Double Lamb Chops with Rosemary and Dijon Mustard

I made this for dinner the other night and my husband told me it was better than any lamb he had ever had in a restaurant. We have eaten at some pretty wonderful restaurants, so I took that as a huge compliment. The double chops are brilliant because you get a crispy outside but a rare and succulent inside. You can play around with the marinade as well – add lemon zest or capers for some zing, or the honey or jam for sweetness. I like to sear the lamb in an oven proof dish on the stove and then transfer the whole thing to the oven to finish off the cooking process.

2 rack of lamb cut into double chops and frenched (ask your butcher to do this) - this works out to be about 6 double chops

3 tbspn finely chopped rosemary

3 tbspn olive oil

1 tbspn soy

1 tbspn Dijon mustard

1 tbspn honey or plum jam (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Using a teaspoon, rub some marinade on the meaty part of the lamb, and place lamb and any left over marinade in a snap lock bag. Allow to marinate for at least an hour if you have time and up to overnight. Make sure the meat is at room temperature before you start cooking. Heat a non stick pan/griddle or the bbq to high heat. Sear the lamb on each side and on the top for a minute or two or until browned and starting to crisp. Transfer to an oven dish and bake for 7 minutes for medium rare.

Salmon Tarator - Family Style

I have already written a post about the very impressive tarator style salmon. This time I made it for a dinner party and used a whole side of salmon rather than individual pieces. I also slightly altered the salad that tops it. Everybody adored it – this is a sure fire dinner party winner!

There are three elements that can all be prepared in advance but need to be assemble just before serving – fish, yoghurt, herb salad

Fish

1 side of salmon

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Lay out one or two large pieces of sliver foil (I use two, one above the other with a slight overlap). Place a slightly smaller piece of baking paper on the foil and place the fish (skin side down) on the baking paper. Rub the fish with a small amount of olive oil and season well. Wrap tightly in the baking paper and silver foil so you have a sealed package or fish. Place on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the fish over and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Open the silver foil and baking paper and allow fish to cool down. Place the fish skin side up on the serving dish. Peel the skin off and discard it. Use a knife to remove the blood line and any grey bits. You will be left with a pink rectangle. Set aside.

Yoghurt

350g natural or greek style yoghurt

1 tbspn tahini paste

juice of 1-1½ lemons

generous pinch of sea salt

Whip together all ingredients. Taste and adjust salt and lemon according to your preference. Refrigerate until needed. (Note, this yoghurt is wonderful with the roast eggplant salad). 

If you can't be bothered making the yoghurt, you can substitute store bought techina from your local falafel takeaway or middle eastern food stockist.

Herb Salad

1½ bunches parsley, leaves finely chopped

½ bunch mint, leaves shredded

150g walnuts, toasted and chopped

2 long red chilies, finely diced

½ small red onion, finely diced

½ cup pomegranate seeds

1 heaped tbsn sumac

1 flat tspn cinnamon

juice of 1-2 lemons

¼ cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients together. If you are preparing this in advance, combine everything but the pomegranate, oil and lemon juice. Add these just before serving and toss to combine.

To assemble:

Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to spread a thick layer of yoghurt over the fish. Top with the herb salad. For super presentation, tuck a folded paper towel under either side of the fish before putting on the yogurt and herb salad and remove just before serving.

  

Zucchini Salad with Chilli, Mint and Lemon

This a delicate and refreshing salad which is perfect to welcome the spring. I use a vegetable peeler to shave ribbons of zucchini, but I stop once I get to the seeds. Keep the ‘core’ of the zucchini to use in soup, risotto or chop salads.

4 zucchini, sliced into ribbons

1 long red chilli, finely diced

12 mint leaves, shredded

4 tbspn olive oil

pinch of sea salt

juice of ½ a lemon

1 tspn white balsamic or red wine vinegar

On the dish you are serving the salad on, place the chili and mint. Drizzle over the olive oil and salt and use a fork to mix this around. Add the lemon juice, mix again and taste. For more acidity, add the vinegar. Stir again and taste. At this point, you should be able to put any vegetable in that dressing and it would taste amazing. Pile the zucchini ribbons on top of the dressing. Toss the salad just before serving.

Roast Carrots with Hazelnuts and Dukkah

A delicious side dish and a great alternative to roast potatoes. If there are any leftovers, they are wonderful in a simple salad of spinach leaves and avocado.

3 bunches of dutch carrots, trimmed and scrubbed

¼ cup hazelnuts, roasted and chopped

1 tbspn dukkah

olive oil

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Place carrots on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with sea salt. Roast for 40-45 minutes or until golden, turning at least once. Arrange carrots on a serving dish. Mix hazelnuts with dukkah and scatter mixture over carrots. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

Roast Eggplant with Pomegranate and Almonds

This is a beautiful side dish or salad to go with lamb or fish. I made it with the Salmon Tarator and served the eggplant with a side of the lemon yoghurt. If you can't get lebanese eggplant, use normal eggplant and cut it into wedges.

6 lebanese or baby eggplant, halved lengthways

handful of pomegranate seeds

3 tbspns chopped parsley

¼ cup toasted slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Place eggplant in a colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. Allow to stand for 30 minutes. Rinse eggplant and pat dry with paper towels. Place eggplant of a roasting tray and spray or drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 35-40 minutes or until tender and browned. Allow to cool slightly. Arrange eggplant on a serving plate. Scatter over pomegranate, almonds and parsley.

Sweet Potato, Fennel and Coriander Salad

This is a substantial salad that works well with anything. The lime and coriander cut through the creaminess of the avocado and the sweetness of the potato to give a clean and light finish.

2 large sweet potato (orange or red or combination), cut into wedges

1 fennel, finely sliced (use a mandolin if you have one)

bunch of coriander, leaves only

1 avocado, cubed or sliced

2 handfuls of rocket

dressing

juice of ½ a lime

¼ cup olive oil

1 tbspn white balsamic vinegar

1 tspn Dijon mustard

1 tspn maple syrup

pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Toss the sweet potato in 2 tbspns of olive oil, season and roast for about 45 minutes or until golden, turning at least once.

Place rocket, coriander, fennel, avocado and sweet potato in a large dish. Mix together dressing ingredients. Pour over and toss to combine.

Middle Eastern Roast Vegetable Salad

This salad goes beautifully with the spiced lamb backstrap. Admittedly, it takes a little longer to prepare, but if you can roast the vegetables in advance it can be assembled very quickly. It can be served warm or cold and keeps brilliantly for lunch the next day (although you are unlikely to have any leftovers!)

½ head of cauliflower

1 eggplant

400g green beans, topped

½ bunch dutch carrots

1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

½ pomegranate seeded

¼ cup parsley, finely sliced

¼ cup mint leaves, finely sliced

zest of one lemon

¼ cup toasted slivered almonds

dressing

¼ cup olive oil

juice of ½ a lemon

½ tspn cinnamon

1 tbspn pomegranate molasses

1 tspn balsamic vinegar

1 tspn honey            

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Steam the cauliflower for about 5 minutes or til just tender. Cut into florets. Cut eggplant into cubes and place in a colander, sprinkle with salt and allow to stand for 30 mins. Pat dry eggplant. Scrub carrots and halve lengthways. Combine eggplant, cauliflower and carrots in a baking dish, spray with olive oil and roast for 30 mins (you may need 2 baking dishes – don’t overcrowd or the veggies will sweat instead of bake). Steam beans and refresh under cold water.

Combine vegetables in a bowl, add chickpeas, parsley, mint and zest. Combine all ingredients for dressing and then spoon over the vegetables. Add pomegranate seeds and slivered almonds. Mix gently to combine.

Winter Vegetable Salad with Maple Pecans

I won't pretend that this salad doesn’t take some work to prepare but on the plus side, everything can be done in advance, and the vegetables can all be roasted at the same time (I do them on different trays because the cooking times vary though). I also roast everything on trays lined with baking paper which means there is hardly any cleaning up. The end result is really aesthetically beautiful as well as very delicious. If you have some good bread and a sharp white cheese, you have an entire lunch or light meal done.

2 handfuls of greens (eg spinach, rocket, witlof, beetroot leaves)

2 carrots, peeled and cut into batons

6 brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved

3 medium beetroot, peeled and cut into wedges (wear gloves to do this)

6 jerusalem artichokes, trimmed and halved

1 navel or blood orange, segmented, juice reserved

½ cup pecans

1 tbsn maple syrup

olive oil

dressing

2 tbspn good olive oil

1 tspn balsamic vinegar

1 tbspn orange juice

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Places beetroots and carrots on roasting trays. Spray or drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Steam Jerusalem artichokes til just tender. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and season. Toss brussel sprouts in some olive oil. Saute cut side down in a fry pan until they start to colour. Transfer to a baking tray. Roast all the vegetables til golden and tender. Beetroots approximately 50-60 mins, carrots and Jerusalem artichokes 40-45 mins, sprouts 20-25 mins. Turn everything at least once for even cooking.

Dry fry pecans until lightly toasted. Add maple syrup, and toss until the nuts are coated. Transfer nuts to a baking tray and roast for about 7 minutes, then let cool.

Place greens in a large serving dish. Top with roast veggies, orange segments and pecans then drizzle over dressing ingredients.

Fast Herby Chicken

This chicken marinade is delicious on a whole chicken or chicken pieces and then roasted or even on lamb chops for the bbq. I used it on sliced chicken breast for a super quick dinner. If you have larger pieces of chicken, cook one side, then turn over and place a lid on the pan for a couple of minutes then remove lid and continue.

¼ bunch parsley, leaves, finely chopped

1 large sprig rosemary, leaves finely chopped

zest of 1 lemon

juice of ½ lemon

1 tspn Dijon mustard

2 tbspn olive oil

good pinch sea salt

2 chicken breasts, sliced fairly thinly

Mix all ingredients except for chicken. Add marinade mixture to chicken pieces and toss to coat. Heat a non stick pan to high. Pour in chicken pieces and turn heat down to medium. Use tongs to separate pieces and make sure the pieces are down flat. Cook for 3 minutes and turn pieces over. Cook for another 2 minutes or until cooked through and golden.

Chicken Goujons (or Fancy Schnitzel)

These came about as I was making schnitzel for the kids and decided to make a few 'fancy' ones just in case the new recipe I was trying out for dinner didn’t work.  Dinner did work, but these were sensational! I use corn flake crumbs and panko crumbs because I like the texture and crunch they give, but you could use one or the other if you prefer. You could also add some sesame seeds or grated parmesan to the crumbing mix.

12 chicken tenderloins (or 2 chicken breasts cut into tenderloin sized strips)

1 egg

generous pinch of salt

1 tspn Dijon mustard

¾ cup cornflakes crumbs

¾ cup panko crumbs

zest of one lemon

1 tbspn shredded parsley

vegetable oil for frying

In a bowl, combine egg, salt and mustard. Cover a plate with clingfilm and mix both crumbs, zest and parsley until zest is distributed. Dip tenderloins in egg mix then press into crumb mix on both sides. Refrigerate chicken pieces for at least half and hour. Heat oil to medium and fry in batches for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden and cooked through.

Brown Rice Salad with Silver Beet and Chickpeas

I was at the market the other day and saw some gorgeous looking silver beet and decided to experiment. Sautéed, it was quite delicious on its own but I wanted to add some other elements – nuts for textural crunch, pomegranate for a burst of sweetness, cinnamon for warmth and lemon zest for zing. The brown rice is a lovely nutty base for all these components but it also works wonderfully without the rice. If you chose to do this, you could add some crumbled feta for an extra dimension.

1½ cups brown rice

½ bunch silverbeet, stems finely sliced and leaves roughly sliced

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well

½ cup toasted slivered almonds

seeds of half a pomegranate or substitute with ¼ cup dried cranberries

zest of one lemon

1/2 tspn cinnamon

1 tbspn olive oil

1 tbspn pomegranate molasses

Cook rice according to instructions on packet. Add a generous pinch of salt to cooking liquid for flavor. Allow rice to cool.

Saute silverbeet stalks in olive oil until tender (about 5 minutes). Add leaves, stir and cover with a lid until leaves start to wilt. Combine rice, silverbeet, chickpeas, zest, almonds and pomegranate seeds. Drizzle over molasses and toss to combine. 

Red Fattoush Salad

This is a colourful and clean tasting salad that pairs beautifully with fish or lamb. The sumac and cinnamon give it an exotic twist and transform it into something special.

2 baby cos chopped

3 lebanese cucumber

3 tomatoes

2 red pepper

4 radishes, finely sliced

1 cup parsley, roughly chopped

½ cup mint leaves

1 lemon, pith removed, cut into segments

Dressing

Juice of half a lemon

¼ cup olive oil

½ tspn cinnamon

1/2 tspn sugar

good pinch of salt

1 tbspn sumac

Combine all ingredients for dressing. Cut cucumber, tomato and pepper into pieces roughly the same size. Combine all ingredients and pour over dressing.