IT IS 14 years since I was asked by the Blackface Sheep Breeding Association to demonstrate for two-and-a-half hours using lamb in each recipe
The event was timed to coincide with the year’s lambs being ready for eating – which is October. All meat has so much more flavour when mature – a lamb fed on its mother’s milk can scarcely compare in flavour to an older lamb, eating the grasses and wild herbs which all contribute to the delicious taste of our Scottish lamb. Guests from other countries all remark on just how especially tasty Scottish lamb is, and I often think that we should appreciate it so much more than we do.
Lamb is the most versatile of all the red meats, it combines so well with all spices, with dried fruits, as well as with tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. Lamb with aubergines is sublime – in fact, it is hard to think of a food with which lamb does NOT combine extremely well. So here are three recipes, each quite different, but all making the most of our delicious Scottish lamb.
Lamb with aubergines
SERVES 6
2lb/900g minced lamb
3 aubergines, their ends sliced off and discarded, and each aubergine sliced evenly about ½ cm thick
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 onions, skinned, halved and diced neatly, about little fingernail in size
1 fat clove of garlic, skinned and diced finely
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 pint/570ml stock, or half and half, stock and red wine
1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper, ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes – optional
3oz/85g grated Parmesan
Prepare the aubergines, by brushing them on each side with olive oil. Put the slices, overlapping, on a wide baking tray, and set to one side.
Heat the olive oil and fry the diced onions, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. When the onions are soft and transparent, scoop them into a warmed bowl, leaving behind as much oil as possible. Raise the heat beneath the casserole and fry the minced lamb, turning it over so that it browns all over. Add the diced garlic, and replace the fried onions with the minced lamb. Stir in the tomato purée, stock (and red wine if you are including it), salt, pepper and chilli. Cover the casserole with its lid and cook in a moderate heat, 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4. At the same time add the baking tray of aubergines and cook both for 1 hour. Cool. Take the aubergine slices from the oven, and cool.
In a wide ovenproof dish, layer the roasted aubergine slices with the minced lamb, ending with a layer of meat. Scatter the Parmesan evenly over the surface, and reheat at a moderate temperature, same as for the cooking, for 40-45 minutes. The Parmesan should form a molten crust and the minced lamb be sizzling fairly fiercely around the edges. If not, give the dish a further 10 minutes. A mixed leaf salad and boiled Basmati rice are, for me, the perfect accompaniments for this dish.
Lamb chops in garlic, tomato and basil sauce
SERVES 6
How many chops per person depends on appetites. If this is the only course, I suggest 2 loin chops per person.
12 loin chops
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, each skinned, halved and finely sliced
2 sticks of celery, trimmed at ends, peeled with a potato peeler to get rid of the stringy bits, and finely sliced
2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced finely
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons pesto – this is the basil in the dish
½ teaspoon sugar – to counteract any bitterness from the tomato seeds – 1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper
Heat the olive oil in a wide sauté pan and brown each chop on either side. Remove them to a warmed platter. Then fry the onions, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add the celery and diced garlic to the onions, and fry for a further 2-3 minutes before adding the contents of the tins of tomatoes.
Stir in the pesto, sugar, salt and black pepper, and when the sauce is simmering, replace the browned chops in amongst the tomato sauce. This will be snug, but when all the chops are in the sauté pan, cover it with its lid and cook in a moderate heat, 350F/180C/Gas Mark 4 for 35-40 minutes. Serve with well beaten mashed potatoes and a green vegetable, such as kale.
Braised lamb shanks with pickled lemon, leeks and spinach
SERVES 6
6 lamb shanks
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, each skinned, halved andfinely sliced
1 rounded teaspoon cumin seeds, bashed in either a mortar and pestle, or in a small deep bowl with the end of a rolling pin
6 average leeks, trimmed at either end and of any outer leaves that look floppy, and the leeks sliced thinly
2 tablespoons flour
1 pint/570ml stock
2 tablespoons chopped pickled lemons – these can be bought in jars, and once opened, the jars should be kept in the fridge.
1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper
1lb/450g young washed spinach leaves – these are added 5 minutes before serving the lamb shanks, they wilt fast in the heat of the casserole.
Heat the olive oil in a large casserole, and brown the shanks, removing them to a warmed dish. Then fry the sliced onions, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the bashed cumin seeds and fry for a minute. Add the sliced leeks – this looks a large amount but they wilt as they cook. Stir and fry for a further few minutes. Add the flour, stir well before adding the stock, the chopped pickled lemons, salt and black pepper. Stir until the liquid simmers gently, then replace the browned shanks in the casserole.
When the liquid around the shanks reaches simmering point once more, cover the casserole with its lid and cook in a low moderate heat, 300F/150C/Gas Mark 3 for 2½ hours. The meat should be falling from the bones. Cool completely.
When cold, skim any fat from the surface. You have a choice. Either carefully remove all the meat from the bones, and discard them, or leave the bones in and let your guests take the meat off. Heat the casserole, on top, until the sauce simmers gently. Cover with the lid, and cook for 20 minutes gently, and 5 minutes before serving lift the lid and push the spinach down amongst the meat and into the sauce.
Cover with the lid once more, and cook gently – the spinach collapses into the rest of the contents of the casserole. Beware overcooking the spinach, because it will become grey-green and slimy – not at all appealing, whereas added at the last minute, its flavour and texture is very complimentary with the lamb, cumin and chopped pickled lemons.
Serve with well mashed potatoes, and with roasted carrots and beetroot – or any other roast root vegetables.