Lamb with Chilli Mint Sauce & Pavlova

Lamb with Chilli Mint Sauce
Delicious Love to Cook pg. 114

Pavlova
Taste kitchens

“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first” – Ernestine Ulmer

Hi there everyone!

Love this quote. I always look at the dessert menu first whenever I go to a restaurant – how else would I be able to gauge what I might eat for the main??

Well this week I really had a tribe of bodies for Wine Wednesday so I needed to keep it fairly basic but also feed the crowd in a satisfactory manner. This recipe in the Delicious Love to Cook book calls for a shoulder. There is no way a shoulder would feed the multitudes so I opted for a very large leg of lamb. I treated it in the same way as instructed with the marinade etc., however, I didn’t slow cook it. I really like to do my legs in the BBQ freeing up the oven for other things. Mint sauce is a must with lamb and this interesting Thai inspired sauce will have your guests coming back for more. Rubbing the lamb all over with the combined fish sauce, sweet chilli and oil gives the meat a beautiful and tender sweetness. I marinated overnight and then took the lamb out of the fridge for an hour before cooking it. I also did exactly as the recipe instructs, covering it with foil and then placing it on a tray with water underneath. This makes for a moist and melt in the mouth slice of lamb. You will need to adjust the cooking time according to the size of your roast and whether or not you have chosen the oven or the BBQ. I served this with a potato and sweet potato bake (my own concoction) alongside a bowl of asparagus, beans and broccolini. Please note that I also did a small jug of good old gravox gravy for the MAV.

AND so for dessert – when you need to feed numbers you can’t go past a pav. They are not always easy to pull off but this recipe from Taste, if followed to the letter, really produces a wonderful pav base which is crispy on the outside and soft and sticky on the inside. Then you can use your imagination and decorate it with a million different things. I chose to marinate some strawberries in alcohol (your choice). Once I had strained the berries I heated the sauce added a little sugar and thickened it up. Allowing it to cool, I then drizzled it over the whipped cream and marinated strawberries which decorated the pav. It was a big hit. What’s your favourite way to decorate a pav? Many years ago I had a recipe for crushed pineapple which is thickened on the stove top with custard powder – I can’t find that recipe anywhere and would love to reproduce it again so if anyone knows what I am talking about then please share it with me. Overall this entire meal scored 9/10. Wahooooo!! After the last couple of weeks it was a relief.

Until next week –

From my table to yours with love.

Slow-cooked lamb shoulder with chilli mint sauce

I used a large leg of lamb and cooked it on the BBQ

2kg Lamb shoulder
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 C sweet chilli sauce
1/4 C finely chopped mint
100 ml olive oil

Chilli Mint Sauce

2 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/4 C rice vinegar
1 lime (zest and juice)
2 long red chillies (thinly sliced)
1 red onion (thinly slice)
2 C mint leaves

Lamb

Preheat oven to 180°C. Using the tip of a sharp knife, cut a cross-hatch pattern all over the lamb skin. Combine fish and sweet chilli sauces, chopped mint and 1 tbs oil in a bowl. Place lamb on a rack set in a roasting pan and brush all over with marinade. Fill pan with 2cm hot water, then cover pan with foil. Roast for 11/2 hours, then remove foil and roast for a further 45 mins. Cover loosely with foil and set aside to rest for 15 mins. Carve and serve with vegetables of your choice and Chilli Mint Sauce.

Chilli Mint Sauce

To make chilli sauce, place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until sugar dissolves.

Pavlova

A simple and delicious dessert

6 eggs (separated)
11/4 C caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
300 ml thickened cream
fruit to decorate

Heat oven to 120°C. Line an oven tray with foil. Brush with melted butter and dust with cornflour, shaking off excess. Mark a 24cm-diameter circle on foil.
Use an electric mixer to whisk egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until meringue is thick and glossy and sugar dissolved. Rub a little meringue between fingers. If still "gritty" with sugar, continue to whisk until sugar dissolves. Add cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and whisk until just combined. Spoon meringue onto the foil, using the marked circle as a guide. Smooth sides and top of pavlova. use a small spatula to form little peaks around edge of pav. Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours or until pav is dry to the touch. Turn off oven. Leave pav in oven with the door ajar to cool completely. When completely cold, transfer to serving plate of store in an airtight container until required.
Whip cream with icing sugar in a medium bowl until firm peaks form. Spoon over pav and decorate with whatever fruit you have chosen. It is great to soak strawberries in some alcohol and then after draining the fruit boil down the liquor until halved and drizzle over the decorated pav.