17 May 2009

Recipe - Barbecued Lamb, Rhubarb and Panna Cotta

Today I made one of my favourite meals, top bragging food. It’s actually a really simple meal, but appears a virtuoso performance. It does require a little bit of preparation and forethought, so is better at the weekend. Typical for North Yorkshire, however, I was barbecuing outside in the drizzle while everyone else was dry and warm inside.

Barbecued leg of lamb

2kg Leg of lamb - the highest quality you can find and on the bone

Marinade:

200ml Olive oil

75ml Lemon juice

Large bunch of fresh mint, chopped finely

Salt and pepper or Steenbergs Perfect Salt Seasoning

1. The evening before the barbecue, mix the marinade and coat the leg of lamb with the marinade. Keep in a fridge overnight, basting before going to bed and several times during the following day.

2. Prepare the barbecue. Take the marinaded lamb from the fridge, and place on a plate, leaving behind the marinade for basting later. Season the lamb with salt and pepper or Steenbergs Perfect Salt Seasoning and leave for a further 30 minutes.

3. Barbecue the lamb for 1½ to 2 hours (depending on how cooked you want it), basting every 30 minutes with the marinade. Check that it is cooked to your desired level.

4. Serve with yoghurt and mint sauce, new potatoes and a classic green salad.

Yoghurt and mint sauce

300ml Plain Greek-style yoghurt

2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped and crushed

A good bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped

Salt and pepper, or try Green Tea Salt

Mix all the ingredients together. Play with the seasoning until it’s just right.

Stewed rhubarb and panna cotta

Stewed rhubarb

400g Rhubarb

4tbsp Granulated cane sugar

1tbsp Dark muscovado sugar

1 glass Orange juice

2 glass Red wine

1 glass Port

2 Cinnamon sticks

1tsp Steenbergs vanilla extract

Chop up the rhubarb into small 2 – 3 cm lengths. Put everything together into a heavy pan with the lid on. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 – 5 minutes and then leave to cool.

The panna cotta

400ml Double cream

300ml Milk (full fat)

8tbsp Caster sugar

2 Steenbergs vanilla pods

4tsp Powdered gelatine

1. Split open the vanilla pods and scrape out the seeds. Chop the split vanilla pods in half. Normally, I suggest that you go for a Madagascan vanilla pod but today I used some delicious pods from the Congo on the border with Uganda – these had the classic rich, creaminess of vanilla with overtones of tobacco.

2. Put the seeds and vanilla pods into a pan, together with the double cream and sugar. Bring to the boil and gently simmer for 5 minutes. Take out the vanilla beans and leave to cool. While the vanilla-cream is simmering, add the cold water to a small pan and sprinkle the gelatine on top of the water and leave for 5 minutes. While the vanilla-cream is cooling, warm the gelatine until clear. Now mix the gelatine into the vanilla-cream. Pour into ramekins, cover and chill for about 3 hours.