Rack of lamb with aubergine and potato gratin, roast courgettes and an oven dried tomato and basil sauce (ii)

Finally. Finally got it right.

You may remember this from a previous post. All the flavours of moussaka, just done slightly differently.

I had cooked it for a party on Wednesday night (left), but when it came to plating it up the lamb just took over the plate. It was just too big. Today (well last night now, the second party of the evening, above) I trimmed them a little more than the butcher at Home Farm does. Simple things.

Brushed with dijon mustard and sprinkled with breadcrumbs whizzed with cumin, fresh coriander & chives they're roasted for c. 30 - 35 minutes. 58 oC on the probe. Roasted courgettes (right) served seperately.

Then there was just a little assitte for dessert........

Related posts:

Aubergine and potato gratin
Oven dried tomatoes
Top 5 steps for the best dauphinoise
Potato trivet
Other lamb dishes

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Roast courgettes..... that children like

In the peak of season, courgettes just grow at such a phenomenal rate - look at them in the morning and they're babies, look again in the evening at watering time and you'd think they'd been drinking miracle grow all day.

Leaving them to grow was never a problem for me when I was young - I preferred the steamed marrow rather than the fried courgettes, except maybe if they were mixed with onions, tomato and cheese.....

Last year when I was cooking for a family for a whole week I looked into different vegetable options for each day. Children, as you know, have a certain aversion to vegetables (it's a power issue), but I found with a few simple tricks, you can make something tasty that they like.

This week I have been cooking for a family for 4 days, so again, made sure we had different vegetable accompaniments each day.

These courgettes are peeled, sliced thin on the mandolin, sprinkled with olive oil and a little bit of maldon salt, and then roasted. I find it's the dark green skin that puts children off - looks are everything. Without the skin, it also tones down the taste, which, when your taste buds are young, can be a good thing.

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Steamed marrow
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Rack of lamb with aubergine and potato gratin and roast courgettes

Looking for lamb dishes to move on from the saddle of lamb with pearl barley risotto, I kept coming accross recipes for moussaka. Moussaka we like, but how could you do it differently......


Roast aubergines layered up in the middle of pototo gratin. A thin layer of potato, a layer of aubuergine, another layer of potato, then repeat and top with a little grated cheese and bake - an hour - an hour & a half.







The other flavour you associate with moussaka is tomato and basil. The tomatoes came in the form of oven dried tomatoes and a little chopped basil stirred into the sauce just before serving.



For the lamb I really wanted to go for racks for a change. I always see them as I pick everything else up in the farm shop and roasted lamb cutlets where can you go wrong - everyone loves them.

The butcher at Home Farm saws through the chine bone but leaves it on. This is good as I can use it to make a stock for the sauce.











I just run along the bone to remove it.

Then, for deliveries, as this one was, it is sealed on the outside and placed on a potato trivet and rosemary which infuses the lamb as it roasts, and it just needs 25 - 30 minutes in the oven. After resting for 10 - 15 minutes you flash it back in the oven to give it another burst of heat (or under the grill) and cut between each bone giving 3 per portion.

Related posts:

Oven dried tomatoes
Top 5 steps for the best dauphinoise
Potato trivet
Other lamb dishes


Spring dinner party menu

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Nicoise vegetable tart

An old family ratatouille recipe bound with liason (1 pint cream & 3 - 4 eggs - or scaled down for small amounts) and a sprinkling of fresh thyme.

Underneath - since you ask - are oven dried tomatoes - see link below. And it's olive oil and balsamic.

Edit

How do you stop your pastry from shrinking when you blind bake the case?

I cut the pastry much larger that I need so there's a large overhang as shown here. You put your weight inside (baking beans or flour), then take it out when it's half done, brush the inside with beaten egg to cover any holes (see link below) and make the base firmer, then finish baking.

When it is cooked, take it out of the oven and trim the edges to the top of the case. You have to be careful when doing this or the side can crack - use a small sharp (not serrated) knife, almost flat against the rim of the pastry case tin. I start at the heel of the knife, and run it through to the tip turning the tart tin as I go - one long knife stroke. Do it while the pastry is still hot (use a t-towel) so it's pliable.

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1001 Kitchen tips #39 - Oven dried tomatoes

Sunday lunch in the Cotswolds

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The best balsamic

1001 kitchen tips #4 - no holes in your pastry case

1001 Kitchen tips #23 - the alternative to baking beans

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