the work dread set in, so cabs were called and we were whisked off into the night, replete.

I suggest you can go while you can; talent and food like this should not be passed up on.

Booking details are on the website below:

http://bengreeno.wordpress.com/