Hogget & Mint Pasties

I first tasted hogget back in February at River Cottage when it was served as part of the Valentines Feast. It's such a delicious meat, stronger tasting than lamb, but not as gristly as mutton. To explain: lamb is a sheep from birth to 1 year, hogget is from 1-2 years and Mutton is from 2 years or older.

I've been trying to get hold of hogget ever since and a smallholding friend came to the rescue. So with half a hogget in the freezer we've begun to work our way slowly through it.

One of the best way we've found for cooking lamb/hogget is to slow roast it so the meat is full of taste and falls apart. By doing this you don't have to worry about the fattiness you sometimes get with lamb as it just renders off. Dinner Diary's Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb recipe is divine, so easy and also works perfectly with hogget.

With leftovers from Sunday's slow roasted shoulder of hogget I decided to have a go at making Hogget & Mint Pasties. Now this is why I love roast dinners as it makes the next few days of meals easy. I made 4 pasties with this recipe. I could have frozen 2 of the pasties in their uncooked state, but Hubby requested if we could have them for Lunch today. They worked far better than I expected and will certainly be making them again even if they are a tad rustic looking. I think they would also work really well as mini pasties. Hubby helped quite a bit with the prep for these (spot the perfectly diced veg that could not have been done by me!) as I managed to slice my finger quite spectacularly a few days ago while making my lunch. Who knew a bread knife could hurt so much and cause the amount of blood it did. I've been banned from going near the Microplane, I'm too much of a risk.



This recipe is partially inspired by a recipe I had cut out of the newspaper and I imagine would work with a multitude of different meats and Sunday leftovers. The surprising ingredient in the pasties is a small amount of ketchup. This helps to thicken and sweeten the gravy. There is also a bit of a debate as to what type of pastry a pastie should be made with. I prefer puff pastry so have made it with that.

Hogget & Mint Pasties
Makes 4 large pasties

250g potato, 1cm cubes
1 carrot, 1cm cubes
6 shallots, finely sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
leftover roasted hogget, shredded (I used about 200g)
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
250ml lamb stock
seasoning
500g block of ready made puff pasty
1 egg, beaten

1) In a saute pan gently fry the potato, carrot and shallots in the olive oil until softened.

2) Stir in the mint, hogget, ketchup and stock then simmer until the sauce has thickened and you are left with only a small amount of liquid. If the sauce is too thin it'll make the pasties soggy. Put the filling to one side while you sort out the pastry.

3) Preheat the oven to 200oc. Roll out the pastry until it is 3mm - 5mm thick square. You can either cut around something like a plate or do what I did: Cut the pastry into quarters and freehand a kind of circle (or a rounded squircle if you want to be technical) in each quarter, by doing this I waste less pastry.

4) Brush the edges of the pastry circle with beaten egg then place 1/4 of the filling in the middle of the pastry. Bring up the edges and pinch them to make a pastie shape. Place on a lined baking tray and brush with beaten egg. Put 2 small cuts on each side of the pastry to help stop it going soggy. Bake for 20 min until the pastry is crisp and golden. Best served hot.

Alright mate, 'av some Scouse

Abel & Cole recently contacted me asking if I would like to try one of their mixed fruit & veg boxes. Over the years we've had veg boxes off various people so I was interested to give Abel & Cole a try. The box contained potatoes, carrots, leeks, onions, mushrooms, salad tomatoes, savoy style cabbage, apples, clementines, mangoes, bananas. Most of the veg was turned into Ham & Leek pie and a lasagna leaving me with some potatoes, carrots and onions. It was then I decided to make Scouse. Incidentally they are the first company I've come across who deliver my favourite beer!

Scouse is a dish, originating from Liverpool, that I've been meaning to make for a while and it seemed like a perfect dish to not only use up the veg but to also christen by my Le Creuset dish. My teenage years were spent growing up a stone throw for Liverpool and quite regularly picked up portions of Scouse from the local bakery for lunch. Although the dish had begun to die out over the last few years, I noticed on my last visit to Liverpool it is appearing on menus again. It is this dish that Liverpudlians (aka Scousers) are thought to be named after.

There is different variants of the dish depending on where you are and who you speak to. Scouse is a lamb/mutton stew from Liverpool and was originally brought to Liverpool by North European sailors who called it Labskause. It's what we would now call a peasant dish using cheap cuts of meat and basic veg. Blind Scouse is the same dish, but without the meat and Lob Scouse (or Lob Skows) is more from North Wales and uses beef rather than lamb or mutton. It's by no way a posh looking dish, but it certainly fills you up. Traditionally you eat it with pickled red cabbage, which gives the dish some bite and tartness.

This is also an exercise to prove to Hubby that Liverpool does have a famous dish, which at the moment he refuses to believe. I can see his point as I don't think I can name a single other famous dish from Liverpool, unless and chip butty counts! He wants to call it a hotpot, but I tried to explain calling Scouse hotpot is like calling Beef bourguignon a Lancashire Hotpot.

Some searching in the internet came up with a lots of variations on the recipe, some with both lamb & beef, some with herbs, some with fancier veg and one even suggesting adding tomato ketchup. I decided to stick with what I know and have tasted in turn kept it as simple as possible. It was hard trying not to add herbs to the mix! So here to celebrate the fantastic year that was Liverpool's year of culture, I present Scouse...

Scouse
Serves 4-6

2 tbsp vegetable oil
400g lamb shoulder, diced
1 large onion, cut into chunks
500g carrots, sliced,
2kg potatoes, diced
Worcestershire sauce
750ml lamb stock (you could use beef stock)
salt & pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 170oc. In a deep casserole dish heat the oil then brown the lamb. Remove the lamb then fry the onions for a couple of minutes. Return the lamb to the pan then add the carrots and 500g of the potatoes. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce and 500ml of the stock.

2) Place the covered casserole dish in the oven for 2 hours. Stir every hour. Once the 2 hours are over stir in the remaining potatoes. By this point the potatoes that went in at the beginning will have begun to disintegrate and thicken the sauce. Add the remaining stock (if needed) and put back in the oven, covered, for a further 2 hours. Serve hot with picked red cabbage and crusty bread.

Curry Monday - Kheema Aloo

The inspiration for this weeks Curry Monday came from my brother. He had originally asked for me to do a Lamb Methi, but as I didn't have any fenugreek leaves decided to make Kheema Aloo, Kheema meaning spicy minced meat and Aloo, dry curry.

My goodness was this curry hot. I didn't put in as much chilli powder as the recipe suggested, but it was still very very spicy! I ended up stirring some cream into mine in an attempt to cool it down.

Things are a bit manic over the next week so don't expect another update until next Sunday or Monday. A week today Hubby and I celebrate our 1st Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe how fast a year has gone. Coincidentally our wedding photos are featured in the Real Life section of this months edition of Wedding Ideas. As to which couple we are...I'll leave you to guess.

Keema Aloo
Serves 2-3

1 1/2 tsp rapeseed oil
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
250g minced lamb
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder (less if you don't want it spicy)
1 tsp grated ginger
pinch of salt
3 small potatoes cut into small cubes
1/2 can (200g) chopped tomatoes
50ml hot water
2 tbsp fresh coriander

1) Heat the oil then fry cardamom, cinnamon and cloves for 3 mins.

2) Add the lamb along with garam masala, chilli, garlic, ginger and salt. Stir well then cook for 5 min.

3) Stir in potatoes water and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 10-15, until potatoes are cooked.

Lamb, Pistachio & Mint Burgers

Apologies for the lack of updates. What with going back to work after the Easter Holiday I lost my cooking mojo. I cooked a dire cake at the weekend and it knocked my confidence even more...but I'm back!

In this months Delicious magazine there is tonnes of fab sounding recipes...to be honest most of this weeks dinners are based on Delicious recipes. Tonight we tried lamb, pistachio and mint burgers. The only alterations I made was to use couscous instead of bulgur wheat, cook them in the oven and omit the sultanas (don't get me started on fruit in savoury dishes!) The burgers were really, really delicious and we'll be trying them again soon.

Lamb, Pistachio & Mint Burgers
Makes 4 small burgers

30g couscous
300g lamb mince
2 tbsp pistachios, chopped
1 tbsp mint
1 tsp garlic paste

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. Pour boiling water over couscous, until it is just covered, stir. Cover bowl in cling film and leave for 8 min. After 8 min there should be no water left. Fluff couscous up with a fork

2) Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl (I find it easier to use my hands to make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined). Shape into 4 burgers. Cook on a lightly oiled baking tray for 25-30 min.

Lamb Biryani

Ever since seeing the recipe for Lamb Biryani in this months Delicious I couldn't wait to give it a go. I'm a fan of Indian food, but struggle to find recipes that make dishes as good as the local Balti house.

The original recipe is for 6 so I had to tweak it slightly. The recipe also calls for ghee (clarified butter), I didn't really want to buy ghee from the supermarket as I can't see me using the rest of it so I made my own. I also don't own a casserole dish with a lid that is hob safe do had to dramatically alter the times to take this into account (the times here are the times I used).

We had it with naan bread and some riata I made. I was nice and certainly smelt of a biryani, but I felt it needed more of a spicy kick. Next time I'll make a basic vegetable curry to accompany it. It would have looked far more photogenic if I had remembered to buy fresh coriander!

Lamb Biryani
Serves 2 with leftovers

Marinade (prepare the night before)
125ml natural yogurt
400g lamb leg steak, cut into bite sized pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small green chilli, sliced
1 inch ginger, grated
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin

1) Mix all the marinade ingredients together, ensure lamb is thoroughly coated. Cover, chill and marinade overnight.

2) Next day, remove from the fridge and allow to get to room temperature.

Biryani
50ml milk
1/2 tsp saffron
40g ghee (if you are making your own, 50g unsalted butter will make enough ghee for this recipe)
1 large onion, finely sliced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
180g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked for 30 min in cold water
6 cardamom pods
1/2 cinnamon stick

1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Heat milk and stir in saffron, put to one side. Heat all but 1 tbsp of ghee in pan. Gently fry onions for 15 min. Stir in cumin and coriander for the final minute.

2) Boil rice, cardamom and cinnamon in pan of water for 2 min, then drain. Stir in onions.

3) Melt remaining ghee and pour onto the bottom of your casserole dish. Spread a small amount of rice at the bottom of the dish. Pour over with half of the lamb and marinade, top again with half of the rice. Cover with the remaining lamb and finally the last of the rice (think, layering up a lasagna!). Drizzle the saffron milk over the rice.

4) Tightly cover with foil, then place the lid on top. Bake for 45-55 minutes until rice and lamb are tender.

Braised Lamb Shank

In this months Delicious Magazine there is a yummy recipe for braised lamb shank with a lemon, garlic and parsley gremolata. When I noticed the butcher has lamb shanks I knew we had to have it for sunday dinner. The gremolata complemented the lamb perfectly and the lamb literally fell off the bone. Next time I may try swapping the parsley with mint in the gremolata as I love mint with lamb.

I won't talk about the awful jam sponge pudding I made for pud. It was a bit of an experiment that didn't work. We ended up scraping the jam off and just eating that with the custard...which is a very underrated combination...

Shepherd's Pie with Spiced Parsnip Mash

Originally I was going to make moussaka for tea then hubby announced he doesn't like aubergines so I had to have another think about how I was going to use the lamb mince and make it stretch over 2 nights. Some body then suggested shepherd's pie. After having a quick search online I came across this recipe for shepherd's pie with spiced parsnip mash.

Hubby enjoyed it, but I'm not too sure. I think I found the parsnips overpowering. I would rather a load of cheesy mash on top than parsnips.

I have a stat counter on this blog that tells me where visitors come from and what they click on while they are here. The Google keyword hits are the most interesting, "immaculate baking" did make me laugh! Over the last few days I've had quite a few hits from around the world after people putting "custard creams" ?!?

Lamb Burgers

I'm always trying to improve recipes I have and yesterday it was lamb burgers turn. I usually just add a healthy amount of mint to the lamb mince, but this time used a recipe I found on www.nzlambrecipes.info When you read the list of ingredients it does seem odd, but they tasted delicious.

Lamb Burgers
makes 2 large burgers

250g/ 1/2lb minced lamb
1 tsp whole grain mustard
1 1/2 tsp chilli sauce
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp mint
1 small egg, beaten
salt and pepper

1) Mix lamb with mustard, chilli, worcestershire sauce, lemon and mint.

2) Bind with egg and season.

3) Shape and cook. You can fry, grill, BBQ or cook in the oven.