A Crooked Little Lamb Recipe

I recently read a copy of Warren Ellis's most excellent novel Crooked Little Vein. After it finished Warren listed a number of recipes, including this one for Lamb with a garlic, wine and rosemary sauce. Warren also suggests a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds over the top at the end. Not something I personally think is necessary. This dish meets my criteria for most excellent food, simple to prepare, a classic combination of ingredients and a tasty end product.

Ingredients
A joint of Lamb
A bulb of garlic (that wee plump thing composed of lots of cloves), cut in half across the middle.
A sprig of rosemary
A glass of White Wine (don't use a wine you wouldn't be happy to drink on its own)
Tinfoil (do not eat)

Preparation

• Pre-heat the oven to 190C

• Rip of about 3 feet of tin foil and fold in half. Repeat with a second strip and lay at right angles across the first. Like a modern day Robert Harbin, give it the old Origami Kung Fu and make a (hopefully) leak proof pocket of the foil.

• Add the bisected bulb of garlic, the glass of wine and rosemary.

Time to dust off the abacus, the next two items need a wee bit of math to work out what hits the oven first and when the second item goes in. Aim to have the sauce cooked at the same time your lamb has finished resting.

• Seal the pocket and whack into the oven for at least 1 1/2 hours.
  
• Roast the lamb for 30 minutes a lb (450g) and rest for 30 minutes (the Lamb that is not yourself).

• Slice the lamb and strain the sauce over the top.

Eat swilled down with the remainder of the wine (hic), then dig out an issue of Transmetropolitan to read.

Bon Apetite.

Ana's Dumplings

Hailing from the land of Dan Marino, this Southern belle provided me with this delightful recipe for Bread Dumplings. The perfect accompaniment to thanksgiving turkey or your Chrimbo dinner if you're from the other side of the pond. Just make sure you don't fumble when taking them out of the oven, or they may end up incomplete. I'm sure when you get the first down, you'll want ten.

Ingredients for 6-8 Dumplings

6 Hard Rolls ( I use the Chicago hard rolls, that are a day old)
1/8th Liter of hot milk
1 small onion
30 grams of butter
2 Tbl spoons of parsley (the straighter. leafy version)
2 eggs
Pepper
Salt
A little flour

Preparation

Tear apart the rolls in small pieces or cut it in small pieces, pour the hot milk over it. Cut up the onions in tiny pieces and heat them up in a pan with the butter until they turn all glassy, throw in the parsley and let that heat up with the onions.

Then put the onions and parsley mixture and the eggs into the bowl with your bread, mix it and let it sit for a few minutes. Put in the salt and pepper. Dust the mass with a little bit of flour, not too much otherwise they’ll get hard as rocks. Moisten your hands with water, grab a handful of the mixture and form a ball. Dust with a little flour and put aside.

Fill a big pot with water, a little salt. Bring it to a gentle boil, turn the heat down, put in the dumplings and let them cook for approximately 20 minutes, don’t boil them and don’t cover the pot. When they float to the top and stay there, then they are ready.

These are great with roasts and gravies.

Touchdown !!!

For the curious amongst you, the picture of Ana shown above was taken at a John Mayall concert at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. Go Rock Chick go, go,go !!