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.

Chicken Breast & Wing White Wine Casserole

For my fourth week of eating local produce I have chosen another relatively simple dish that is easy to adapt to the leftover vegetables you may have in the fridge. Chicken breast and wing portions are also much cheaper per kilo than a filleted chicken breast so aside from the bottle of wine, this meal makes a relatively inexpensive dish for the whole family. At Andrew's, we sell two kinds of chicken that are bred and reared in Suffolk: firstly an economical barn reared variety which is fed on a natural antibiotic-free diet and left to roam in a big lofty barn, and secondly the famous Sutton Hoo free range chicken which is slow grown, again on a natural diet, for a full delicious flavour. For this recipe I have used the barn reared variety as it is much cheaper and still rather tasty. 

Ingredients
1 Chicken Breast and Wing Portion Per Person | 1 Bottle of White Wine (I feel any will do but don't go too cheap!) | 1 Onion peeled and roughly chopped into segments | A selection of local vegetables (I have chosen local Trimley mushrooms and Suffolk carrots, I know lemons are by no means local but i wanted to use up what was in the fridge!) | A handful of sage - this is a great herb to have in the garden, I use it in a lot of cooking so is much cheaper than buying sage from a shop each time |

Preheat the oven to 180C | Add all the ingredients to a casserole dish, pouring over the bottle of wine last: this should just cover all your ingredients but if you don't think there is enough liquid just add a little water or chicken stock. | Bring to the boil on the hob to get the heat through your dish before placing in the oven, with the lid on, for an hour and a half | After this time move the chicken and veg to a heated serving dish and place the casserole back on the hob to reduce down the liquid to make a gravy, perhaps adding a stock cube to thicken if you would like | Serve with rice, crusty bread, or potatoes depending on what you fancy!

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

Pork Chops with Sage on Roasted Potatoes with Bacon Pieces

I haven't done a Jamie Oliver recipe for a while so thought I would cook my version of his Italian pork chops from his book, Jamie's Italy. It's one of my favourites to do as everything is cooked in the one roasting dish, apart from browning off the pork chops at the beginning, and the meat juices from our delicious Dingley Dell pork chops give the potatoes the most amazing flavour! We've been using Dingley Dell pork from their Suffolk farm for many years now and are happy to have such a great supplier so close to us! For more information on how they raise their fabulous pork click here.

Ingredients: 

Andrew's Dingley Dell pork chops on the bone

Roasting potatoes peeled and diced

A bunch of sage leaves

2-3 rashers of smoked streaky bacon roughly chopped

2-3 garlic cloves cut in half

Sunflower oil

Salt and pepper 

1  Preheat your oven to 180C. 2  Bring the potatoes to the boil, and par boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain and shake in the saucepan to make your edges fluffy. 3  Meanwhile add 4 good tablespoons of sunflower oil to the roasting dish and heat in the oven for ten minutes. 5  Remove and add your potatoes with the garlic cloves and chopped bacon pieces. 6  Heat up a frying pan with a splash of oil and brown off your seasoned pork chops each side.  7  After your potatoes have been cooking for about 15 minutes, place the pork chops and sage leaves on top.

8. This lets the potatoes cook in the meat juices, yet it will also make them quite soft. So if you want them a little crispier, after another 15 minutes take out the roasting dish and move everything around so that the potatoes are on top. 9  The dish should take a further 15 minutes to finish. Serve with veg and gravy as desired.