We made this dish using leftovers from the roast shoulder of lamb with herbs and honey, and both dishes are truly delicious. I must apologise for the photo of this one – I was so hungry when I took it so it’s a bit blurry, oops! But I promise you it is worth making!

This recipe is by the Hairy Bikers and comes from the BBC website.

Ingredients

For the filling
2-3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 onions, peeled, diced
2 celery stalks, trimmed, diced
2 carrots, peeled, trimmed, diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped
knob fresh ginger, peeled, grated
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp mustard seeds
500g/1lb 2oz leftover roast lamb, finely diced
½ orange, zest only
1 tbsp plain flour
250ml/9fl oz warm lamb stock
1 tsp clear honey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 dried figs, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bombay mashed potato
400g/14oz floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper, peeled, diced
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3 large pinches mild curry powder
½ tsp cumin seeds

Method

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

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan with a tight-fitting lid over a medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, ginger and spices, stir well and fry for 8-10 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened slightly. Increase the heat and stir in the leftover lamb and orange zest. Continue to cook for a further five minutes.

3. Sprinkle over the flour and stir to incorporate, then pour over the stock. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and stir in the honey, Worcestershire sauce, and figs. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4. Cover the pan with the lid and simmer for 12-15 minutes. Whilst it is simmering you can start on the Bombay mashed potato. Cook the potatoes in a large pan of boiling salted water for 12-15 minutes, or until tender. Drain well and mash until completely smooth. Remove the meat filling from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

5. Heat the oil in a small frying pan. Add the mustard seeds, curry powder and cumin seeds and fry gently until the seeds start to pop. (Caution: keep your eyes and face away from the pan.) Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

6. Stir the spice mixture into the mashed potato and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

7. Spoon the filling into a suitably sized ovenproof dish (or two smaller ones if necessary). Top with the Bombay mashed potato, smoothing into an even layer using a spatula. Drag a fork through the topping to decorate.

8. Bake the shepherd’s pie in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the mashed potato is crisp and golden-brown. Enjoy!

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It’s a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK this weekend – hooray! No Sunday night feeling this weekend  If you’re planning to cook something a little special, then look no further – we made this amazing lamb dish at Easter and it is my new favourite. It serves 4 people but we served 2 people with this meal and then used the other 2 portions for a fab leftover recipe – look out for that soon…

The recipe for the roast shoulder of lamb with herbs and honey is by Valentine Warner and comes from the BBC website. The recipe for roast red onions with basil comes from Nigella Lawson’s ‘Nigellissima’. I’ve written the method here combining the two recipes, so that you can just follow one thing if you want to make them both!

Ingredients

For the lamb:

1.4kg/3lb shoulder of lamb, trimmed
A handful of dried camomile (or the contents of 4 camomile teabags)
½ bunch fresh thyme, leaves only
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only
12 fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, juice only
1 tbsp good Greek or wild flower clear honey
2 tbsp olive oil
125ml/4fl oz water

For the roast red onions with basil (for 4 people)

500-600g small red onions, quartered then peeled
70ml olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds (we actually used cumin seeds because Tom hates fennel!)
1 tsp sea salt flakes (or to taste)
1 tsp best-quality balsamic vinegar (or to taste)
Large bunch fresh basil (approx. 50g)

Method

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

2. With the tip of a sharp knife, make shallow scores through the outer layer of skin and fat of the lamb shoulder, but not into the meat, cross-hatching the entire surface.

3. Mix the dried camomile, the thyme, rosemary, sage and oregano together in a bowl. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4. Press a handful of the herb mixture into the skin of the lamb, massaging it in well all over the flesh of the lamb. Sprinkle some of the herb mixture across the bottom of a casserole dish with a lid, and then place the lamb into the dish.

5. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top, before sprinkling with any remaining herb mix. Then drizzle the honey over the top of the lamb and pour over a little olive oil.

6. Pour the water into the casserole, then put the lid on. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2½ hours. Check the dish after one hour – the lamb should be taking on a little colour. If the water has evaporated, add a little more to maintain the dish’s moisture.

7. When you check the lamb after 1 hour, tip the quartered onions into a roasting tin. Pour the olive oil over them and then scatter over the fennel (or cumin) seeds, and then shake the tin to ensure that all the onions are coated. Put the tin in the oven and cook for 1 hour.

8. After 1 hour, remove the onions from the oven and sprinkle with the salt and drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the top. Leave (for up to 1 hour) to come to room temperature, or keep warm if you prefer.

9. After the 2½ hours cooking the lamb meat should pull away easily from the bone. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 4-5 minutes. We made some gravy with the meat juices by adding a few gravy granules.

10. To serve, using a knife and fork, pull large pieces of meat away from the bone and arrange on plates. Add the basil leaves to the onions and mix everything together before plating up. We also had Yorkshire puddings (not homemade – sorry!) and the gravy too. We’ll be making this again very soon!

The post Roast shoulder of lamb with herbs and honey served with roast red onions and basil appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I often decided to make up a recipe when I have a particular ingredient that needs using up, and this recipe came out of one of those occasions. We had a little bit of goats cheese left and, after feeling uninspired following a quick internet search, I decided to get a few simple ingredients and go for it! You don’t need much of the goats cheese at all – if you don’t like really rich food then you could probably just leave it out. We used some salami Napoli here, which is optional too if you would prefer a meat version.

This recipe uses the creamy basil pesto recipe that I’ve already posted, so you’ll need to make a batch of that before cooking the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

Linguine (cook enough for 2-3 people)
Olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped into fairly small pieces (but not finely chopped)
A handful of cup mushrooms, quartered
8 slices of salami Napoli (optional)
Ground black pepper
100g baby leaf spinach
1 batch of creamy basil pesto (click on link above)
25-50g goats cheese to serve (optional)

Method

1. Add some boiling water to a pan and cook the linguine according to the packet instructions.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan, and add the onions. Cook until softened and beginning to brown before adding the mushrooms.

3. If adding the salami, tear each slice in half and add to the pan. Leave for a few minutes to cook.

4. Just before the pasta is ready, add the spinach to the onion and mushrooms, along with some ground black pepper. Allow the spinach to wilt a little.

5. Drain the pasta and stir the pesto through. Then add the vegetables and stir again. Plate up and then crumble a little goats cheese over the top, with a little more black pepper.

Enjoy!

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