Three recipes for u:
Best lamb cutlets with special basil sauce
Serves 4
• 12 lamb cutlets
• a small handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 400g mushrooms, brushed clean and torn
• a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 lemon
• 2 handfuls of pinenuts
• 2 large handfuls of fresh basil
• 3-5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
This dish is fantastic and you can literally have it ready in just over 5 minutes. Use either wild mushrooms that are in season, like girolles, trompettes de la mort and pieds de mouton, or more readily available farmed mushrooms like field, chestnut or oyster, as these are really tasty when cooked properly.
These lamb cutlets are best cooked on a hot barbecue with wood or charcoal, to give you a wonderful smoky flavour. Otherwise use a preheated ridged griddle pan. Slap the cutlets with the heel of your hand to flatten them slightly. Then bash up your thyme in a pestle and mortar and add a little olive oil. Mix together, then rub the oil over the cutlets and season both sides of them. Put to one side.
Cook the mushrooms dry on the bars of your hot griddle pan. This is quite an unusual way to do it, but it gives you a nutty flavour that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Just grill them on both sides to mark them and put them into a large bowl. Once the mushrooms are done you can put the lamb on the barbecue or griddle pan. If the cutlets are about 1.5cm/¾ inch thick, just give them 3 or 4 minutes on each side until they’re really golden. This should cook them medium. (To be honest, I’m not really into rare lamb cutlets, but if you prefer them like that then cook for a little less time.)
When cooked, put the lamb cutlets into the bowl with the mushrooms and drizzle with a little olive oil. Tear over the parsley, in quite large pieces, and add a good squeeze of lemon juice. Season lightly and toss around. Place to one side to rest, to allow all the lovely juices to get sucked up by the mushrooms.
Meanwhile you can make a really quick sauce. It looks a bit like pesto, but although it contains basil and pine nuts it has no similarity in flavour. In a pestle and mortar pound up the pine nuts until you have a mushy pulp – this will give the sauce a creamy flavour and texture. Remove the mixture to a bowl, then use the pestle and mortar to bash the basil up into a pulp. Add this to the pine nuts and loosen with extra virgin olive oil so that the sauce easily drops off the end of a spoon. Now you need to balance it with quite a lot of balsamic vinegar to give it a good zing, almost like a mint sauce, but add it to taste. Give the lamb and mushrooms a final toss. I like to serve this up on a big platter and let everyone help themselves. Have the sauce and a simple watercress salad on the side.
Elvis Burger with chopped salad and pickled gherkin
Serves 4
• 1 dried red chilli
• ½ a red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• a sprig of fresh tarragon, leaves picked and chopped
• 1 large free-range or organic egg
• a handful of breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
• a good pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1kg beef mince
oil, for frying
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cos lettuce
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 4 ciabatta rolls
• 4 large pickled gherkins
Parmesan cheese may seem a little unusual in this recipe, but it really gives the burgers a great flavour – give it a bash.
Grind up the red chilli in a pestle and mortar, and mix it in a bowl with the onion, tarragon, egg, breadcrumbs, mustard, Parmesan, nutmeg and beef. Shape into four patties and refrigerate for half an hour or so to give them a chance to firm up slightly.
When you're ready to cook the burgers, get a frying or griddle pan nice and hot. Brush the pan with a little oil, season the burgers generously with salt and pepper, and cook them for 10 minutes, turning them carefully every minute or so, until they're nice and pink and juicy, or longer if you like them well done. Make sure they don't break up as you turn them.
Meanwhile, roughly chop the lettuce, tomato and cucumber, mix together and set aside. Once the burgers are cooked, split the rolls into two and toast them quickly on the griddle or in a toaster. Sandwich the cooked 'Elvis' burger between the toasted rolls and serve them on individual plates with the gherkins and some of the chopped salad (add a little extra virgin olive oil or dressing if you like) on the side.
Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
Olive Oil 1 tbsp
Beef Steaks 750 gm Diced
Onion(s) 1 litre Finely chopped
Freshly Crushed Garlic 1 tsp
Smoked Paprika 1 tsp
Dijon Mustard 1 tbsp
Chicken Stock 1 cup(s)
Tomato Paste 1 tbsp
Mushrooms, button 250 gm
Light Sour Cream 3/4 cup(s) 175ml
Chives (Fresh) 2 tbsp Sliced
Recipe Directions:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat to high heat. Cook the beef for 4-5 minutes. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Stir in the garlic, and Smoked Paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add the Dijon mustard, chicken stock, tomato paste and mushrooms. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir the sour cream and chives through.
Serve with pasta noodles, or baby herb potatoes and green salad.