Herb crusted rack of lamb

From Gordon Ramsay’s F Word
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 large racks of Lamb cut in half with 3 bones per serving
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
4 slices of stale bread made into crumbs.
7 Tbs. grated parmesan (roughly ½ a cup)
Sprig parsley
Sprig thyme
Sprig coriander
Sprig rosemary
2 tablespoons English mustard (dijon)
splash of olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place lamb on cutting board fat side up. Lightly score the fat layer with a sharp knife. Next, generously sprinkle the lamb with salt and pepper. Mop up the excess seasoning with the rack of lamb, ensuring it’s thoroughly coated.

Heat some olive oil in an oven safe pan. Seal the lamb by holding each side in the oil long enough to develop color (careful not to burn your hands). 

Transfer the pan with the lamb into the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes. Prepare the crust while the lamb is cooking.

Place all of the ingredients for the crust except the mustard into a blender and pulse several times until it looks nice and green. Make sure you don’t over do it with the olive oil, just a splash.

Pour the mixture into a deep dish (bowl or plate) and set aside.

Remove the lamb from the oven and brush generously with mustard. Dip the lamb into the crust mixture coating it completely. Dip several times to ensure an even coating. Allow meat to rest for a bit.

Place it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes when you’re ready to serve.

Roast leg of lamb with anchovies and rosemary

From Great British Chefs
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb
12 anchovies
12 garlic cloves
12 sprigs of rosemary, small
sea salt
cracked black pepper, smoked
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3

To prepare the lamb, cut 36 small holes into the upper, fleshy part of the leg. Push the garlic cloves, rosemary sprigs and anchovies into the holes, equally distributing the ingredients across the meat

Lay the leg onto a roasting tray and sprinkle over some sea salt and smoked pepper.

Drizzle with olive oil and rub lightly into the flesh

Roast for 60 minutes, or until the lamb reaches a core temperature of 58°C.

Allow to rest in a warm place for 15-20 minutes before carving and serving

Potted ham

Bbc Good Food
Serves 4

Ingredients

250g pack unsalted butter
500g cooked ham
bunch curly parsley
,leaves picked and finely chopped
small pinch ground cloves
pinch yellow mustard seeds
1 tbsp cider vinegar
rustic country bread toast, cornichons, chutney or red onion marmalade to serve

Gently melt the butter in a small pan and leave it to settle. Slowly pour the clear yellow fat from the melted butter into a small bowl or jug, leaving the milky liquid in the pan. Discard the milky bit. Pull apart and shred the ham as finely as possible into stringy strips – use a knife to help if you need to.

Mix the ham with the parsley, spices, vinegar, two-thirds of the butter and a little crunchy sea salt. Divide between 8 small ramekins or pots. Press down and flatten the surface with your fingers, then spoon or pour over the remaining butter. Chill until butter is solid, then wrap in cling film. Will freeze for up to 3 months.

To serve, defrost the pots overnight in the fridge if frozen. Serve with toast, cornichons and chutney, or dip pots briefly in a bowl of hot water and turn the potted ham out onto plates first.

Roast leg of lamb with shrewsbury sauce

Delia’s Complete How to Cook
Serves 6 – 8

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb, weighing 5 lb (2.25 kg)
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
a few sprigs fresh rosemary, to garnish
salt and freshly milled black pepper
For the Shrewsbury sauce:
2 level tablespoons plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon mustard powder
1 pint (570 ml) Beaujolais or other light red wine
5 rounded tablespoons good-quality redcurrant jelly, such as Tiptree
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
juice 1 lemon
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C).

First of all, place the meat in the roasting tin, tucking the slices of onion beneath it.

Season the surface with salt and freshly milled black pepper, then place it, uncovered, in the pre-heated oven on the middle shelf. Roast for 30 minutes per lb (450 g) – for a 5lb (2.25 kg) leg this will be 2½ hours. Make sure that you baste the lamb at least 3 times while it is cooking, as this will help keep it juicy and succulent.

If you like to serve your lamb quite pink, give it 30 minutes less cooking time. To tell if the lamb is cooked to your liking, insert a skewer into the centre, remove it, then press the flat of the skewer against the meat: as the juice runs out, you will see to what degree the meat is cooked – the pinker the juice, the rarer the meat.

When it is cooked as you like it, remove it to a carving board and keep it in a warm place to rest for 30 minutes. Now, to make the sauce, spoon off any surplus fat from the roasting tin, tipping it to one side and allowing the fat to separate from the juices; you need to leave about 2 tablespoons of fat behind.

Now place the tin over a direct heat turned to low and stir in the flour and mustard powder until you have a smooth paste that has soaked up all the fat and juices. Next, add the wine, a little at a time, mixing with a wooden spoon after each addition. Halfway through, switch from the spoon to a whisk and continue to whisk until all the wine has been incorporated.

Now simply add the redcurrant jelly, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and seasoning, then whisk again until the jelly has dissolved. Now turn the heat to its lowest setting and let the sauce gently bubble and reduce for about 15 minutes, then pour it into a warm serving jug. Carve the lamb, garnish with the rosemary, pour a little of the sauce over and hand the rest round separately.

Slow-roasted pork belly with fennel

Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course
Serves 4

Ingredients

1kg pork belly
Sea salt and black pepper
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and roughly sliced
4 fresh bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed
1 tsp cardamom pods, bashed
4 star anise
1 tbsp fennel seeds
Olive oil
325ml white wine
500–750ml chicken stock (depending on the size of your pan)
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.

Score the pork belly skin diagonally in a diamond pattern at 1½ cm intervals. Season generously with salt and pepper, rubbing it well into the skin.

Put the fennel, bay leaves, garlic, cardamom, star anise and half the fennel seeds into a hot roasting tray on the hob with a little oil and heat for about 2 minutes until aromatic.

Push to the side of the tray, then add the pork, skin side down, and cook for at least 5 minutes until turning golden brown.

Turn the pork over, season the skin again with salt and sprinkle with the remaining fennel seeds. Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits from the bottom (be careful not to get the skin of the pork wet). Bring to the boil, then pour in enough stock to come up to the layer of fat just below the skin and allow to boil again.

Transfer the tray to the preheated oven and cook for 2½ hours.

Transfer the meat to a warm plate and set aside to rest. Meanwhile, spoon off any excess fat in the roasting tray or drag a slice of bread along the surface of the cooking juices to absorb it. Heat the tray on the hob, adding the mustard. Mix in with a whisk, then taste and adjust the flavours as necessary. Remove the star anise and cardamom pods and pour the sauce into a jug. Serve the rested pork with the sauce alongside.

Roast chicken with chickpeas stuffing

From Gordon Ramsay Ultimate Home Cooking
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 large free-range corn-fed chicken (about 2kg/41⁄2 lb), giblets removed
small bunch of tarragon, leaves roughly chopped
200g (7oz) butter, at room temperature
3 heads of garlic, halved horizontally
olive oil, for drizzling
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE STUFFING
1 x 400g tin cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 red chillies, sliced
1 lemon, zested
3 thyme sprigs, leaves only
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Season the inside of the chicken. Place the tarragon and butter in a bowl and beat until combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Loosen the skin over both chicken breasts by gently pushing your fingers underneath it. Now push the tarragon butter under the
loosened skin so that it covers the whole crown.

To make the stuffing, put the chickpeas into a bowl, season and add the chillies, lemon zest, thyme leaves and a dash of olive oil. Mix well. Spoon the chickpea mixture inside the chicken cavity and place the whole lemon at the entrance.

Place the garlic heads, cut side down, in a roasting tin. Put the chicken on top and drizzle with olive oil. Season the outside of the chicken with salt and pepper and roast for 10–15 minutes, until turning golden and beginning to crisp up. Reduce the heat to 180C/Gas 4 and continue roasting for 11⁄4–11⁄2 hours, until cooked through and golden all over.

Extract the lemon from the cavity of the bird and spoon the stuffing into a large bowl. Place the chicken on a warm platter, cover loosely with foil and set aside to rest for 10–15 minutes.

Spoon the garlic out of the pan and squeeze the pulp into a sieve placed over the bowl of stuffing. Slice the roasted lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the garlic. Push the garlic and juice through the sieve with the back of a spoon. Mash the entire contents of the bowl with a potato masher, then add 1 tablespoon of the dressing. Mix well, then transfer to a serving bowl and
drizzle with a little extra olive oil.

Thanks Martha for the cookbook!

Roast beef

From Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food
Serves 4

Ingredients
1.5 kg quality topside of beef
2 medium onions
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 bulb garlic
1 small bunch fresh thyme, rosemary, bay or sage, or a mixture
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

To prepare your beef:
Take your beef out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. Preheat your oven to 240°C/475°F/ gas 9. There’s no need to peel the vegetables – just give them a wash and roughly chop them. Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.

Pile all the veg, garlic and herbs into the middle of a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle the beef with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the meat. Place the beef on top of the vegetables.

To cook your beef:
Place the roasting tray in the preheated oven. Turn the heat down immediately to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and cook for 1 hour for medium beef. If you prefer it medium-rare, take it out 5 to 10 minutes earlier. For well done, leave it in for another 10 to 15 minutes.

If you’re doing roast potatoes and veggies, this is the time to crack on with them – get them into the oven for the last 45 minutes of cooking. Baste the beef halfway through cooking and if the veg look dry, add a splash of water to the tray to stop them burning.

When the beef is cooked to your liking, take the tray out of the oven and transfer the beef to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so. Cover it with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and put aside while you make your gravy, horseradish sauce and Yorkshire puddings.

Whole roasted duck with duck-fat potatoes and bordelaise sauce

From Saturday Kitchen
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the whole roasted duck
1 whole duck, trimmed and wings removed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the duck-fat potatoes
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm/½in cubes
100g/3½oz duck fat (trimmed from the whole duck)
For the bordelaise sauce
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
1 bay leaf
5 black peppercorns
200ml/7fl oz red wine
300ml/10½fl oz veal jus, warmed (available from some large supermarkets)
pinch sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

For the whole roasted duck, use a small sharp knife to pierce the skin of the duck all over, but be careful not to tear holes in the skin. Season the duck with salt and black pepper and place on a wire rack sat in a roasting tin. Roast for 25 minutes.<a

Remove the duck from the oven and pour any excess fat from the roasting tin into a jug. Reduce the oven temperature to 120C/250F/Gas ½.
When the oven reaches 120C/250F/Gas ½, return the duck to the oven and cook for a further 1¼ hours – basting with the reserved fat every 20 minutes. Once cooked allow the duck to rest for 30 minutes.
For the duck fat potatoes, heat a large frying pan and add the duck fat. Once hot and melted, add the diced potatoes and cook for 6-8 minutes, or until golden-brown and tender.
For the bordelaise sauce, heat a medium saucepan and add the butter. Once hot, add the shallot and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns and cook for a few minutes.
Add the red wine and cook until the volume of liquid has reduced by half. Pour in the warm veal jus and reduce by half again. Season with a little sugar, to taste. Pass through a fine sieve and set aside in a warm place until ready to serve.

To serve, remove the duck breasts from the roasted duck and cut into pieces. Divide the meat between serving plates.

Serve the potatoes next to the duck with a spoonful of the sauce.

Roast pork with crackling

From BBC Recipes
Serves 8

Ingredients

2.25kg/5lb loin of pork, bottom bone removed, top bone left in
1 small, onion peeled
1 tbsp plain flour
275ml/10fl oz dry cider
275ml/10fl oz vegetable stock (or potato water)
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 240C/475F/Gas 9.

While the oven is preheating, score the skin of the pork. It will be scored already, but it’s always best to add a few more lines. To do this you can use the point of a very sharp paring knife, or Stanley knife, or you can now even buy a special scalpel from a good quality kitchen shop! What you need to do is score the skin all over into thin strips, bringing the blade of the knife about halfway through the fat beneath the skin.

Now place the pork in a tin, skin-side up, halve the onion and wedge the two pieces in slightly underneath the meat. Now take about 1 tbsp of crushed salt crystals and sprinkle it evenly over the skin, pressing it in as much as you can.

Place the pork on a high shelf in the oven and roast it for 25 minutes. Turn the heat down to 190C/375F/Gas 5, and calculate the total cooking time allowing 35 minutes to the pound, then deduct the initial 25 minutes cooking time. In this case it would be a further 2½ hours.
There’s no need to baste pork as there is enough fat to keep the meat moist. The way to tell if the meat is cooked is to insert a skewer in the thickest part and the juices that run out should be absolutely clear without any trace of pinkness.

When the pork is cooked remove it from the oven and give it at least 30 minutes resting time before carving. While that is happening, tilt the tin and spoon all the fat off, leaving only the juces. The onion will probably be black and charred, which gives the gravy a lovely rich colour. Leave the onion in, then place the roasting tin over direct heat, turned to low, sprinkle in the flour and quickly work it into the juices with a wooden spoon.

Now turn the heat up to medium and gradually add the cider and the stock, this time using a balloon whisk until it comes up to simmering point and you have a smooth rich gravy. Taste and season with salt and pepper, then discard the onion and pour the gravy into a warmed serving jug.

Serve the pork carved in slices, giving everyone some crackling.

Fast-roast chicken with lemon and tarragon

From Delia’s Complete How to Cook
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 x 3 lb (1.35 kg) free-range chicken
½ small lemon, thinly sliced and the slices halved, plus the juice of the remaining ½ lemon
2½ level tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
½ oz (10 g) softened butter
1 dessertspoon olive oil
10 fl oz (275 ml) dry white wine
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 8, 450°F (230°C).

Begin by taking the chicken from the fridge about an hour before you intend to cook it (obviously if it’s a hot day give it about 30 minutes only), and remove the string that holds the legs of the bird together so that the joints are loose – this will take the chill off the bird and help it to cook in the shorter time.

Now make a garlic and herb butter by placing the garlic, 2 tablespoons of the chopped tarragon leaves and the butter in a bowl and combine them with a fork, adding some salt and pepper.

Then place the herb butter inside the body cavity of the bird, along with the halved lemon slices. Smear a little of the olive oil over the base of the roasting tin, place the chicken in it, then smear the rest of the olive oil all over the skin of the bird.

Lastly, season well with salt and black pepper and then pop the roasting tin into the lower third of the oven. Now let it roast for 45 minutes without opening the oven door.

When this time is up, remove the bird from the oven. Next put a wooden spoon into the body cavity and, using a spatula to hold the breast end, tip the chicken and let all the buttery juices and slices of lemon pour out into the roasting tin, then transfer the bird on to a carving board, cover with foil and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, using a tablespoon, skim off the excess fat from the juices in the roasting tin, then place the tin over direct heat, add the wine and lemon juice and let the whole lot bubble and reduce to about half its original volume.

Now add the remaining tarragon, then taste and check the seasoning.

Carve the chicken on to warm plates and add any juices to the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Couldn’t find tarragon at M&S so I used rosemary instead.