Nov 24 2009
From Nigella to Nigel.
I made tea last week; Dougal’s been doing most of the cooking of late and I felt I owed him a night off. I had some lamb steaks in the freezer so looked online, found a promising looking recipe with good reader comments, and cooked. It was awful. Such a waste of lamb, so much so I don’t even want to tell you about it, and thoroughly demoralising to someone who is feeling out of the loop with cooking and missing her mojo.
This week, Lisa posted on facebook that she’d cooked a Nigel Slater Lamb Recipe. I’d come across this recipe when looking last week but had thought it seemed to summery, not suited to a dreich winter’s evening. (Two posts in a month using the word dreich, can you tell it’s November?) But Lisa’s enthusiasm for the recipe made me give it a second look. I reasoned that with mashed potatoes it might be just the ticket. We had some more lamb chops in the freezer (lamb packs had been on three for a tenner in the supermarket!) and I grabbed some fresh herbs in Roots, Fruits and Flowers on Byres Road in Glasgow, near uni. (I could have gone to the new proof that Glasgow is okay really Waitrose, which is next door, but you have to shop local, right? Plus the packs were the same price and although not stating their actual contents, I reckon the packs in RFF (from ScotHerbs, so more local-ish, presumably) were a shade bigger). D got the feta, lemon and some veg to keep me happy, and we were away.
The premise is a bit like Ed’s Tender Rump- griddled meat plus tasty dressing- although without any post-cooking ‘marinading’, you simply dress the hot chops in the oil-lemon-feta-oregano-thyme-pepper mixture. I’d maybe use a wee shade less feta next time (I think it’s easy to over do) but otherwise even though it looked a little like omg my lamb is covered in bits of plant! more was generally good, regards this dressing.
Indeed, this was absolutely scrummy. I highly encourage you to cook it! Ken, I’m thinking of you seeing as you have oregano and thyme in the garden! (Plus your woody stemmed thyme is far easier to pick the leaves from than supermarket stuff!) Also, any spare dressing is excellent stirred through the mashed potato.
Delighted to have made a small return to form. And to the kitchen. :o)
Fabulous! Yes, totally agree - I only used half the block of feta. And I also agree that I thought it would be too summery (I use a very similar dressing on grilled courgettes in the summertime) but I think the lamb helps make it cold weather-friendly. I put the spare dressing on steamed broccoli. Lovely!
Do try his Moroccan style chicken (from the same series). It’s dead easy, it does tell you to marinate in advance, but cooking it is very quick and simple.
You know I was thinking last night “this would be great with more of that Feta…” :-)
Right… perhaps I’ll do this one night J&M are here. It does sound yummy and I don’t have to go to Glasgow to get my herbs! And thanks for the pointer regarding leftover dressing…… OK IT’S TOMORROW NIGHT’S TEA
I’m going to try this - but I’m going to substitute Haloumi (because I have it in the fridge right now, and feta is a real sod to get hold of in East Yorkshire, along with running water, anti-radiation ampoules and enough ammunition to feel comfortably safe until daylight).
High heat & lots of sizzle? Low heat with chops always seems to dry them out - or does the dressing counteract drying, with the help of repeated drizzling?
mm haloumi. we too have some in the fridge. Yes, high heat and loadsa sizzle. and maybe still a bit pink on the inside!
not sure if the halloumi will melt with just the heat of the meat, and it won’t crumble as much as the feta, but could be tasty… might need more lemon as halloumi is very sweet and not salty like feta
Wow this looks good. I’ve already had dinner but I feel like round 2 now!
Just in answer to your question, at the moment I only sell on Etsy I’m afraid, but I’m going to look into Folksy and or Dawanda in the new year. Was there something you had your eye on? xx