Lamb Shoulder

Lamb Shoulder

I don't really know what to call this recipe as its a bit of a mish mash of flavours that I think go well together. Its simply a roast lamb dish.

Ingredients

1/2 shoulder of lamb
3 cloves of garlic
a bay leaf
a star anise
tin of tomatoes
1/2 pint of boiling water
2 carrots
potatoes (as many as you want for each portion)
1 apple
2 tbs cumin powder
lamb stock cube
1 tbs coriander powder
1 tbs turmeric powder
salt and pepper
good handful of parsley
zest and juice of a lemon

Method

In a roasting tin place the garlic cloves (skinned and bruised with the heel of your hand), bay leaf, star anise (broken in the hand), tin of tomatoes, water, the apple (core removed and cut into quarters), the carrot cut into big chunks (about a third of a carrot at a time).

Place the lamb shoulder on top and put cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, lamb stock cube and salt and pepper.

Cover the whole tin in foil and place into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C.

After 45 mins remove the foil and baste the meat with the juices. Return to the oven for 15 minutes then remove and baste once more, before placing back in the oven add the potatoes. Return to the oven for an hour - baste half way through.

Remove the meat from the tin and leave to rest. Whilst the meat is resting remove the carrots and potatoes from the tin and mix into the remaining liquid the parsley (roughly chopped), lemon zest and juice. This makes a lovely sauce to serve the meat with.

Pot Roast Pheasant

Pot Roast Pheasant

Game season is in its full throw so the Farmer's market in Preston City Centre is overflowing with all sorts of Game.

Not being certain as to the age of the bird always makes choosing a Game recipe a bit tricky, only if you get a bird not yet plucked will you be sure of the age and sex.

For pheasant a good way of being sure of not ending up chewing on a tough bird for an evening is to pot roast it. This is my recipe:

Ingredients

1 whole pheasant
8 dried apricots
a large glass of red wine
a double measure of cooking brandy
6 smoked garlic cloves
salt and pepper
3 carrots
a large handful of oyster mushrooms
a bay leaf

In a large casserole dish place the pheasant (make sure all the bits of feather ends are removed).
Add the apricots, garlic cloves, red wine and brandy and bay leaf.
Season and place in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees C for an hour, basting half way through.
Add the carrots, cut into rough batons
cook for a further 15 minutes then add the oyster mushrooms, taking the opportunity to baste the bird again. Leave in the oven, uncovered, for a further 15 minutes.

Let the bird rest before serving, the left over cooking liquor makes a wonderful sauce straight from the pan.