Roast Lamb Fillet with Garlic and Rosemary

First of all, an apology: I forgot to take a picture of the lamb as I brought it out of the oven. It did look good, it looked very good actually. But you will just have to take my word for it. I did remember to take a picture before tucking into my slice, but I realise it isn’t quite the same… So for that I am sorry.

This recipe is so simple though, that pictures aren’t really necessary.

Ask your butcher to bone and roll the lamb; it will be a lot easier to carve this way.

You will need (for 4):

1 lamb fillet (from the leg), rolled and boned, about 1 kg to 1.2 kg is good.
6 cloves garlic
Rosemary
Salt
Pepper

Method:

Preheat your oven to 230C/ fan 210C/ gas 8. Take the lamb out of the fridge to bring to room temperature.

Peel the garlic and cut the cloves in half lengthways. With a sharp knife, make 12 slits all over the joint, and stuff each one with a piece of garlic.

Place in a roasting dish, sprinkle with the rosemary.

Roast for 15 min, then turn the oven down to 200C/ fan 180C/ gas 6, and roast for :
13 min per 500g for rare
18 min per 500g for medium (picture below)
21 min per 500g for well done.

At the end of the cooking time, take the meat out of the oven and rest under a double sheet of foil for 15 min before carving.

Serve with some creamy mash, or with Gratin Dauphinois.

Advertisement

A Chicken Walks Into a Pub… (Chicken Cooked in Lager and a Quick Mustard Sauce)

My husband, Mr Greedy Frog, is a lager snob. He likes premium German lager, and doesn’t care much for most of the run-of-the-mill brands commonly found in shops and pubs.

Now, before you get the wrong idea, I feel the need to tell you that he isn’t a snob about anything else; we are after all talking about a working-class lad from Cumbria, here. But I digress.

Anyway, against his better judgement, and in a laudable but misguided bid to save money, he bought some cheap lager the other week. And he really didn’t like it.

Now, this is where I come in. I have mentioned before that I don’t like waste, so there was no way this lager was ending up down the sink (sorry, sink!). Sadly, I don’t drink lager, I can’t stand the stuff. As a cooking ingredient however, I think it is rather brilliant.

I like to use it in bread, waffle batter, stews, you name it. In this instance, I had a chicken whose initial destiny was to end up roasted. Well, now it was going to drown in lager… (this wasn’t meant to sound sinister).

You will need (for 4):

1 chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
2 heads fresh garlic (optional)
1 litre lager
Salt
Pepper

Method:
In a pan large enough to hold the chicken, heat up the olive oil, then gently fry the chopped vegetables for a couple of minutes.

Season the chicken cavity, and add to the pan with the garlic. Pour the lager on top (make sure it almost covers the chicken, add a bit more if needed).

Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 1 hour, turning the chicken after 30 min.

This is ready when the chicken is cooked through and the cooking liquid has significantly reduced.

The garlic heads will be nice and tender and ready to be spread on some fresh bread.

You can serve this with pilau rice and a quick mustard sauce:

In a small pan, quickly fry a chopped spring onion, add a large ladleful of cooking liquid from the chicken, boil for a minute then add 1 tbsp French mustard and 1 tbsp half-fat crème fraîche. Heat through, add some chopped parsley and take off the heat.