“The aim of my supper club is to recreate the kind of food I used to eat at home, cooked by my Japanese family in Sao Paolo, or the cuisine I learned during the time I lived in Japan. This is not an unsophisticated style of cooking, but neither is it the kind of Japanese food familiar in the UK – no sushi rolls or sashimi is on the menu tonight.”

Having enjoyed Luiz’ cooking a number of times in the days before he gave up his job in investment-banking to gain a Cordon Blue Grand Diplome (and also made an extended trip to Japan to further expanded his knowledge and skills), I finally booked to attend his Japanese Supper Club, hosted in his beautiful North London home.

On arrival, we gathered in the living room where we were served soft drinks or complimentary G&Ts and some delicious canapes of Leek and Tofu Gyoza with home-made Teriyaki sauce and Shichimi (Japanese seven spices) Popcorn.

Downstairs, the real feast began:

 
Starter 1 – Sea Bass Sushi “Gangnam Style” with Garlic-Soy Jus, Pickled Daikon & Carrots, Spinach and Sesame

 
Starter 2 – “Nasu Dengaku” – Grilled Aubergine, Miso Dengaku & Mozzarella cheese

 
 
Main 1 – Pork Belly, Cod & Seafood Nabe Hotpot in a Spicy Dashi Broth

 
 
 
Accompaniment – Tempura of Courgette Flower Stuffed with Scallop, Tofu and Lemon Mousse and Broccoli and Oyster Mushroom

  
Main 2 – Pan-fried Beef & Vegetable Maki Rolls in a Rich Soy & Mirin Sauce

Accompaniment – “Tamagoyaki” Sweet, multi-layered Japanese Omelette

Accompaniment – Edamame rice, mange-tout, spring onions (not pictured)

Dessert – Flourless Chocolate Cake with Armagnac Prunes served with Quenelle of Homemade Green Tea Ice Cream

Guests were also treated to a complimentary glass of dessert wine.

As you can see, this was an epic feast. Every course was absolutely superb and I am sure you’ll agree that the suggested donation of £38 (plus service at your discretion) is an excellent deal. It’s also BYOB (no corkage), so you can bring whatever you like, whether that’s wine, beer or something soft.

Oh and be prepared to be sociable, this is an informal supper club in a private home and guests are seated together at long communal tables. I had a lovely evening talking about food, travel and all kinds of random topics with the two lovely ladies at my end of the table.

That’s quite a claim, isn’t it? The best. In the world.

Made in Salamanca, in the North West of Spain, by José Gómez Joselito, the current CEO of a family business founded by his great grandfather over a hundred years ago, Joselito ham is made from acorn-fed Iberian pigs and cured 100% naturally, in the traditional way. The pigs roam Joselito’s holm and cork oak forest pastures, feeding on grass and acorns. The nature of the breed, combined with their natural diet and the ability to exercise freely result in a wonderful marbling of intramuscular fat, which in turn results in jamon that is meltingly soft and intensely flavoured.

The world’s best chefs and food critics line up to sing it’s praises and include it in their menus:

• “Joselito ham is unique, perfect. A constant inspiration to all who love the cuisine.” Ferran Adrià, chef
• “Joselito ham is the world’s most wonderful and it is Joselito as a person.” Juan Mari Arzak, chef
• “Joselito has perfected the curing, aging to produce the most exquisite ham.” Heston Blumenthal, chef
• “The taste of Spain, the king of ham”. Testsuya Wakuda, chef
• “Joselito ham is Spain’s greatest culinary treasure and one of the finest natural products of the world. Trying Joselito is a unique and unforgettable experience”. Robert Parker, writer
• “Joselito ham is the finest of its kind.” Daniel Bouloud, chef
• “Subtle scent that awakens our kitchen, murmurs are silenced by a unique flavour that fills the palate.” Mario and Oscar Pedro Manuel Perez, chefs
• “Joselito, your name and ham are a jewel of Spanish cuisine.” Hilario Arbelaitz, chef
• “A slice of Joselito Gran Reserva is like taking a walk through paradise.” Rafael Garcia Santos, food critic
• “Joselito is undoubtedly the product that best presents the culinary culture of our country. The rigor, quality, professionalism and passion.” Quique da Costa, chef
• “Joselito is for me the best portrait of a traditional Spanish artisan product.” Nils Henkel, chef

But, to my shame, I didn’t know any of this when I accepted a kind offer from Jamoteca to send me some Joselito samples. Their introductory email did tell me the product was the most renowned ham in Spain but, used to the hyperbole of PRs, I didn’t pay much heed to that. What came through clearly was their belief in the quality of this product and their enthusiasm for me to assess it for myself.

When the package arrived, I gazed at the beautiful fuchsia-pink of the ham, admired the creamy fat, saw how it glistened. I opened the Jamon Gran Reserva first. The aroma was wonderful, sweeter than other hams I’ve encountered. The texture was, as the oft-used cliché goes, as soft as silk and as pliable as fabric too.

One bite. That’s all it took for me to realise instantly, that this was easily the best ham I’d ever tasted in my life. I don’t have the writing skills to convey to you just how magical a combination of taste and texture this product has. Rich, intense, vivid, meltingly soft, savoury and yet sweet….

The chorizo was next, with its heady scent of smoke and paprika. Like the Jamon Gran Reserva it was simply amazing.

Only after savouring every sliver did I turn to the internet and realise what a special treat I’d been given, how renowned was the product I’d enjoyed so much, and that far better palates than mine really had deemed it the best in the world.

On other days, we enjoyed the Lomo (tenderloin) and the Paleta (shoulder) Gran Reserva and these were wonderful too.

Of course, quality such as this does not come cheap. A selection of five 100 gram packs of sliced ham, including the four I tried plus salchichón) is available from the Jamoteca website for €62 plus another €20 in delivery costs. At today’s exchange rate, that’s approximately £70. They are dispatched directly from the Guijuelo warehouse and should take 3-4 working days to arrive. If you had asked me before I’d tasted them whether I would ever spend £70 on 500 grams of ham, I’d have laughed, dismissively. Now I’ve tasted the products, I realise I actually might.

In the mean time, for those wondering what to get me for my birthday, here’s another one to add to the list!

Kavey Eats received review samples of Joselito products courtesy of Jamoteca.

Sometimes I see a product and fall utterly in lust with it immediately. The intensity with which I covet said product is often inversely proportional to how much I rationally need it. Indeed, a product I may use once in a blue moon can often hold far greater appeal than one which I’d likely use regularly and often, and which might actually make life easier in a significant way.

Whether or not I actually need the product in question doesn’t really matter at all. (Unless it’s really expensive, in which case sheer “sticker shock”, as our American friends describe it, drives me to accede to my rational side).

Do you remember browsing through the Innovations catalogue as a kid? I remember bookmarking a whole host of cool but unnecessary products in every edition, though we never bought any of them. Except for those luggage straps with our names woven in; my dad did buy some of those…

These days, it’s sites such as Lakeland, Not On The High Street, Culture Label, HowKapow, Firebox and Suck UK which fulfil that function, full of things that make me Gollum-like in my need to own them. They’re good sites for finding gifts too.

When I first saw these 3D Safari Cookie Cutters I think I might just have clapped my hands with glee, a cliché of delight if ever I performed one. But they were out of stock with no date given for when they might be on sale again, so they were relegated to the dusty depths of my bookmark folders. After an indeterminate period, by which time my fever for the cutters had finally abated to manageable levels, Suck UK obtained more stock and kindly agreed to send me review samples of the full set.

Not realising that a recipe was included within, I sourced another recipe for plain sugar biscuits from the web, though I’ll try the one they provided next time. My vanilla sugar cookie recipe was delicious, holding it’s shape but with a pleasant chew to it too.

Mostly, the process was pretty straightforward with the exception of cutting out the baby hippo’s legs which were so small we couldn’t easily push the dough out of the cutters. Perhaps we’ll oil the cutters before we use them next time, or I might just miss out the baby hippo as it was far less cute than I anticipated!

As instructed, we let the dough rest before rolling and let the cut cookies rest in the fridge before baking. The pieces held their shapes pretty well and we were able to assemble all of them except one, the baby giraffe, which just wouldn’t support itself properly. The legs were a touch wobbly on a a number of them, especially the mummy giraffe but they stood unaided in the end.

Aren’t they magnificent?!

Of course, not only did the cookies enchant all of us (we made them during a self-catering holiday in Islay with friends), they were deliciously tasty too and it was a daft but fun pleasure to ask “who ate the baby hippo?” and “I’m munching the elephant ears right now!”

Artistic types could probably ice these and make them really roar (or grunt) but we thought they were lovely as they were.

I think they’d be a great gift for children who enjoy baking (and may encourage those who don’t) or could be a fun idea for a themed birthday party.

If you order them on Suck UK, you can’t specify a particular animal though they will send different animals if you order more than one. They suggest ordering on Firebox (which I assume is a sister site) if you wish to choose a specific animal. The sets are £7.50 / £7.99 from the two sites, respectively, plus delivery.

Suck UK also sell similar dinosaur 3D cookie cutters.

Kavey Eats received review samples of the 3D Safari Cookie Cutters from Suck UK.
Thanks to Matt Gibson for the additional image, used at the start of the post.

As part of the event, renowned Spanish chef Angel Pascual presented a special tasting menu in a three night popup restaurant.

Until 2011 when it closed its doors, Pascual was at the helm of the michelin-starred Lluçanès Restaurant which he and partner Rosa Morera originally opened in Osana, Catalonia in 1991 but relocated to Barcelona in 2006. Once there, they also opened a second restaurant, Els Fogons serving affordable traditional tapas.

Now they run a catering business that also provides consultancy, cooking classes and demonstrations.

In a space that looks like it was converted from parking or warehouse space (and is now regularly used for similar popup events organised by the Southbank Centre), we discovered a small bar and a tiny temporary kitchen on a raised platform over-looking an expansive dining area.

Each evening was organised into two sittings – we were part of the first. Despite the tiny kitchen and 40 diners per sitting, dishes came out at perfect intervals in a clearly choreographed performance between chefs and waiters. As the waiters delivered dishes to each table, they were followed around by colleagues who introduced and poured matching wines for each course.

 
 
Horse mackerel and guacamole with a bloody Mary sauce

Before the menu proper, came an amuse. In a martini glass was a small slice of horse mackerel that had been lightly salted and dried. Served over an intense smooth guacamole, topped with sweet sharp tomato sauce, it was a cross between cocktail and canape. The mackerel was as soft as sashimi. The Campo Viejo Cava Rose served with it was a touch sweeter than the white Cava Brut we tried later, but still crisp.

 
Sopa cremosa de comenillas con huevo de cordoniz cocido a baja temperatura

The first course listed on the menu was “seasonal wild mushrooms stuffed with traditional Spanish black pudding, served with quail egg in a cream of mushroom sauce” and served with the Cava Brut.

The morel mushroom was superbly flavoured, as was the rich cream of mushroom soup but neither of us could detect any hint of black pudding within the stuffing. The dryer cava cut through the richness well and gave Pete a faint impression of lemon sherbet.

 
Mil hojas de verduras i setas de temporada

The next course was translated on the menu as “a variety of layered season vegetables accompanied with a potato parmentier sauce  and drizzled with a flavoursome vegetable reduction”. The matched wine was Campo Viejo Tempranillo 2011. I always bristle a little when menus describe a dish as tasty, flavoursome or delicious – it always seems a little too presumptious to me. Still…

Although it looked pretty on the plate, the layering, with crisp pastry-like potato on top, made it difficult to eat without it splatting out across the plate. That aside, it was delicious, and noteworthy for how intensely Pascual made each vegetable sing of itself. Courgette was intensely courgette, aubergine intensely aubergine, and the same went for carrot and mushrooms. I thought the rosemary a touch strong but it balanced with the white sauce and oil which both, contrary to the expectations given by the menu, tasted of very little.

 
Arroz de barca especiado un punto picante com gambas de la Ionja de la Barceloneta

With the prawn head standing to attention, I watched the next course of “smoked risotto cooked with prawns fresh from the Barceloneta market – served a little spicy for added kick” being served to the tables around us.

Staff were a little slow to serve the Campo Viejo Reserva 2007 but perhaps that was because they took more time to explain the choice to match a red wine to the fish dish. Brand ambassador and head sommelier Alfredo Del Rio, when he spoke to us later, was keen to make much of how bold and rare a choice it was to pair fish with red, but really it’s not quite as unusual as he implied. Still, with such strong flavours, it made good sense.

The flavour of the risotto was far more successful than the texture, which we found intensely chalky, almost gritty and let the dish down for us. On the other hand, the rice carried a strong taste of the sea, which worked well against the very sweet and soft prawn. I yearned for more actual seafood; Pete’s dish had a full prawn, albeit a small one but mine must have broken during the cooking and what remained was the size of a newborn’s thumb.

 
Texturas y temperaturas de ave cerdo y ternera con verduras del tiempo a la brasa

The meat course was “a selection of duck, pork and beef with grilled seasonal vegetables” served with Gran Reserva 2005 and was a very mixed course for me.

I loved the simplicity of the presentation, and on first glance the pork looked particularly good. Sadly, when I moved to eat it, I discovered that nearly the entire piece was bone and cartilage and there was just a thin sliver of meat and a soft and unpleasantly chewy skin. Luckily, the beef, incredibly tender and well flavoured, and the duck, like a slice of fall-apart sausage made from confit of duck, were super.

Better still were the vegetables (and fruit); it’s my abiding impression that this is where Pascual truly shines. A single slice of apple was at the same time yieldingly soft yet with the thinnest layer of crispness around its exterior. A slice of artichoke had great intensity of flavour but none of the unpleasant fibres that can sometimes lessen the pleasure. A small cube of potato was beautifully cooked and delicious.

Bombon de chocolate, sonoro, explosive y tonificante

Described on the menu as “a rich chocolate ingot served with peppermint and an explosive surprise” this disappointed in part because of the damp squib when it came to the surprise element. The popping candy in both our chocolates was so meagre as to give only the merest hint of a snap; certainly a far cry from anything explosive as promised.

Served with the same Cava Rose as the amuse bouche, the best element on the plate was the peppermint foam which was thicker and a touch less ephemeral than the usual fine dining foams are wont to be. The orange jelly was ok too, perhaps blood orange or pink grapegruit. I didn’t feel any of the three elements worked together very well and found the dessert disappointing.

During the meal, I visited the open kitchen to watch the chefs at work. Angel Pascual was joined by a respected chef from La Boqueria – I was told that she runs a casual restaurant within the market area, serving dishes based on produce sold at the family stall. I’m afraid, I didn’t make a note of her name.

We were also able to chat further to Alfredo Del Rio, who generously invited us to sample some additional Campo Viejo wines which had not been included in the menu. The first was Dominio, which he explained was the premium wine made by the brand, made from grapes grown on just 5 parcels out of the 800 parcels of land that make up the vineyard. Aged in only new French oak barrels for 11 months, it’s young but rich for its age. Pete described it as smooth yet gloriously, lip-puckeringly tannic with tart fresh black fruit. The second was Graciano, not sold in its own right but one of the blends that makes up about 5% of the Gran Reserva served with the meat course. It’s an indigenous varietal, not one that we’d heard of before, and had strong black and blue berry flavours, a dark colour and strong tannin.

With coffee after the meal, the menu was priced at £65 a head, including the matching wines.

Although we didn’t love every aspect of each dish, we enjoyed the meal thoroughly, not least because of Pascual’s mastery of making vegetables sing and his tendency to let the flavours of the ingredients talk for themselves.

Kavey Eats were guests of Campo Viejo.

We finally made our maiden visit on a sunny Sunday in May, driving down from North West London and parking in the adjacent car park that is part of The Boulevard complex. There’s also an overground rail station just around the corner, with quick services from Clapham Junction.

The space had already been interior designed as a Thai restaurant when the Blue Elephant team took it over, adding their own touches. It’s modelled on a traditional Thai house, with lots of dark wood panelling, beautiful artwork and statuary and fresh tropical flowers.

image provided by Blue Elephant

Although pastiche like this can often be a turn off, I thought it well done in this case. Spread over three floors, it’s an expansive space, but divided into different areas and rooms, it doesn’t feel that way.

The first Blue Elephant was opened in Brussels over 30 years ago by chef Khun Nooror Somany Steppe, a Thai living in Belgium with her husband Karl Steppe. The London branch opened a few years after that and now there are twelve in the chain, located across Europe and Asia. Most recently, Blue Elephant have launched cookery schools in some of their locations, with a London school said to be coming soon.

Even though I’d heard some good things about the food (and some less so), it was the high prices of the à la carte menu that put me off visiting for so long. Frustratingly, the website menu doesn’t show prices (and requires you to download a PDF to boot) but we’re talking starters around £11, mains around £30 and sides and desserts are similarly pricey. A multi-course Thai dinner for 2 could easily run to £150 or more even with only a modest drink order.

However, the Blue Elephant Sunday brunch buffet turns that on its head, offering an enormous feast for a fixed price of £30 per person.

Tables groan with a huge array of starters, mains and desserts. Plenty of staff are on hand to explain dishes and help as needed. Most things are self-service with a manned noodle soup station, made to order and a roast lamb station, with meat carved from the joint on request.

When we visited, the buffet was spread out across the top floor with dining tables on the ground and lower floors. That does mean lots of clambering up and down the stairs with loaded dishes.

As my hip has been playing up lately, I have poor balance carrying things at the best of times and have mild vertigo when going down stairs as well, I resorted to using the lift provided for disabled access. It was slightly disconcerting as it made such loud beeps as it came to rest each time, but no one seemed too put out. If stairs are an issue for you too, ask for a table near the lift when booking.

Everything Pete and I tried (and between us we tried a lot) was very good, though I found myself drawn most strongly to starters and desserts, many of which were absolutely excellent.

The dessert table in particular had lots of things I’d never tried before. I was familiar with most of the fresh fruit, beautifully carved and cut. The only one missing for me was some fresh mango, which was certainly in season during our visit, to enjoy with the delicious sticky coconut rice.

But I’d never come across one fruit on the table before! I did ask my waiter, who went away and came back with the (obviously incorrect) answer of rambutan, so I left its identity aside and broke into the prickly protective shell. The fruit is soft, tastes both sweet and sharp, and it’s quite distinct from any other fruit I know.

A quick web search reveals that this spiky treat is salak (salacca zalacca) aka snake fruit. The fruit of the salak palm tree, it’s native to Indonesia but now grown and enjoyed across East Asia and is a popular street snack in Thailand, where it’s often sold pre-peeled and eaten dipped in sugar and salt.

We were also fascinated by some of the Thai sweets we’d not seen before, such as the strange but accurately described crispy jelly, with a crunchy shell and soft interior!

Although there were a good number of vegetarian options, I’d say the buffet is best value for omnivores and pescetarians who can benefit from a larger selection of the many dishes on offer.

I’ve read mixed reports on the à la carte offering, both in terms of price and food. But given the high quality of the dishes we tasted, I think Blue Elephant’s Sunday brunch buffet is an excellent way to enjoy their food at a fair price.

Kavey Eats was a guest of Blue Elephant Group.

Defined (culinarily) as the leafy green parts of a plant, either fresh or dried, herbs are usually used in small amounts to provide flavour or seasoning. They are distinct from spices, which are most commonly a product of the seeds, berries, roots, bark, flowers and even resins of various plants and also used to flavour and season.

The list of herbs is long indeed and the uses (both culinary and medical) are almost endless. It’s not uncommon for me to come across a reference to yet another herb I’ve never heard of before, let alone seen or tasted.

 
Za’atar and farmer Abu Kassem, Southern Lebanon

Whether you make something sweet or savoury, whether you create an ice cream, sorbet, granita, slushy, lolly or other frozen treat… make sure it’s all about the herbs!

You can choose a familiar herb such as coriander or mint, parsley, sage, rosemary or thyme, bay, basil, oregano, tarragon, dill or chives…

…or something more unusual such as anise, costmary (mace leaf), lemon balm or verbena, perilla, angelica, sorrel, calamus (sweet sedge), purslane, pennyroyal, sweet cicely, myrtle, lovage, feverfew, stevia, marshmallow or lemongrass…

…or even something completely new to you such as brooklime, greenthread, papalo, tulsi, peppergrass cress, rosella, sculpit, burnet, speedwell or sarsaparilla.

As always, I’ll seek out some inspiration and share it on my Pinterest board.

How To Take Part In BSFIC

• Create and blog a recipe that fits the challenge by the 28th of July.
• In your post, mention and link to this Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream post.
• In your post, include the Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream badge.
• Email me (by the 4th of June) with your first name or nickname (as you prefer), the link to your post and an image for my roundup, sized to no larger than 500 pixels on the longest side.

You are welcome to submit your post to as many blogger challenge events as you like.

If the recipe is not your own, please be aware of copyright issues. Email me if you would like to discuss this.

Entry into the challenge confers permission to use your image in my round up blog post of all entries, as well as related entries on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media.

If you like, tweet about your post using the hashtag #BSFIC. I’ll retweet any I see. You are also welcome to share the links to your posts on the Kavey Eats Facebook page.

This isn’t a proper competition, but I will send out a gift of some herb seeds to the author of my favourite entry (as long as the border agency regulations of your country allow it).

P.S. Karen at Lavender & Lovage runs a monthly Cooking with Herbs challenge; your herby #BSFIC would be an excellent fit for hers too!

So I was super impressed with all the entries, below, which I’m sure you’ll agree showcase a fabulous range of ideas!

I started things off early with my own post for which I recreated the BSFIC cartoon badge I drew back when I set the first challenge. I used my new review Lakeland Waffle Cone Maker (with lots of help from Pete) to make the cones, made a simple but really delicious basil ice cream to serve in them and melted some dark chocolate to create the drizzle on top.

Showing great ingenuity in the face of no waffle maker, Gary from Big Spud made Waffles on a George Foreman Grill. He paired them with some Ben & Jerry’s Winter Berry Brownie for a fruity chocolatey hit. Great proof that you don’t need to fill your kitchen with gadgets to be creative in the kitchen, a lesson I’ve not yet truly accepted!

Julia from Food Blog London initially thought about making stroopwafels (keep your eyes open for an upcoming post of mine, Julia!) but decided in the end to combine the new challenge with the recent Baked Alaska theme. Her Waffle, Blueberry Sorbet and Meringue dessert may not have looked as pretty as she hoped, but it did look pretty darn tasty! I like the idea of using a waffle instead of a cake as the base for a baked alaska, and the sorbet sounds so refreshing.

Now if you want to talk about thinking outside the box, blue sky thinking, pushing the envelope or, as us normal people call it, originality then look no further than Hannah of Corner Cottage Bakery’s Strawberry Jelly Ice Cream Bowls. And of course, she didn’t use the ready made cubes of jelly like yours truly would have – she made beautiful delicately pink jelly from real strawberries and served it with vanilla ice cream. A totally grown up twist on a childhood classic.

Julia from Something Missing had an ice cream crisis recently. She ran out of ice cream! Now that just won’t do… so a root around her store cupboard revealed just the ingredients to make a tasty Frappuccino ice cream using Ferrero Rocher, coffee and a condensed milk base. For her edible Hazelnut Chocolate Bowls, she used Nutella and ground hazelnuts for a gluten-free bake. I love the pretty shape of the bowls!

Asbestos fingered Jennie from All The Things I Eat made cute little cones, using a David Lebovitz recipe. These she then turned into nifty Cornettos by filling with vanilla condensed milk ice cream and coating with chocolate and chopped toasted hazelnuts. It’s hard not to sing like a Gondolier at these beauties!

After throwing down the gauntlet to me to try making ice cream cones out of crushed popcorn, Gill from Pigling Bland decided to make Brandy Snap Baskets with Banana Ice Cream. She added a little desiccated coconut to a Mary Berry recipe for the brandy baskets and combined frozen bananas and condensed milk to make a base ice cream to which she added vanilla and chocolate.

Foodycat’s Alicia shocked herself silly when she realised, after much Googling, that her idea was indeed so original she couldn’t find any evidence of anyone having done the same before. Having often thought of a new idea myself, only to discover that many others have had just the same inspiration before me, I know well how rare this actually is! Keen to represent the flavours of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Alicia made Raspberry Choux Profiteroles filled with Peanut Butter Ice Cream. I’ve never encountered flavoured choux pastry before and love the idea!

With such wide-ranging and creative entries, I really struggled to pick a winner, and turned to Pete to help me make the final pick. Between us, we selected Hannah from Corner Cottage Bakery to win the prize – a Waffle Cone Maker, kindly provided by Lakeland. We loved her clever take on ice cream cups; and such a pretty and summery post too.

Hannah, drop me a line with your postal address and I’ll send it on to Lakeland straight away! Congratulations!

I’m a bit late posting the new Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream challenge, so I’ll make it a two month theme again. I’ll announce that one soon!

Some went into sandwiches and some into a beautifully rich and meaty ragu that Pete cooked up.

The rest I turned into lamb and spring onion hoisin lettuce wraps, a quick and delicious mid-week evening meal.

Lamb & Spring Onion Hoisin Lettuce Wraps

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
300-400 grams leftover roast lamb, approx. 1 cm dice
3-4 spring onions, halved lengthways and cut into 4 cm batons
Approx. half a jar supermarket hoisin sauce
1 head iceberg lettuce
Sesame oil, to fry (or any vegetable oil)
(Optional) quarter of cucumber, cut into thin 4 cm batons

Note: I used half a 240 gram jar of Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients hoisin sauce, which is not as strong as the hoisin I buy from the Oriental supermarket. If using the stronger stuff, reduce amount of sauce by a third to a half and add a tablespoon or two of water, if needed, to help it coat the lamb.

Method

• Carefully peel the leaves away from the head of lettuce, wash thoroughly and leave to drain.
• Wash and cut the cucumber and spring onion batons and dice the leftover lamb.

• Heat sesame oil in a wok or large saucepan and add the diced lamb. Stir regularly.

• Once the lamb has started to heat up, add the spring onions and continue to fry, stirring regularly, for another couple of minutes.

• Once the onions have softened to your liking, pour in the hoisin sauce and stir thoroughly, until the lamb is evenly coated and piping hot.

• Serve by placing cucumber batons and hoisin lamb into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the leaf around the contents and enjoy!

Kavey Eats received a sample box of organic lamb from Graig Farm. For reader discount code, see end of previous post.

When it came to the turn of the enormous shoulder of lamb, we decided to keep it classic and pair the lamb with garlic and rosemary. This lamb has such wonderful flavour that we knew it would stand up to the two strong flavours without being overwhelmed.

Garlic & Rosemary Shoulder of Lamb

Ingredients
1 x 1.6 kilo shoulder of lamb
3-4 heads of garlic
4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Note: Adjust quantities for smaller joints.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 C.

• Cut the tops off 3 heads of garlic.
• Retain the main part of the garlic heads and wrap each one in foil, sealed at the top.
• Retrieve the pieces of garlic from the tops of the 3 heads and break open the remaining head of garlic and peel all the cloves.

• Cut deep slits into the lamb.
• Push the large chunks of garlic deep into the slits.

• Tie the rosemary over the joint.
• Place the foil-wrapped garlic heads in the roasting dish, around the lamb joint.

• Pop the lamb into the oven to roast. For medium, I give 25 minutes per half kilo plus 25 minutes; for this 1.6 kilo joint, I roasted it for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• Take the lamb out of the oven, cover loosely with a sheet of foil and leave to rest for about 20 minutes. (We crank up the heat on the roast potatoes for those last 20 minutes).

• Cook your veg, make your gravy and serve.

Tip: Keep the sweet, sweet roasted garlic from the foil-wrapped garlic heads aside to enjoy smeared over toast the next day, stir the roasted garlic into your gravy, or just serve a head per guest and let them squeeze it out and enjoy it with the lamb.

A classic roast dinner that is hard to beat!

Coming up soon, a great recipe for leftover lamb…

Discount Code

Try Graig Farm organic Welsh lamb (or any other meat such as beef and pork) yourself with a special discount code for Kavey Eats readers:

KAV222

The code gives you 20% off orders over £50 and also includes free delivery. It’s valid until June 30th 2013 and can be used three times per household. Of course, you can pass the code on to friends and family, if they’d like to place an order for themselves.

Kavey Eats received a sample box of organic lamb from Graig Farm.

My shortlist is an assortment of my mum’s home-cooked Indian food, typical English school-dinner comfort stodge and big brand ready-made favourites. A good example of the latter is a steaming hot bowl of Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup with buttered slices of pappy processed white bread.

But surely a home-made version, made from home-grown tomatoes and served with home-baked bread (and really good butter), would be even better?

Having grown our own tomatoes for many years, I set Pete the challenge of creating a soup in the Heinz style, but made with a shorter, simpler set of ingredients. Heinz’ soup contains modified corn flour, dried skimmed milk, milk proteins… nothing particularly scary but not ingredients we’d use at home either.

To my delight, Pete nailed his home-made version on the first try! He completely failed to write down the recipe back then, but when he made it again recently (with the last frozen batch of last year’s tomatoes), I insisted he keep a record.

His delicious soup consisted of tomatoes, onions, fresh cream, home-made chicken stock and seasoning. That’s it.

I have never been a huge soup lover, usually preferring something more solid. And it’s rare I lose my appetite, even when poorly. But occasionally I yearn for a light meal, something simple, something tasty and fresh, something comfortingly familiar, something warming that soothes a sore throat as well as a fractious soul…

For those occasions, I can thoroughly recommend Pete’s Home-made Cream of Tomato Soup.

Pete’s Home-made Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients
1 medium onion, finely diced
600 grams whole tomatoes
800 ml chicken stock
100 ml double cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
Vegetable oil, for cooking

Method

• Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the onion until golden.
• Add the tomatoes, peeled if you have the patience and fry until they break down.
• Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour to reduce.
• Allow to cool.
• Blitz in a blender or food processor and sieve to remove seeds and skin.
• Warm through again on a gentle heat, stir in cream and continue to warm until piping hot.
• Taste, season and serve with fresh bread and butter.

What are the foods you long for when you’re feeling poorly or sad? Do you turn to childhood favourites too?