Nigella's Lamb Cutlets with Mint and Golden Potatoes

This recipe is simple, easy and delicious!  

I was just looking for something different and this recipe caught my eye - to be honest, it just looked pretty!  So I decided to try it.  Now I believe it will be a family staple.  

A few years ago I was at a food market and purchased some gorgeous garlic oil from a stall holder. At the time, my daughter had just discovered her love of cooking, thanks to Nigella's tv program about her latest cookbook at the time - Nigella Express.   I explained this to the stall holder and said I had a lot to thank Nigella for, she agreed that we all have a lot to thank Nigella for!  

I have simply copied this recipe because it would be a shame to mess with perfection!  Ok, I stuck some photos in but if you want just the plain recipe, look a bit further and it will be there!  

Nigella's Lamb Cutlets with Mint and Golden Potatoes

I forgot to put the Rocket in this group!

Ingredients

• 1 lb baby white potatoes, halved but not peeled
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dried mint
• ½ tsp celery salt
• 8 lamb chops
• 4 cups packed rocket, to serve (optional)
• 1 tsp kosher salt or ½ tsp table salt, or to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

Directions
1 Put the baby potatoes on to steam.

2 Get out a large dish – in which the lamb chops will fit in a single layer – and first pour into it the olive oil and sprinkle in the red pepper flakes, dried mint and celery salt. 

3 Using 1 lamb chop as if it were a wooden spoon, smoosh the oil with its sprinklings around a bit, so that it’s rather better mixed, then place the lamb chops in a single layer, turn them instantly, and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

4 Heat a large, heavy, non-stick frying pan – big enough (about 11 inches in diameter) for all the chops to fit in – then duly place them all in it (the oil that clings to them from the marinade is plenty enough for them to fry in) and fry over medium heat for 5 minutes. 

5 While the chops cook, check that the potatoes are tender, which they should be by now; in which case, turn the heat off under your steamer, pour off the water, and let the potatoes stand, drying, while they wait.

6 Using tongs (for ease), turn the chops over and cook for a further 3 minutes. 

7 If you’re going to make this an entire one-plate meal, strew the bottom of a large serving platter with fresh rocket, or any other leafage you desire, and when the lamb chops are cooked, but still juicily pink on the inside, remove them to the salad-lined (or, indeed, naked) plate. Obviously, cook for longer if you like your lamb well done.

8 Tip the steamed potatoes into the same pan and fry for 3 minutes, then turn them over and fry for another 3 minutes, shaking the pan every now and again to make them tumble and turn in the hot fat.

9 Using a slotted spatula or similar, transfer the potatoes to the plate of chops and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (I like these plenty salty, but if you have more austere tastes or are feeding small children, then decrease the salt or ignore the command altogether) along with the chopped parsley and mint.

Prep and cook time: 40 minutes.
Serves 4.

"I don't believe in low-fat cooking."   Nigella Lawson

Nigella's Lamb Cutlets with Mint and Golden Potatoes


Ingredients

• 1 lb baby white potatoes, halved but not peeled
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp dried mint
• ½ tsp celery salt
• 8 lamb rib chops 
• 4 cups packed rocket, to serve (optional)
• 1 tsp kosher salt or ½ tsp table salt, or to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

Directions
1 Put the baby potatoes on to steam.

2 Get out a large dish – in which the lamb chops will fit in a single layer – and first pour into it the olive oil and sprinkle in the red pepper flakes, dried mint and celery salt. 

3 Using 1 lamb chop as if it were a wooden spoon, smoosh the oil with its sprinklings around a bit, so that it’s rather better mixed, then place the lamb chops in a single layer, turn them instantly, and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

4 Heat a large, heavy, non-stick frying pan – big enough (about 11 inches in diameter) for all the chops to fit in – then duly place them all in it (the oil that clings to them from the marinade is plenty enough for them to fry in) and fry over medium heat for 5 minutes. 

5 While the chops cook, check that the potatoes are tender, which they should be by now; in which case, turn the heat off under your steamer, pour off the water, and let the potatoes stand, drying, while they wait.

6 Using tongs (for ease), turn the chops over and cook for a further 3 minutes. 

7 If you’re going to make this an entire one-plate meal, strew the bottom of a large serving platter with fresh rocket, or any other leafage you desire, and when the lamb chops are cooked, but still juicily pink on the inside, remove them to the salad-lined (or, indeed, naked) plate. Obviously, cook for longer if you like your lamb well done.

8 Tip the steamed potatoes into the same pan and fry for 3 minutes, then turn them over and fry for another 3 minutes, shaking the pan every now and again to make them tumble and turn in the hot fat.

9 Using a slotted spatula or similar, transfer the potatoes to the plate of chops and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (I like these plenty salty, but if you have more austere tastes or are feeding small children, then decrease the salt or ignore the command altogether) along with the chopped parsley and mint.

Prep and cook time: 40 minutes.
Serves 4.

Experimenting with Turnip, Honey & Roasted Garlic Soup

We had committed to our daughter that we would help spruce up our daughter's new home by helping her paint and all that general stuff you do in a new home....However, Alan did not remember that he actually agreed to a particular day, and this was his only day off that week....oh well, as good parents, we decided she needed us more than he needed to relax! Or whatever he does on a day off!

Since Alan was working in the morning, I volunteered to make lunch and we all would arrive in separate cars with separate chores expected of us.

Coincidentally, I discovered smoked garlic at Morrison's, that was not overpriced! The only other place I had seen this was in an international food market and could not justify what they were asking. Then, at the checkout, they could not find smoked garlic and charged me the normal price!  How lucky was that?  So did I run back and get more?  No....but I do hope to get some more soon!

Since I have the soup maker, I decided to find a recipe in the New Covent Garden "A Soup for Every Day" cookbook and came across this recipe for September 19th.   But I also know my daughter shares the same love of sweet potatoes I do, so for the first attempt, I used sweet potatoes instead of regular ones.  It was really, really good!  I used this same recipe a few days later for my in-laws, but kept with the regular potatoes and skipped the garlic.  The main reason for skipping the garlic is that my mother-in-law is diabetic and I believe the honey is to complement the garlic. So best not to use either instead of overpowering the soup with garlic!  In the end, this version was also very good.

As always, the recipe will follow at the end as written in the book, with no photos or comments.

Turnip, Honey and Roasted Garlic Soup

Serves 4

Cooking time 1 hour and 20 minutes 

Ingredients:

25g butter

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 medium carrots, diced

2 medium potatoes, Sweet or white, diced

300g turnips, diced

1 stick celery, sliced

750ml chicken stock

6 cloves garlic, roasted in skin until soft

4 teaspoons honey

1.  Melt butter in a saucepan, add the onion, then cover and cook gently for 10 minutes, without browning.   

  ---with the soup maker, I put a tablespoon of olive oil at the bottom and added the onions, and all other vegetables.

2.  Add the carrots, potatoes, turnips, celery and stock to the pan.  Bring to the boil, cover, then simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 

---the soup maker is supposed to have at least 600ml of stock and that was about all I could squeeze in!   Then all I did was turn it on to chunky and it was done in about 25 minutes!

3.  Remove from the heat, blend half the soup until smooth, then return it to the pan.

4.  Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves from their skins, mash to a paste, then add to the soup along with the honey.  Season to taste, then reheat gently for 2 - 3 minutes and serve.

---I just put the garlic segments in a bit of tin foil and roasted in the oven while the soup was cooking.  But squeezing them is a lot harder than it sounds.  I kept getting a bit of roasted skin in.  Next time, I will try to remove more skin before roasting!

"Dreams about the future are always filled with gadgets."

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Turnip, Honey and Roasted Garlic Soup

Serves 4

Cooking time 1 hour and 20 minutes 

Ingredients:

25g butter

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 medium carrots, diced

2 medium potatoes, diced

300g turnips, diced

1 stick celery, sliced

750ml chicken stock

6 cloves garlic, roasted in skin until soft

4 teaspoons honey

1.  Melt butter in a suacepan, add the onion, then cover and cook gently for 10 minutes, without browning.

2.  Add the carrots, potatoes, turnips, celery and stock to the pan.  Bring to the boil, cover, then simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 

3.  Remove from the heat, blend half the soup until smooth, then return it to the pan.

4.  Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves from their skins, mash to a paste, then add to the soup along with the honey.  Season to taste, then reheat gently for 2 - 3 minutes and serve.