Lamb and Aubergine Rosemary Skewers

BBQ season just doesn't feel right without a kebab does it? But growing up, my lamb or pork Andrew's kebab always seemed overcooked (sorry Dad!) and ended up being put to one side in favour of juicy sausages and meaty spare ribs. The ones I used to make with friends, with some courgette and mushroom didn't fair much better either. A few years ago I stumbled across this fantastic Nigel Slater article laying down kebab law: keep things simple, one meat and one veg, playing with flavours away from the classic bit of shrivelled mushroom, or mushy tomato. 

Shop wise, Richard started making kebabs by hand, on slightly smaller skewers (much more appetising as part of a BBQ selection) and they are now marinated in delicious sauces to keep the meat juicy and singing with flavour. And yet there's still something about making our own! Here in Paris I had a delicious lamb neck fillet in the freezer: plenty of marbling for flavour, very reasonable and the perfect shape for cutting into kebab cubes! Nigel gives a recipe for Pork and Mango which sounds amazing but here I experiment with his other suggestion of Lamb and Aubergine and make with saffron rice, salad, pitta and tzatsiki. 

Ingredients 

One good sized lamb neck fillet makes three kebabs | Three strong sticks of rosemary or normal wood skewers (available to buy at Andrew's) | One small aubergine cubed | 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed | Chilli powder | 150g Greek yoghurt | Rice | Salad | Good handful of fresh mint leaves | 

1| Preparing your lamb is super easy, you just need a sharp knife (your butcher will do this for you if you would really like!) Cut length ways into three, and then slice each strip into five equal good sized pieces. 

2| Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and move to one side on your board. 

3| On the same board, prepare your aubergine, cutting into cubes of a similar size to your lamb, sprinkle with 2 of the crushed cloves of garlic, some torn mint leaves, olive oil, and chilli powder ( I would have loved to have used some crushed fennel seeds but couldn't get hold of any) and put to one side with the meat. 

4| Making your kebabs on rosemary skewers is not only a great way to get flavour throughout the kebab but also looks fantastic too. If however you can't get hold of good quality rosemary, you can always push some rosemary leaves into the kebab once on a wooden skewer. If using rosemary, strip of the leaves, leaving some still intact at the end of the kebab and keep aside for use another time. Then place about four aubergine pieces, and five lamb pieces alternately on the skewer. 

5| You can now make your tzatsiki which is a lovely light and refreshing accompaniment. Simply add the other two cloves of crushed garlic with a handful of finely chopped mint to the greek yoghurt and stir. You can also add finely chopped cucumber, but that is optional.

6| Add your rice to a pan of salted boiling water and cook for ten minutes. Saffron is an expensive herb so can be definitely done without if not already in the cupboard!

7| Heat a hot non stick pan on a high heat. Place in your kebabs and use a fork to press the meat down into the pan, so that they really brown off, for a couple of minutes each side. The rosemary skewer makes it very easy to turn over and fit in the pan. 

8| When your rice comes to the end of cooking, use a ladle to add some of the cooking water to the pan, and turn the heat down slightly to let it simmer away. This will just help the kebabs retain liquid for the rest of the cooking, for about another 5 minutes, and stay lovely and juicy. 

9| Meanwhile prepare your salad and toast some pitta bread. Once kebabs are cooked serve immediately. You can either use the pitta bread whole to place everything inside, or cut small as a little extra on the side. 

Haloumi and Store Cupboard Rice Salad

Living and working in Paris, my flatmate and I are often too hot to eat a hot meal, and really can't afford to eat meat for every meal either. We have however managed to eat healthily with meals like this one, using cheeses such as haloumi and feta as meat substitutes, and making use of nutritious red peppers, onions, peas and olives. I know Andrew sells great quality Greek feta and Cypriot haloumi which per person are such good money for value! His range of different olives are also pretty amazing too, and what's nice you don't have to buy a whole tub like you do in the supermarket.

Ingredients for two people:

Half a pack of haloumi, four to six slices | Half a red onion, finely chopped | Half a red pepper finely chopped | Frozen peas | Drop of olive oil and balsamic | Sprinkle of dried oregano or mixed herbs | Rice, about 1 mug full | Feel free to adapt accordingly for what you need to use up in the fridge

1| Slice your haloumi and drizzle over a little olive oil and sprinkle some dried herbs, massage in and set to one side.  2| Then start to gently fry your onion, and a little crushed garlic if you have it. 

3| Meanwhile add your rice to boiling water and cook for ten minutes. 

4| Add your pepper and olives and cook for a further five minutes. 

5| Add your green peas and a dash of baslsamic vinegar cooking on a high heat now for around two minutes before adding your cooked rice. 

6| Mix and pour into a serving dish so that you can quickly give your frying pan a clean before cooking the haloumi. 

7| Heat up the pan and fry the haloumi for about two minutes each side until it is nice and golden all over. 

7| Serve immediately with the rice and enjoy! 

Barbecued 'Mojito' Shoulder of Lamb

The sun was out and shining today and we had a shoulder of lamb in the fridge so I thought I would try out a new recipe for the barbecue. Shoulder of lamb is a great choice at the moment because all lamb is now new seasons so really delicious and tender, and it is great value for money compared to the leg. Although there is more fat running through than leg of lamb, the meat is so tender it just melts away while cooking, helping to flavour the meat. The marinade I chose is a slight twist on the classic garlic and olive oil that we are so used to putting on lamb nowadays- the rum, lime juice, and mint just make it that extra bit special on a summers day.

Ingredients:
1 whole shoulder of lamb serves 5-6 people (ask your butcher to debone so that you can lay the meat flat on the BBQ so that it cooks quicker)

 6 crushed garlic cloves
a good handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
4 tablespoons of rum
1 tablespoon of olive oil
the juice of one lime and zest grated

Unless you have a food processor, in which you can just blitz the above ingredients, start by pounding the garlic and mint together using a pestle and mortar.
Add the lime juice and zest and again mix together. Slowly add the other liquid ingredients and really stir well to let the flavours of the mint and garlic release into the rum.

Pour the mixture on to the lamb a bit at a time massaging into the meat as you go. When finished place the lamb into a bowl and cover with foil. Leave in the fridge for a good 3-5 hours to let the flavours permeate the meat.

We used a traditional charcoal BBQ to cook the lamb. Place the charcoal either side of a foil tray to collect any dripping fat. Once the coals are really hot, let the lamb cook flat on the BBQ for about an hour with the lid on to keep the BBQ hot.

Carve the meat and serve with buttery new potatoes and salad.

Mum's Sirloin Steak With Sautéed Potatoes

Whenever there's a special occasion in our house a request is always put in by someone for mum's steak and sautéed potatoes. It is simple, easy to make, delicious, value for money... the list goes on. And as you can buy both exceptionally good steak, and potatoes, from Suffolk I thought I would make it my third meal of eating local produce for September.

I've watched my Dad spend years tracking down the perfect beef supplier for him- from Aberdeen Angus in Scotland to Smithfield meat market in London- and although it has all been good it has been hard to find the perfect combination of beef that is well looked after, of a great eating quality, and from a herd big enough to be able to supply that consistently throughout the year. It turned out that the best beef was on our doorstep all along: our supplier Charlie sources the very best beef from Suffolk farmers that believe well looked after animals make the best beef. Once at Andrew's the beef is matured in carcass for at least 21 days before steaks and joints are cut and prepared daily making it even more delicious!

Ingredients
sirloin steak each (rump steak would be a very good cheaper alternative) | suffolk maris piper potatoes peeled and diced (a big handful per person) | sunflower oil (enough to shallow fry the potatoes in a wok) | green salad to serve

1. From cold water bring potatoes to the boil and simmer for five minutes, strain and set aside | 2. Heat a generous amount of sunflower oil in a wok, enough to just cover all your potatoes | 3. Add potatoes and cook for about 20 minutes until golden, turning now and again to stop them burning on the bottom |

4. Prepare your salad and set aside | 5. Prepare your steaks- anything from a light seasoning and drizzle of olive oil to rubbing in herbs and chilli powder, it's up to you! |

6. Heat a frying pan on a high heat and cook your steaks- I like my steak quite rare but for medium rare I would suggest 2-3 minutes each side for an average sized steak! | 6. With a slotted spoon remove the cooked potatoes to a serving bowl lined with kitchen roll to soak up the fat, then remove the kitchen roll before serving.

Nedging Lamb with Suffolk Vegetables

This month Transition Ipswich have launched the 30-Mile-Food-Challenge, an initiative to get Suffolk consumers eating the best produce the county has to offer. I'm really proud of the work Dad has put in to now be selling so much meat bred in Suffolk, so I thought I would offer up four recipes over the coming weeks using as much local produce as possible.

One of the difficulties of selling local meat has always been that out of a small herd, as is often the case, naturally only a small percentage will be of the high specification that produces quality meat. However, we have been really lucky to meet some great suppliers this last year who help us source meat from a selection of high-welfare Suffolk farms. Such is the case with all of our lamb; in the spring and summer months we are able to offer the flavourful and tender Nedging Lamb, whilst looking to other local farms as the lamb gets older into the autumn. 

 I popped into the shop this afternoon to get a leg of lamb, garlic and rosemary from the garden in hand, for Dad to prepare this delicious roast for me. First he deboned and rolled the leg, making it easier to carve later. He then placed the sprigs of rosemary underneath the string like so: 

He then made some mini pockets in the meat with the tip of his knife and placed in chunks of peeled garlic.

We already debone and roll lamb leg joints for customers but we were discussing this afternoon whether we could sell them prepared with herbs and garlic. What do you think, is it something you would buy? Once home I roasted in the oven for approx 1 hour 40 minutes at 190C in a fan oven. I used a whole leg of lamb which would normally serve 6-8 people, but we have kept what we didn't eat for lunches during the rest of the week. 

 I served the lamb with a medley of Suffolk vegetables; in particular Suffolk Maris Piper potatoes  from Waitrose, which make the best roasties, and delicious fresh Runner Beans from Hollowtrees Farmshop, Semer. 

If you have any questions about how to recreate this meal at home please leave a comment below! 

L x

Chicken, Chorizo and Pork Belly Paella

Paella is a Spanish rice dish that I have always loved for the juicy prawns and other exotic seafood you will find in the paella of fancy cookbooks and Spanish restaurants hitting the tourist market. These paellas are delicious but recreating them at home can be expensive after buying an array of different seafood and fish. But digging a little deeper into the history of Valencian paella, I have found that the basis of this original dish was in fact chicken and rabbit, much cheaper meats! I have taken the concepts of this original paella along with the typical flavourings, saffron and paprika, to create my own, good value-for-money, all meat paella.

Ingredients to serve 4-6

100g good quality chorizo finely chopped | 500g Boneless Chicken Thighs each quartered | 4 thin boneless belly slices (approx 500g) chopped into bitesize pieces | 400g Bomba Paella Rice | 2 large pinches saffron | 1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika | 2 litres chicken stock | 4 cloves garlic finely chopped | 1 chopped onion | 2 large handfuls of frozen peas | Handful chopped parsley | 1 lemon | Olive oil | Salt and pepper |

NB: I wanted to add chorizo for another slice of Spanish flavour and love the texture of the chorizo we sell in the shop, you can see it's made of good pork and has not been over processed!

Heat the oven to 190C | Heat the stock and saffron in a pan | Poach the chicken and belly pork pieces in boiling water for 15 minutes | Drain and leave to one side | Place the belly pork pieces on a baking tray and place in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up the outside skin | Meanwhile heat a tbsp olive oil in a large, shallow pan | Fry the chorizo, onion and garlic till soft on a medium heat | Add half the infused stock, rice and paprika | Cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally |

After 15 minutes add the chicken pieces, and gradually add the rest of the stock as the rice absorbs it | After another 10 add the belly pork and frozen peas | Cook for a final 5 minutes or until the dish looks done! | Season, take off the heat, and leave for 5 minutes while you prepare some bread and/or salad as accompaniment | Serve, with a sliced lemon and parsley for garnish, at the table rustic-style allowing everyone to help themselves.

Blueberry Sponge

This week's recipe is completely off subject, but due to request, I had to include this delicious blueberry sponge that I have made for the boys in the shop when they are working hard on a Saturday. It is again a recipe taken and adapted from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy, one of my favourite cookbooks that I absolutely love, as much for its pictures and stories of Italian life as for its tasty recipes.

Ingredients 
butter for preparing the cake tin
4 large eggs (all of Andrew's eggs are free range from the local Gate Farm, Suffolk)
270g soft golden caster sugar
180g unsalted butter, melted
115ml extra virgin olive oil
155ml milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
400g plain flour
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
zest of 1 lemon grated
zest of 1 orange grated
one large punnet of fresh blueberries (jamie uses 600g but I have found that 350g is plenty)


Preheat the oven to 175C | Generously butter a 25cm/9.5 inch cake tin, line the base with greaseproof paper, and set aside | Either by hand or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the eggs and sugar for about 10 minutes until thick and pale yellow | Add the butter, extra virgin olive oil, milk and vanilla seeds, and mix well | Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt | Add the lemon and orange zest and stir with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended | Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the liquid.

Stir about a quarter of your blueberries or grapes into the batter, spoon it into your prepared cake tin and smooth out the top with a spatula | Place the cake tin in the centre of your preheated over and bake for 15 minutes, the remove it from the oven and scatter the remaining blueberries over the top | Gently push them down into the cake, then return it to the oven for another 30 to 40 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown and the cake feels quite firm | Put the tin on a rack to cool | After ten minutes run a knife along the sides of the pan and turn out your cake.

Deli Favourites- Fun Tips and Ideas

From talking to customers in the shop over the last few weeks, it seems that everyone's appetite is disappearing with the hot weather, and I couldn't agree more. I myself have been snacking and lunching on different cheeses, olives and cold meats from our lovely delicatessen, so I thought this week I would show you how I've been putting them to use to eat more lightly in the hotter weather.

1. Parma Ham and Melon has long been a favourite on Spanish tapas menus and is deliciously refreshing in the hot weather. My mum made these gorgeous little bundles as nibbles for a BBQ we had the other weekend. Simply cut melon into small sections, and add a folded piece of Andrew's Parma Ham, sliced thinly on request, attaching to the melon with a cocktail stick.

2. As well as our excellent Italian Buffalo Di Mozzarella that we sell as a whole ball in a pot, we also sell the same cheese in little individual balls in a pot. This makes it really easy to tear into salads for lunches. Serve here as I did with a plate of tomato spaghetti for a quick yummy lunch on a hot day.

3. I absolutely adore this Finnochiona salami which has to be my favourite of all the salamis that we sell in the shop. Finnochio translates as fennel in Italian, and the small pieces of fennel running through the salami give it a delicate but very unique taste. What I love about the salamis we serve in the shop, apart from their taste, is that we slice on request so customers can have as much or as little as they like and as thick or thin as they like it. A friend made me a lunch of a couple of slices of the Finnochiona salami with a light salad the other day and it was simply delicious!

4. We have now started selling small pitted black olives, thankfully, as it means I no longer have to fiddle about taking the stone out each time I want to cook with them. For easy potatoes with a summer feel, I slice roasting potatoes and add them to a roasting dish with thyme, olive oil and sliced black olives. Roast for 45 mins in a hot oven until golden, stirring occasionally. The olives give the potatoes a delightful flavour even if you want to discard them afterwards. This potato dish is also lovely if you add our Bridge Farm lamb cutlets 10 mins before the end of cooking, as the meat juices enrich the flavour of the potatoes even more. 

Monte Enebro Goat's Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato Tart

From the time to time Andrew's like to try new cheeses and offer our customer's something a little different. These last two week's we have started selling a new goat's milk cheese, Monte Enebro, which has been incredibly popular. Perhaps you'll understand how good it is when I tell you that I, who previously avoided all goat's cheese like the plague, am absolutely in love with it. So much so, I made this super easy, but delicious, goat's cheese and sun dried tomato tart. Monte Enebro is an artisanal  Spanish cheese with a unique black rind that is at the same time creamy in texture and complex in flavour. Only 7000 are made a year, so we're extremely lucky to be selling it in our shop!

You will need:
1 sheet of puff pastry, already rolled
100g Andrew's sun dried tomatoes
200g Monte Enebro Cheese
Some olive oil
Black pepper and salt
Thyme leaves, or other herbs.

 1  Preheat your oven to 200C.  2  Dust your pastry sheet with flour and place in a baking tray.  3  Chop sun dried tomatoes and arrange in the middle of the pastry so that there is enough room for the pastry to rise around it at the edges.  4  Slice and chop your Monte Enebro cheese into smaller pieces and arrange on top of the sun dried tomatoes.  5  Drizzle with some olive oil, some fresh herb leaves, and season with salt and pepper.  6  Place in the oven for 15 minutes, cooking until golden brown. Give a few more minutes if necessary.  7  Serve hot and enjoy!

The amount this tart serves is largely dependent on how you want to serve it. As a rectangle, you could slice it into bite size pieces suitable for a party or serve it in four slices, as I have done, to serve four for lunch or a starter.

Lamb Schawarma

I enjoyed last week's beautiful weather on a course in Shepherd's Bush, a multicultural area of London with lots of middle eastern and Mediterranean cafés. With holidays and hot weather in mind, I decided to cook this delicious middle eastern dish that a friend suggested to me, using Andrew's extremely local Bridge Farm Lamb. The name Schawarma simply refers to meat that has been marinaded in spices, grilled, then sliced to be served as a kebab in a pitta. It tastes delicious and is perfect cooked on a traditional Weber barbecue that gives the meat a unique, slightly smokey flavour. Most recipes use leg of lamb but I chose shoulder, as it is less money per kilo than the leg, and because of the marbling has slightly more flavour. The whole shoulder you see below was later boned out (which the butchers will be happy to do for you!) so that it laid flat on the BBQ and was easier to carve.

Ingredients: 

1 Whole Boned Lamb Shoulder (Serves 4-6) 

2 Garlic Cloves Crushed 

100 ml Olive Oil  

Handful of Fresh Coriander Finely Chopped 

Tsp Ground Paprika 

Tsp Ground Cumin

Tsp Ground Allspice

Tsp Dried Oregano 

Juice and Zest of One Lemon 

Salt and Pepper 

NB: I kept my spice mix quite simple, but you could add some ground ginger, ground cinnamon, cayenne pepper or turmeric as you wish, to enrich the flavour. The key to this dish is also in the amount of time you leave the meat to marinate. Overnight is optimum although the morning before you eat is ok too. 

To make the marinade simply add the coriander and garlic to the lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl and mix until the garlic starts to turn the mixture slightly cloudy. Then add your spices and seasoning and mix. On the skin side of the lamb make some incisions all over with a sharp knife. Pour over your boned out lamb shoulder and massage the marinade into the meat making sure it is thoroughly covered. Leave in a covered bowl in the fridge until you are ready to cook. 

Once your barbecue is hot, place the lamb on the grill leaving the lid on to keep the heat in (but with the vents open). Boned out, the lamb should take 45 minutes, and should be turned over mid way through. You could of course cook this in the oven but it tastes so much better on the barbecue!!! Serve with lettuce, tzatsiki and warmed pittas to remain traditional or any other accompaniments that you would prefer. For example, my dad has to have a gluten-free diet so I also made up a lovely rice dish with red pepper, red onion, sweetcorn and herbs for him to have instead of the pitta breads. If there are only four of you, the lamb is also amazing cold the next day, I am eating some now as I write this! 

Barbecue Economy

When the sun starts to shine, as we have been blessed with this week, us Brits tend to go a bit mad with our money, with all sensible saving going out the window. This can often be the case when barbecuing: as we do it so little it can be hard to figure amounts and costs per person, but with a little BBQ know how, it doesn't have to be expensive. This weekend we had our neighbours and family round to enjoy the sunshine and to enjoy some good barbecue meats! Keeping things simple we kept away from the marinated steaks that are delicious for small numbers of people and instead turned to whole joints of meat, that we marinated for the barbecue.

For example, last week my brother and I showed you how easy it is to cook a spatchcocked chicken: as it is laid out flat it cooks much more evenly. It is also much more economical than individual portions. The same can be said for a shoulder or leg of lamb which the boys in the shop will happily debone and open out so that it cooks through evenly and quickly. Whats more, if the sun does decide to hide away, which is more than likely, these joints can always be easily roasted.

As marinades and flavours go we sell some delicious barbecue and oriental flavoured sauces from Cottage Delight which keep the meat succulent and are ridiculously easy to apply to the meat and leave. For the lamb however I often mix olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic cloves and whichever herbs happen to be in the garden and massage into the meat.

My final money saving tip for the barbecue is Andrew's chicken wings in barbecue sauce, which my brother, cousins and I have practically grown up on and without them, would not consider a barbecue to be a decent barbecue! They are currently £3.20 per kilo and you really do get a lot for a kilo so they are great if you want to supplement a more expensive meat or if you are feeding a big party of children. I am 21 and still adore them, I could eat a plate of them by myself so they are definitely a winner!

Ben's Barbecue Spatchcocked Chicken

For me cooking is all about sharing good food and having fun with friends and family. As the sun was shining today, and my brother is king when it comes to barbecues, I managed to persuade him to let me record him preparing a spatchcocked chicken for the barbecue.

For those who haven't heard of it before, this is simply a chicken that is cut down the breast bone and opened out so that it lays flat, and cooks evenly on the barbecue. As the weather is often temperamental at this time of year it is a great choice as it can still be roasted in the oven if all goes wrong!

When the forecast is good, we sell spatchcocked chickens in the shop, but it is also very easy to do yourself (if I can do it with my weak wrists anyone can.) We can always advise you on this in the shop if you would like to give it a go!

We had a real giggle making the video as it wasn't something we had done before, and hopefully it gives you some inspiration for barbecue meats that are good value for money and adaptable to the British weather!

Chorizo Tortilla, Serrano Ham and Melon, Manchego Cheese

With this horrible weather I wanted to create some sunshine in the kitchen and make an inexpensive lunch that reminded me of Spanish holidays. I used three basic ingredients from Andrew's: 100g each of chorizo, Serrano ham, and Manchego cheese, all sourced from Spain. As the ingredients are quite rich, a small amount goes a long way; I was able to make a wholesome lunch for the four of us for around £10-£15 (salad and potatoes included).

The only cooking is in the Spanish tortilla: a thick omelette made with eggs, sliced new potatoes, and onions. The recipe I used is Delia's which can be found by clicking here. The only adaptation I made was to add the chorizo, which I diced and added to the pan with the potatoes and onion, and some fresh herbs added with the egg. I used a much bigger frying pan which meant the omelette was a lot thinner and took less time to cook, so think about that when considering your timings.

 I then just added the slices of Serrano ham to a board with sliced melon and the Manchego, and served alongside a salad; I really love these sorts of meals where everyone can dig in and help themselves.