'Fleurs' Irish lamb stew with seaweed dumplings and glazed carrots- made by Anna

Anna shared this wonderful picture of her dinner the other night and the recipe.  It came from 'Fleur Sullivans' new book called 'Fleurs Place'.  The same name as her renowned restaurant in Moeraki Bay Central Otago.  Fluer is known for sourcing her regions finest local produce and getting her seafood supply straight from the jetty outside her restaurant.  A visit to her place is a definite must on my culinary bucket list.

Anyway this is what Anna said about the dish...
"This was an amazing recipe from 'Fleurs Cafe'...my photo not as good as hers in the book...tasted amazing apart from the dumplings!  Made from suet with karenga fronds (didn't think flavour mixed well) it was a classic Irish lamb stew with glazed carrots, was thickened by taking stock out of stew after cooking, then cooking potatoes in rosemary in stock, pureeing it, then adding back in...was pretty delish... nice simple ingredients, and lamb so tender...

Thanks Anna for your contribution.  I will give it a go.  I especially like the first step of the recipe where everything just goes into the pot and stock it added.  So simple.

spicy lamb with lebanese bread

I made this for myself and Jacob for lunch using the left over lamb from the night before.
I chopped up the cold lamb from the fridge and fried in a pan with a big pinch of ground coriander, cumin, and sweet smoked paprika and salt and pepper and some olive oil.

I heated up a lebanese bread ( I like the 'Jabal brand - you can get it from most supermarkets)
in a large cast iron fry pan with no oil.  It only takes a couple of minutes on both sides.

Then I put down a layer of sweet spicy tomato sauce (just add some chilli to it) on the bread, then the lamb and what ever vege you have.
I used lettuce, red onion, red cabbage, tomatoes, coriander and mint and topped it off with some yogurt sauce.  The flavour combinations go so well together, really delicious.  You could make it vegetarian and use hummus instead of the lamb if you prefer.
Jacob ate his like a loaded pizza and I used less filling and folded mine over in half.

marinated butterflied lamb

We had this marinated butterflied leg of lamb for dinner on Sunday night.  I have posted this marinade recipe before but there was no picture and it is so easy and delicious I thought I would post it again.

For the marinade you will need

• 1 butterflied leg of lamb  ( you could use any cut of lamb - steaks or chops)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander ( I dry fried whole seeds and ground )
• zest of 1 lemon
• handful of coriander finely chopped
• lots of salt and pepper

For the cooking I seared it fat side down in a large fry pan on moderate high heat with a small amount of olive oil until golden, then I turned it over, cooked for about another minute and then put it in a pre heated oven 180C for about 20 mins or until a thermometer reaches 63C.  Make sure you let it rest for 15 mins before slicing.

We had the lamb with a simple tomato salad of tomatoes, red onion, chopped mint and coriander, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.
Along with some small cut roast potatoes and yogurt sauce with a lot of finely cubed cucumber added to it.

Lamb meatballs with couscous

I think I have made meatballs with just about everything except lamb so here is my lamb meat ball recipe

This is a recipe to feed my family of 5

• 1 kilo of lamb mince
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• zest of 2 lemons
• 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
• big handful of chopped green herbs, all or either mint, coriander, parsley
• black pepper
• plenty of maldon sea salt, 1-2 teaspoons

I toasted whole seeds and ground the spices in the mortar and pestle for my spice mix.

Combine all the ingredients thoroughly and then roll into balls.
I always cook a small piece off to taste for seasoning and that it tastes good for you.  Add what ever you think it needs more of.

I cooked the meat balls in minimal oil as the lamb renders its fat as it cooks, perfect for basting as it goes, so cook gently on low to medium heat.  You want nice even colour on all surfaces.  It will take about 10 to 15 mins.

Once the meatballs are ready,  assemble,  firstly with couscous,  then the meatballs,  topping off with the yogurt sauce and the sweet tomato sauce.

Couscous for lamb meatballs

This couscous recipe was intended for the lamb meatballs, but you could use it with any sort of meat.

I made far too much of this so have stacks leftover in the fridge.  I made 3 cups.

You will need the following

• 1 cup of uncooked couscous cooked with chicken stock (follow packet instructions)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon of finely chopped currants
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• glug of olive oil
• some garlic if you want to,  (I forgot )
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
• black pepper
• salt
• As much green herbs as you want.  I used a combination of parsley and coriander.  Mint would be perfect as well but I didn't have any left.
• 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes

Add some olive oil to a fry pan and saute the onions until translucent then add the currants and spices, mix so all coated in the olive oil.  Then add the onion mixture to the couscous along with the lemon zest and juice, herbs and salt and pepper.  And there you have it.

Roast Lamb

This is my husbands favourite dinner and a dinner he cooks well.  We probably have roast lamb once a week.

Sea salt, olive oil and rosemary are essential for tasty lamb.

Roast potatoes that have been parboiled and carrots are the perfect accompaniment.

Chris likes to roasts the meat and the vegetables in separate pans.

Basting through the cooking makes for succulent lamb.  Cook at 180 degrees C till thermometer reads 63 degrees C for medium rare.

This is  another roast dinner we had.  This is a boneless leg of lamb.  This has been cooked rarer, which I prefer.

Roast potatoes are always there, this time with cauliflower as well.

This piece of butterflied lamb was marinated before cooking in

2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
zest of lemon
1 Tablespoon of fresh chopped coriander
Salt and pepper

Here is a guide for achieving the right internal meat temperatures:

Beef, Lamb and Veal

Rare                    60C (140F)
Medium Rare      63C (145F)
Medium              71C  (160F)
Well Done          77C (170F)