The slow cooker chef: Low fat Spanish Lamb braised in thyme, garlic and white wine recipe
“Let’s try making the Spanish Lamb in the slow cooker. It will be cheaper than using the oven and it might enhance the flavours even more.” It was better than the oven baked version, with more depth of flavour and the joint remained plump and succulent. This is a great, easy dish for lazy entertaining. Just a few minutes preparation and then you can sit back as it turns into a delicious melt in the mouth lamb. The tantalising sauce tastes as if you have been slaving away for hours. Cooked a day in advance the dish sang. The fat was...
read moreLeftovers: Summer Shepherd’s Pie recipe
“Do you like carrots in your shepherd’s pie?” “Yes please!” Danny looked suspicious, “What else are you going to add?” I was planning to cook a traditional British Shepherd’s Pie with the leftovers from a shoulder of lamb. He visibly relaxed. But when I went to the fridge that evening the shelves were bare. For weeks Danny had been stockpiling carrots, buying every bag that he found on the Tesco condemned food counter. At one stage the fridge was bursting with them and I’d considered making...
read moreSunday roast: Breast of lamb stuffed with bacon and apricots recipe
We have got a craze for breast of lamb at the moment. It’s such an economical joint and it’s a great opportunity to play with store cupboard ingredients for the stuffing. I usually use fresh breadcrumbs in stuffing but I had such a lot of dried breadcrumbs I though I’d whiz them up in the food processor and give them a go instead. I also left out onions to speed up the preparation. The result was lots of texture and a satisfying crunchiness that balanced the sweet melt in the mouth meat. Following Nigel Slater’s...
read moreSunday roast: Melt in the mouth slow baked breast of lamb stuffed with chicken livers, apricots and pine nuts recipe
We have halved our paper bill by cancelling the Sunday paper (we are just weekend readers). We actually read the Saturday paper now rather than glancing at it and turning it into fire briquettes a week later. The one article that I always read is Mark Hix’s recipe ideas as we are eating our breakfast and Danny is chortling through the sports section of the paper. This week he had a tempting recipe for slow baked breast of lamb. A pretty brave move as everyone is probably planning to invest in the more expensive cuts of lamb for Easter...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: Moroccan style lamb meatballs on a bed of mint and coriander infused couscous
“I thought that it would be too spicy for them but I suppose that Indian dogs eat curry. And dogs in Morocco must wolf down spicy scraps” “You did feed them earlier, didn’t you?” We were watching our pack guzzling the leftovers from supper. They are fed early evening but we always give them the scrapings from our supper. A sort of canine Little Foodies thing (Little Foodies are in Italy at the moment and all the Min Pins would love it. Pasta has them jumping through hoops. This is a blog that is well worth...
read moreSimple and delicious lamb cutlets with fresh figs recipe
I love fresh figs. As a child, I watched my mother occasionally savour these exotic and expensive fruit. When she shared her delight and passed me a fragment to taste, I just couldn’t understand the passion. How she could like the pinky flesh, the seeds, the thick skin? Years later, wanting to impress, I picked a fig and gently took a bite. It was both surprising and sensuous. I fell instantly in love with the fruit. Suddenly I realised that it is the disparate combination of deep purple skin, blushing flesh, texture and sweet juice that...
read moreQuick and delicious lamb meatballs in a creamy tomato sauce
I’m quite particular about meatballs. They have to melt in the mouth. And they need a good, mellow sauce. I am not keen on fried meatballs, so often a chewy exterior extends to the interior. And I checked out other meat ball recipes on the internet this evening. What a palaver – make the meatballs, transfer to the fridge for 2 hours. If you are really gentle with your meatballs you can be snatching a pack of mince one moment and within half an hour, or so, serving this meal. Danny was back late from London this evening. I planned...
read moreEasy rack of lamb baked in a tasty sweet savoury sauce recipe
Fred’s racks of lamb are always chubby, tender and a real treat. Yesterday I drove back from Essex to find Danny creating a new sauce for a chunky rack. We like to make our sauces in the same pan as the roasting meat. If we get the ingredients right it’s a lazy way to make a sauce and sometimes the sauce also tenderises the meat. This sauce has soul. It was a treat at the end of a long day. Combined with spinach and creamed potatoes (champ) it was superb. If you prefer a thick sauce, a little corn flour or potato flour could be...
read moreSimple rack of lamb recipe
Rack of lamb (best end of neck) is such a treat. There are 6-8 cutlets on a joint. Sometimes we treat ourselves to one from Fred Fitzpatrick’s. His chops are much chubbier than the supermarket ones so he cuts the rack in half and we pop one half in the freezer. Our freezer clearing project has unearthed several delights and tonight we ate a half rack of lamb that had been languishing in the freezer disguised as something else. For years I used to order rack of lamb when I went to a restaurant, imagining that it would be a palaver to...
read moreSlow cooked roast Spanish lamb recipe infused with thyme and white wine
One Sunday many years ago, Danny and I were pressed for time before a lunch party. In a desperate, ‘they’ll be here in 5 minutes’ move, we threw all the dirty pots and pans from the sink onto the lawn. It was deep winter and we felt confident that our friends wouldn’t venture further than the kitchen table. Danny locked the door to the garden, just in case. All went well until a child, bored with the extensive lingering over coffee and Armagnac, got up and peered out of the tiny window that overlooks the garden. I knew...
read more
Most Recent Articles
I made two litres of dog food by mistakeOn Monday I decided to test out the theory that cottage pie is best made with pieces of beef rather than minced… »
Recipe for meatballs and spaghetti with red wine, tomatoes and bell peppers. Foolproof slow cooker/crock pot recipes“Please don’t buy mince again. I just don’t like it.” Danny grumbled out of the kitchen. “But you like… »
Win £50 worth of B&Q vouchers with The Cottage Smallholder and Direct Line Grand DrawFor those of you who missed out on the metal bedstead competition: we’ve got another great prize to offer you!… »
New layout for CSH – testers wanted pleaseDanny here, everybody. 14% of our visitors use mobile devices, such as tablets, iPad, smart mobiles and so on.… »
Update on the remaining Min PinsIt’s been seven weeks since The Conteesa died suddenly in her sleep. Danny buried her in the garden under the… »
It’s the little things that make the differenceI don’t often write much about the little things that give me pleasure. They initially seem too insignificant to… »
Recent Comments
{ I was thinking the same as Magic Cochin but then like you I don't have my phone attached by an umbilical cord wherever I go.... } – Wed 8 :47 pm
{ Good point but I don't tend to take it about with me everywhere 
} – Wed 7 :25 pm
{ Doesn't your mobile phone have an alarm setting? C x } – Wed 6 :32 pm
{ I would put it towards a bbq, it's just a shame you can't purchase some sunshine from b&q } – Wed 12 :04 am- { Hi Lesley The clucking means that she is brrody also plucking her own feathers is a sign too. } – Tue 11 :58 pm
- { Hi Lesley They have to stay in the broody coop 24/7. Could you put in a garden shed or garage? } – Tue 11 :57 pm
FD