rosemary Archives - Travels for Taste

Roast Lamb Shoulder

January 7, 2016 by manjirichitnis 6 Comments

Happy New year everyone! 2015 has sped past at lightening pace and lots has happened offline and as well as online too.My blog has a new name and a new home and so do we, we finally decided to move ur from our tiny but very pretty flat to a new place with a proper kitchen for a change!Exciting times! I was not blogging as frequently as I would have liked to though but hope to put that behind me and regularly share my food and travel adventures with all of you. Speaking of travel I am happy to report that I started 2015 with a month-long trip to India and visited Chennai and Pondicherry apart from my usual trips to Mumbai and Pune! Very exciting and I have finally managed to write up some posts about Pondicherry – more later! We also did our first ever trip across the pond to the Big Apple and managed to squeeze in four days at Washington D.C too – was so exciting, but the best bit of course was that we spent Thanksgiving with our family and caught up with friends after many years – what a treat! 2015 was kind to me in other ways too, I was invited to many foodie events and met some really cool master chefs, tried exotic food and reviewed many restaurants and bars too – will soon share more as the year unfolds 🙂

On the very first of the New Year I experimented with a cut of lamb that I haven’t before – a large shoulder of lamb that I decided to roast. Here is an easy to follow recipe, the only tough bit – waiting for the meat to cook 😉

I wanted to use a cheaper cut than the usual ones, a lamb shoulder seemed like a good place to start – this joint cost me £7.99 per kilo from my local butcher. For that price this cut gives some much more ‘bang for your buck’

Lamb shoulder is a quite fatty so there is no need to add too much oil, the meat pretty much cooks in its own fat and the port wine I have used adds deep rich flavours to this very succulent cut of meat. A joint of this size also allows for a lot of leftovers and therefore a great way to make a range of other recipes – think stews, casseroles, curries, pulavs, tikkis (a mashed potato fritter stuffed with meat – a great tea time treat) and so many more. Great on the pocket and a great choice for winter recipes.

How to make a great roast lamb shoulder

Am happy that the baster I purchased for my Christmas roast chicken is proving to be very handy. I have to say that am so proud that my Roast Chicken turned out absolutely fab and delicious – it was another experiment and the pork and cranberry stuffing and all the sides were made at home by me with lots of chopping, peeling and cutting help by the OH.

Easy recipe for Roast shoulder of lamb

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Roast Lamb Shoulder

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

2 hours 35 mins

Total time

2 hours 40 mins

Deliciously succulent joint of lamb - cheap and cheerful roast

Author: Manjiri

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

1.5 kg Lamb Shoulder
2 medium sized red onions
15 -18 cloves
6- 8 cloves of garlic
Sea Salt as per taste
a generous glug of ruby port wine - approximately 500 ml or a pint
a handful of fresh rosemary
Oil - 2 - 3 spritzs from a spray bottle

Instructions

Wash the lamb shoulder and place on a tray.
Make cuts on both sides with a knife.
Peel and cut the garlic cloves in half. Stud the joint of lamb with cloves and garlic in the cuts made by the knife.
Sprinkle with sea salt. Tear the rosemary leaves from the stem and sprinkle them on both sides. (lamb and rosemary - a classic combination - just about to be made better with a little twist!)
Peel the onions, half and then roughly chop them.
Place the onion on a roasting tray - I recycled my foil tray used for my making roast potatoes for our Christmas dinner.
Place the seasoned and prepared lamb shoulder on the onion and spritz with oil - I used oil very sparingly and find using oil from a spraying bottle ideal for this recipe.
Then pour a generous glug of ruby port wine onto the lamb - I didn't measure this but added enough to ensure that the meat is totally wet and there is enough to make a gravy - allow for enough so that you can baste the meat at least twice while it is roasting in the oven. Roughly 500ml or one pint should suffice.
Pre-heat the oven to 220° C.
Cover the roasting tray with a foil such that the foil covers the edge of the tray like a proper lid.
Roast in the preheated oven for 2 hours, basting at least twice to allow the meat to cook thoroughly and ensure you get a succulent soft roast that simply falls off the bone.
After 2 hours check the roast and adjust cooking time accordingly - I needed about 40 mins more for a soft roast.

The lamb should now be at the ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ stage – serve with warm bread and steamed veggies on the side – ideally beans, carrots and peas or broccoli. Hubster is not fond of peas but I would be very happy lots of them 😉

Roast shoulder of lamb

The leftovers will get a rub of my home-made hot spice mix that adds a warming touch to my curries and stews – leftover lamb curry – can’t wait to share that recipe – it’s definitely a winter warmer and a firm family favourite.

Happy New Year once again folks and a lot of new and exciting recipe and travel posts coming up! wooooohoooo!

Whole Sea Bass steamed with a Rainbow side salad

May 1, 2015 by manjirichitnis 16 Comments

A delicious and healthy steamed fish recipe perfect for stay in #FishFriday night dinner or a lovely brunch on a lazy afternoon. The accompanying salad is colourful and full of fresh veggies that’s why I choose to call it a Rainbow Salad.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 large sea bass scaled and gutted
1 large lemon
2 sprigs of Rosemary
Thyme
Chives
Garlic sea salt
Red Chilli powder

For the steamed veggies on the side

2 small carrots per person
Handful of green peas person

For the Rainbow Side Salad

Ingredients:

1 fresh pepper (capsicum)
1 small red onion
1/2 a courgette
1 tomato
1 tbsp Red wine Vinegar
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Freshly cracked black pepper
Sea salt
Olive Oil

Method:

To steam the fish

Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C
Wash the fish and place on the foil.
Stuff the lemon wedges inside the fish along with the Chives, rosemary and thyme.
Sprinkle generously with sea salt, red chilli powder and a drizzle of olive oil
Wrap the fish in the foil parcel and cook in the oven until it has cooked through, should take about 20-25 minutes.
Steam the veggies in a steamer.

To make the Rainbow Salad:

Chop all the vegetables into tiny bite sized cubes.
Place chopped veggies in a large bowl and drizzle olive oil and add the red wine vinegar.
Season well with sea salt and add a generous sprinkle of freshly cracked black pepper.
Mix well

To Serve

Plate a portion of the fish and serve the steamed carrots and peas on the side.
Serve a generous helping of the crunchy veggies salad.

Here are some other fabulous recipes to try if you are cooking sea bass:

Baked Sea Bass on a bed of vegetables from Simply Krati
Fennel and Pancetta Baked Sea Bass from Anne’s Kitchen

Smoky and Spicy Lamb Burgers

June 16, 2014 by manjirichitnis 13 Comments

Come Summer and I am one happy bunny,more so because I really miss the omnipresent sunshine from back home in Mumbai city! But the one thing I love the most about the British Summer is the amazing BBQ’s we have ! Last years most fun barbie was at our friends place , we OD’ed on grilled seafood and Pimms – hoping to have a repeat of that this year !

Some friends have a BBQ planned for later this month but I couldn’t wait so got myself some lamb mince and decided to use some fresh mushrooms and add my own twist to the burgers with a bright red smoked sweet red pepper! My trusty old griddle pan at hand , I turned my tiny urban open plan kitchen into a tiny BBQ party venue!

Perfect time to use up some of the wonderful La Chinata smoked paprika powder.

Ingredients:

500 gm Lamb Mince
1 bunch of spring onion
1 big sweet red pepper
250 gm button mushrooms
150 gm cherry tomatoes
3 tsp sweet paprika powder La Chinata
1 tsp red chilli flakes
2 tsp garlic paste
4 tsp coriander powder
a large sprig of fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tbsp chilli oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Flame roast the sweet red pepper on a gas flame, if you’re doing a BBQ ,first rub some oil and garlic paste onto it.
After it has been roasted and cooled down a bit,peel off the skin and chop fine
Chop the mushrooms to tiny bite sized pieces
Finely chop the spring onions and cherry tomatoes
Wash the lamb mince under a running tap by placing it inside a sieve.
Mix the chopped smoked sweet red pepper, mushrooms,spring onions ,cherry tomatoes,rosemary,chilli flakes,sweet smoked paprika powder from La Chinata and coriander powder,paprika and salt.

Knead all the ingredients into the mixture.
Make mini burger patties by taking palm sized portions of this mixture and ty and pat them into roughly round shape.
On a griddle pan add some chilli oil and place a few burgers on it. Cook them for a few minutes on one side and them flip and repeat.
Serve the cooked lamb burgers inside wholegrain soft burger buns generously lined with butter , a thick slice of cheese, pickles,crunchy salad leaves and doused with ketchup. Or if you’d rather not then eat them plain – I did , served with some grilled button mushrooms and tender shoots of asparagus on which I slathered generous amounts of smoked paprika sweet chilli powder mixed with some oil and garlic paste – pure heaven!

The sweet smoked paprika powder gives the lamb burgers a definite sweet hot flavour and the others spices combine well with the vegetables.Its also a great way to get fussy eaters to eat veggies hidden in layers of delicious meat and spices. I would have loved to add some boiled green peas too, they would add more bulk and taste too.