Herby Lamb Burgers with Beetroot Mayo and Goats Cheese

It seems beetroot is having a bit of a moment in my kitchen. Having not really incorporated it into recipes previously, the earthy flavour and vibrant colour of beetroot is sneaking in to salads, risottos and now burgers too. As with the Beetroot Risotto I made a few weeks back, here the beetroot mayonnaise is accompanied by goats cheese. Like lemon and meringue, pork and sage, lamb and rosemary, goats cheese and beetroot really do compliment one another perfectly, and in this instance they both compliment my lovely homemade herby lamb burgers perfectly too.

A bit more interesting then your regular ketchup or barbecue sauce accompaniment, a dollop of this beetroot mayonnaise on your burger tastes great and looks stunning too. Served with some spicy sweet potato wedges and you’ve got yourself one of the most colourful and pretty plates of food out there.

Serves 4

Pack of lamb mince, about 400g

1 red onion, half grated, half thinly sliced

handful roughly chopped mint

2 tsp dried oregano

a good glug of Lea and Perrins

salt and pepper

olive oil

3 tbsp low fat mayonnaise

2 cooked beetroot (from a vacuum pack), finely chopped

goats cheese (either a soft roll to spread or the kind with the hard skin to slice)

4 burger rolls, halved

salad leaves and fries to serve

1. Mix the lamb, grated onion, mint, oregano, lea and perrins and some salt and pepper in a bowl, and form into 4 burgers.
2. Prepare the beetroot mayo by mixing the beetroot and mayonnaise together in a bowl.
3. Heat a large frying pan until hot, rub the burgers with olive oil (as you would a steak) and cook for about 6 to 8 minutes on each side, or until they are cooked through.
4. To assemble the burgers, spread the goats cheese on to each inside of the burger rolls (or place slices on to the inside of the rolls), place the burger on the bottom half of the rolls, add a handful of salad leaves if you wish, then a dollop of beetroot mayo, and a few slices of onion. Top off with the top of the roll and serve. 

Baked Meatballs with a Spicy Tomato Sauce

According to the January issue of BBC Good Food Magazine Meatballs are in, and will be a recurring trend for 2012. Not sure when they were ever out really, but its always nice to be on the forefront of food fashions isn’t it. The third recipe from my series of midweek cheap suppers, this dish is an update to the classic Italian meal, and served over rice rather then pasta. You’re welcome to make the meatballs yourself, but I bought mine for £1.27 in Sainsbury’s. Feel free to play around with the quantities here too, adding more turmeric and chili if you like a bit more spice.

Serves 2

Pack of 12 lamb meatballs

½ red onion, peeled and finely sliced

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 chili, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tbsp lime juice

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

Seasoning

1 tbsp olive oil

Rice and Coriander leaves to serve

1. Bake the meatballs according to packet instructions. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Heat the oil in a heavy based pan over a medium heat. Cook the onion for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the ginger, cumin, turmeric, chili and garlic and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add the lime juice , tomatoes, sugar and season to taste. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Add the baked meatballs to the sauce and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3. Serve over rice, and scattered with coriander leaves.

Roasted Shoulder of Lamb with an Olive and Anchovy Rub

Now that I’m working back as a waitress at the restaurant that I worked at over my gap year, the amount that I am cooking has seriously depleted. When I’ve been serving food all day the last thing I want to do is stand over the cooker trying out new recipes so supper’s have generally consisted of quick pasta dishes or having my parents cook food for me!!

This will all change when I’m moved in to my new flat back in Brighton, with its AMAZING red, shiny brand new kitchen, with a fridge taller then me (and I am 5’11) and a work surface 3 times bigger then my last, but for the moment new posts will remain less frequent.

I’m really lucky to have parents that have always cooked delicious and often unusual meals, my mum following and tweaking recipes and my dad making things more from scratch – I’d like to think my cooking style is somewhere in between. My dad is especially good at incorporating whatever he can find in the fridge and transforming it in to a delicious supper. This rolled lamb shoulder that we made together for a Sunday Roast is no exception, and although I have included ingredients and measurements much of what is listed can be substituted or tweaked to make an equally lovely rub for the meat. Using rolled lamb shoulder is cheaper then the leg of lamb alternative, and buying it de-boned and rolled makes it easier to carve. The result is deliciously tender slow roasted meat infused with the rub, and pieces of olive and melt in the mouth garlic with every mouthful providing a kick.

Serves 6-8

1.8kg rolled lamb shoulder

-For the Rub-

5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

9 anchovy fillets

12 pitted dry black olives (I use Crespo)

2 tsp seasalt, mixed with half a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs

handful of rosemary sprigs

1. Put the meat into a roasting tin. Make slits in the lamb and add slices of 2 cloves of garlic, pushing them right in. Add 5 anchovy fillets, cut into thirds, into the slits, and finally the sprigs of rosemary.
2. Crush 3 cloves of garlic, 4 anchovy fillets, olives and salt in a pestle and mortar to make a paste.
3. Rub onto the joint and in the tops of the slits, as well as into the rolled meat at the ends.
4. Pour ½ a mug of water into the tin and cover the meat with a foil tent. Leave to marinate for 2 hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 200C and roast at this temperature for the first half an hour. Then turn down the heat to 170C and cook for a further 2 and a half hours, basting once or twice.
6. Take off the foil for the last 20 minutes of cooking to crisp it up. Take out of the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with roast veg and mint sauce. 

Summer Pavlova

A couple of Sunday’s ago Ben’s parents hosted a Garden Party to mark the 60^th Wedding Anniversary of Ben’s Grandparents Clive and Freda. It was a fantastic day, made even better by a little sunshine, practically the only sunny day we had in the whole of July. Ben’s mum, as always, went all out and produced a huge spread with a barbecue, poached salmon, salads, cheesecake, trifle, apple pie and cake amongst other things. I really wanted to contribute to the day in some way and made some Marinated Lamb Kebabs and a Summer Pavlova.

The marinade for the lamb skewers are from a previously tested Alice Hart recipe, and I added peppers, red onion and cherry tomato to pad them out and add some colour. 

Marinated overnight, prepared in the morning and then cooked on the BBQ, the meat was tender and flavoursome and complimented the myriad of burgers, chicken and sausages.

My main contribution to the meal was a dessert, in the form of a Pavlova. I’d made smaller meringues before, and this follows the same method, and is surprisingly simple to make, it just takes ages in the oven. I went a bit mad in Waitrose choosing fruit, picking out strawberries, cherries, blueberries, kiwi’s and pomegranate seeds as well as wild white strawberries (from my very own courtyard garden I’ll have you know!). 

My one criticism of the pavlova’s that I have had in the past is too much cream swamping everything else, so I decided to cut out the top of the meringue and stuff it with fruit, before adding a layer of whipped double cream and then more fruit to decorate. To hide the cracks that inevitably appear in the sides of the meringue I stuffed sprigs of mint leaves into the cream, and scattered about more of the fruit. I was really pleased with the overall result, and it was all eaten, so I think it must have tasted pretty good too!!

Meringue recipe from ‘Cook, Eat, Smile’

Serves 8 to 10

-For the Meringue-

3 large egg whites

175g caster sugar

2 tsp cornflour

1 level tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

-For the Topping-

Approx 400ml double cream

Mixed fruit and berries (I used strawberries, slices of kiwi, pomegranate seeds, blueberries and cherries)

1. Preheat the oven to 140C. In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar, whisking as you go until you have marshmallowy-like and shiny peaks. Fold in the cornflour, vanilla extract and vinegar.
2. Cover a large baking tray with baking parchment and spoon the meringue onto the paper. Create whatever shape you like, mine was circular, you may want to build up the sides to create a bowl shape if you do not wish to cut the top off and stuff the meringue with fruit.
3. Bake for 1 ½ hours, then turn off the heat and leave the meringue to cool in the oven until it is completely cool.
4. Peel the baking parchment away and place the meringue on a serving plate. At this point I cut the top off my meringue carefully and stuffed the inside with fruit before spooning on a layer of whipped double cream and then adding more fruit to decorate, the more fruit the better!! 

Turkey: My Yogurtlu Meatball Kebab

So here, finally, is my holiday post on Ben and mines recent trip to Turkey. Having never been before, and being completely obsessed with the Greek islands, I was a little apprehensive about what I would find in Kalkan, a resort on the Mediterranean coast. Luckily, all doubts were swept away immediately on our arrival in this very busy little seaside town. Touristy, yes, but some how not spoilt, Kalkan is the perfect middle ground between European destinations and the East, and this is most obvious in the cuisine available in the plentiful restaurants. 

View from our room

Pasha Apart Hotel, Kalkan

I really can’t speak highly enough about the food, some of it was out of this world. I had been expecting kebabs, and they were indeed on every menu, but these weren’t the greasy slithers of meat hacked off great chunks of God knows what that you come across late at night at takeaways around England. The meat was succulent and delicious, and accompanied by all manner of interesting spices and sauces and breads. On one occasion we ordered up ahead a ‘Pitcher Kebab’, which consisted of melt in the mouth lamb, vegetables and spices cooked for three hours on the barbecue in a pitcher (a kind of urn). All washed down with (surprisingly good) Turkish wine and with a complimentary mezze to start, and all for under £30 for the two of us - you really can’t go wrong. The 'Pitcher Kebab' we tried is from Begonvil Restaurant, Kalkan. 

Pitcher Kebab

Delicious Lamb

There are similarities to Greek cuisine here but, although I feel a traitor for saying it, I think Turkish food, or at least the Turkish food that I found, to be a little bit superior. I think it’s the fusion of Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines that make it so very tasty. No tzatziki though! (In Turkey they opt for a more straightforward Garlic Yoghurt).

Apparently Kalkan is considered quite posh for Turkey, and I suppose this can be seen echoed in some of the restaurants on the harbour side. Here prices reached the ‘high end’ of 35 lira for a main dish, but when you consider that’s about £14, and you’re getting a massive hunk of prime beef (yes, I’m eating beef again), flambéed at the table with brandy (and almost taking your eyebrows off in the process), and then cooked, by you, on a hot plate, so you can have it as deliciously rare as you like, its really very good value. The 'Marbled Steak' we tried is from Coast Restaurant, Kalkan.

Alex and Flaming Steak!!

Ben and Flaming Steak!!

For value and quality of food, there really is no comparison with Kalkan’s European counterparts. Considering next years holiday? Try Turkey, I’m pretty sure you’ll be converted too.

And now on to my Yogurtlu Meatball Kebab. There is such a variety of kebabs to be found on the traditional Turkish menu, but this one always jumped out at me (I call mine a kebab loosely as I don't actually skewer the meat). Consisting of juicy lamb or beef meat balls on warmed bread, smothered in a rich tomato sauce and melted cheese and served with a dollop of refreshing garlicy yoghurt, it ticks all the boxes for me. Here is my simple recipe that aims to, in some way, recreate those delicious flavours, although it would taste a lot better if I had the heat and the wine and the sea to accompany it.

Serves 2

-For the meatballs-

300g Lamb mince

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cumin

¼ onion, finely chopped

1 to 2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped (plus more to garnish)

1 clove garlic, crushed

-For the tomato sauce-

150g Passata

¼ onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

-For the garlic yoghurt-

100g Greek yoghurt

1 clove garlic, crushed

-To serve-

2 tbsp cheddar cheese, grated

2 pitta bread

1. Mix all of the meatball ingredients together in a bowl, and form into 8 to 10 meatballs. Flatten them out slightly to allow them to cook quicker under the grill. Grill for around 15 minutes, turning over part way through, until the meat is fully cooked. Sprinkle the cheese equally over each meatball, and grill for a further 30 seconds to melt the cheese.
2. Meanwhile, fry the onion and garlic (for the tomato sauce) in a saucepan over a low heat until the onion has softened. Add the passata, stir and cook over a low heat.
3. Mix the yoghurt and garlic in a bowl. Slice each pitta bread into quarters.
4. To assemble, place a meat ball on each quarter of pitta bread, then drizzle over the tomato sauce, and dollop the garlic yoghurt in the centre. Sprinkle with a few fresh mint leaves to finish. 

Alice Hart's Cumin-Spiced Lamb Skewers with Fresh Mango Chutney

Perfect for the barbecue but tasting great under the grill if the weathers not up to scratch, the meat for these cumin lamb skewers can be left to marinate over night to really take advantage of the cumin-spiced, and the chutney can be made ahead too. Along with a lemony couscous, the pre prepared lamb can be grilled in under 6 minutes, making it a great choice for summer entertaining. The recipe is from Alice Hart’s brilliant Cook Book and comes under the ‘Terribly Chic Drinks Party for a Winters Nights’ section, although I think it’s a great summer option too. The quantities for her recipe make 24-26 mini skewers, so not being that greedy, I halved the quantities to make two generous main meal portions.

Serves 2

Adapted from ‘Alice’s Cook Book’

- For the Skewers -

600g cubed lamb leg

1tsp ground coriander

1.5 tsp ground cumin

2 garlic cloves, crushed

100g Greek yoghurt

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp vegetable oil

small bunch of mint, finely chopped

- For the Chutney -

1 ripe mango, peeled and finely diced

1 green chili, finely chopped

finely grated zest and juice of ½ lime

1 tsp brown sugar

1. Soak 6 long wooden skewers in cold water for atleast thirty minutes, to ensure they don’t scorch under the grill.
2. Put the lamb in a large mixing bowl and add the spices, garlic, yoghurt, sugar, oil and 2/3’s of the mint. Leave to marinate for a few hours, or overnight if you can.
3. Combine all the chutney ingredients together and stir in the remaining mint. If you prefer your chutney smoother, and if you have one available, blend a little with a hand held blender. Otherwise, ensure the mango is finely diced and squish with a fork to ensure its not too chunky.
4. Preheat the grill to medium, thread the lamb on to skewers and line up on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
5. Grill for about 6 minutes, turning halfway through. Serve with a dollop of chutney and couscous. 

Culinary Know How: FRESHER

Budget: UNDER £6

Kitchen Requirements: TWO LARGE BOWLS, BAKING SHEET, WOODEN SKEWERS.