Slow cooked leg of lamb

I made this recipe with a half leg of lamb the other day, which was a little more than two people could eat. The next day, we heated up the leftovers and the resulting stew was almost better. This time, I doubled the ingredients so I can freeze some of the leftovers. However, there wasn't enough room in the roasting tray for all the veg so some of them were roasted separately.

The actual dish is the result of a number of recipes I found on the internet. The seasoning is based Nigel Slater's recipe here.

Cooking time: 4 hours

(serves 8)

1 leg of lamb (approx. 2.3 kg)
4 cloves of garlic
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp toasted cumin seeds
1 tsp sweet paprika
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
2 aubergines
4 sweet red peppers
1.2 kg potatoes
3-4 courgettes
extra virgin olive oi
1/2 bottle of red wine
2 tsp flour

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/160°C.

Grind the cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar, remove and set aside for a couple of minutes. Crush the garlic with some sea salt in the pestle and mortar. Add the cumin, thyme, pepper, paprika and mix with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Spread over the meat, place into a roasting tray and put into the oven for about 30 minutes. Then add the red wine.

Roast for about another 2 hours. In the meantime, cut the potatoes and vegetables into large chunks. Season with a little pepper and salt and drizzle with oil. Add the potatoes and aubergines to the roasting tray. Cover with tin foil and cook for 30 minutes before adding the remaining vegetables. Cook for one more hour. By then the meat should be really tender.

Remove the meat, cover and rest. Transfer all the vegetables into a warmed bowl. Dissolve the flour in a little cold water and stir into the cooking liquids to make a gravy. Place the roasting tin onto the hob and let the gravy come to the boil and thicken. Check the seasoning, then pour into a serving dish.

Serve the leg of lamb on a warmed platter surrounded by all the veg.

Lamb ragù with fennel seeds

I love a good ragù, or bolognese as most of us would call it. And I now know that the quick way we tend to do it is not the tastiest way. Try and let it simmer for at least an hour-and-a-half, longer if you can. Normally, you'd add water to make sure the meat stays moist but I made this easy by adding 2 tins of chopped tomatoes to just 250 g of mince. This should serve 4 - 6 people. As there are only two of us, we had dinner for two nights: stuffed aubergine and couscous on Tuesday and pasta with ragù on Wednesday.

250 g lamb mince
1 onion, finely chopped
1 whole bulb garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp whole fennel seeds
2 tins of chopped tomatoes in thick sauce
good glug of dry white wine
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp brown sugar

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, e. g. Le Creuset, heat some olive oil and sauté the onions, garlic and fennel seeds for about 5 minutes without browning. Add the mince and sauté until lightly browned all over. Add the tinned tomatoes, wine and sugar and season with pepper and salt. Simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours.

Serve with pasta and sprinkle with freshly ground parmesan. Alternatively, stuff halved peppers and aubergines. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 200 °C.

Imam Bayildi (meat version)

This is a family recipe from Fabiana who currently divides her time between Romania and Italy.

The origin of this dish is Turkish, its very old - presumably more then 300 years ago. The name derives from a legend about an Imam (Turkish title) who fainted (bayildi means faint, pass out in Ottoman) when he tasted this dish.

The original dish apparently did use the meat but then it was left out and nowadays people in Turkey prepare it mainly without meat, where as I do - I love it with meat and tastes great.

(serves 6)

aubergines (one or two per person)
300-500 gr mince (e.g. 50-50 pork and beef or lamb and beef)
3-4 onions
6-7 ripe tomatoes tomatoes or a 500 g tin of chopped tomatoes
salt
pepper
Mediterranean herbs (e.g. oregano, basil, thyme etc.)
whole garlic cloves, peeled (two per aubergine)
fresh basil, 2-3 leaves per aubergine
olive oil
1 glass of red wine
1 hot red chilli (optional)

1. You start by peeling one line of skin all around the aubergines, then split the aubergine lengthways and hollow out some of the flesh to make room for the filling. Chop up the scooped out flesh and sauté with the onion.

2. To make the filling finely chop the onion really and sauté together with the chopped aubergine in a pan with olive oil. When they're golden, add the mince. Fry together until all the meat is browned stirring occasionally to prevent the meat from sticking together. When the moisture has evaporated from the meat and onions add some red wine and then regularly add a little water and cook for 2 hours (keep adding water regularly). After two hours or so, add the chopped tomatoes and herbs of your choice and cook for another two hours. This procedure is pretty similar to the Bolognese Sauce (ragu Bolognese). Optionally add the chilli at this stage as well.

2. Sauté the aubergines all around in a pan with oil until they are a little colored. Then set aside on kitchen paper to drain. Place into a roasting tray.

3. When you are happy with the sauce let it cool a little. Take a spoon and start filling the aubergines with the meat sauce. Pour the remaining sauce around the aubergines. Then add 1-2 garlic cloves per each eggplant and 1-2 basil leaves per each eggplant. Put in the oven and bake for 40 minutes at 190-200°C/gas mark 5-6.