Scotch Lamb: Minted Lamb Koftas and Spiced Lamb Pittas

I'm always up for messing about in the kitchen, I don't think it's a secret that my wife is not the world's most confident cook, so faced with the bulk of the food prep in the house I tend to gravitate to things that I enjoy: a lot of the time that's red meat. Perhaps surprisingly then, lamb is not something that we often eat at home. I'll often have it at an Indian or Thai restaurant but I didn't eat much lamb growing up and Blondie was pretty convinced that she didn't like it at all. So when Scotch Lamb asked if I'd like to do something for them I was pretty keen to try something I don't normally do, as well as convince her that we should eat it more often!

I think the obvious thing to do with lamb would be some kind of stew or hotpot, so in an attempt to do something a bit different I made one dish which I cooked outside on the barbecue and one "inside" dish. Possibly my favourite thing about the challenge was that, as well as having two very good meals, I discovered an amazing butcher. I picked up the meat from S. Collins and Son in Muirhead, it's a fairly short drive from the city centre (just past the Crowwood Hotel) and I can't adequately describe how amazing it is. I've already been back inside a week and I'll be a regular visitor from now on!

For my outside recipe I made:

 Minted Lamb Koftas

1kg lamb mince

3 large cloves garlic

2 slices stale bread

1 tbsp cumin

1 small green chilli

15g fresh mint leaves

Zest of one lemon

Salad leaves

Yoghurt Sauce (recipe below)

Salt

Pepper

 1) Season the mince and knead

 

2) Pulse the bread, cumin, mint, lemon zest, garlic and chilli in a food processor until a fine crumb and season season with salt and pepper.

 

3) Mix with mince and knead until evenly mixed.

 

4) Form into sausage shapes and skewer. If you have flat metal skewers so much the better. I didn't and the round wood ones just tend to spin in the meat, unless you do what I did and use two per kebab. This means you can turn the meat much more easily and it breaks up less on the barbecue. I made 8 large kebabs from the 1kg but they could be sized however you like.

 

5) Preheat barbecue to a medium-high heat, we want the outside to be crispy and a little charred.

  

6) Once the outside looks crispy all the way round (2 mins each side-ish) then turn the heat down to medium and cook for a further 8 minutes, turning halfway through. If you make them smaller, obviously they'll cook quicker.

 

7) Check that the koftas are cooked through and serve with salad and yoghurt sauce. I make the meat a little spicy with the green chilli, so I like a cool sauce with them but it could just as easily be some kind of chilli sauce. I made them as the main part of a meal but at a large barbecue I would make smaller ones and serve them as finger food.

The meat mixture could make a really nice burger if formed differently. I think next time I might try using the same spicing and making burgers, maybe topped with halloumi and the same yoghurt sauce.

 

Inside the house I made:

Spiced Lamb Pittas

Half leg of lamb

2 tblsp curry powder

2 tblsp smoked paprika

2 tblsp dry coriander

2 tblsp cumin

1 tblsp chilli powder

1 tblsp garam masala

1 lamb stock cube

2 green chillies

1 pepper

1 onion

4 pitta breads

salad 

Yoghurt sauce (recipe below)

Here is my delicious half leg of lamb. I think most often people would roast it whole, so what I'm about to do to it may seem like sacrilege...

 

1) Cut off the external fat, debone and dice it (leaving the internal fat on). Yes, it's a pretty expensive cut to dice and the recipe would probably work just as well with shoulder but using leg make it so damn good. The meat will be stay in cubes, not flake and it will be melt in the mouth tender at the end. It's definitely worth it. Your butcher would probably dice it for you but I wanted to do it myself.

 

2) Mix the dry spices and dredge the meat until covered.

 

3) Add a little oil to a saucepan and heat to a medium-low heat. Add the chopped chillies, meat and crumble the stock cube over the top.

 

4) Cook at a low heat for 1-1 1/2 hours. The lamb will release quite a lot of liquid and in an ideal world that will be all the moisture we need. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world so I checked every 15 minutes and topped up with 1/4- 1/2 a cup of water at a time so there was just enough so that it didn't dry out.

 

5) About an hour in we should have something like this. The lamb should still be solid pieces but it should pull apart pretty easily.

 

6) Add tomato puree until you have the consitency of a curry sauce. Add chopped peppers and onions and cook for another 10 mins, I prefer veggies to still have a little bite so stop before they go soft.

 

7) We should then have something like this. Toast the pittas in anticipation of the upcoming feast.

 

8)Fill the pittas and serve with salad and the yoghurt sauce. (same one, recipe below)

 

The lamb is spicy but not too spicy and hopefully by using the leg it will be so soft and tender as you won't believe. Having said that by substituting shoulder for leg the cost would reduce substantially and it would be quite a decent option for a cheap midweek meal.

Both meals were a pretty big hit in our house. Like I said lamb hasn't been an integral part of the meal rotation in our house for a while but now that I've shown what I can do with it I'm expecting it to be featuring much more in future.

Yoghurt Sauce

I use this with everything from Greek and Mediterranean spiced food to Indian, including my infamous Greek Nachos (which would also be delicious with lamb, that's now my next project!) It's piss easy to make but tastes amazing.

200g Greek yoghurt

15g fresh mint

A lemon

1/4 cucumber

1) Zest and juice the lemon. Chop the mint and mix it together.

 

2) Add in the yoghurt and mix until combined. Finely chop the cucumber and mix in.

Let's be friends! Find me here:
Transatlantic Blonde were provided lamb for the purpose of creating these recipes but all opinions and creations are our own.

Glasgow Street Food Cartel

When I left the US for Glasgow my experience of food trucks was limited to Manoosh, a guy who had a hot dog and pretzel cart late at night on GWU's campus.  Of course then a few years later I was introduced to the infamous “burger van” when my office was on an industrial estate and that was the only dining (I use that term loosely) option within walking distance. Neither is a fair representative of the now booming food truck trend.

Food trucks have become a phenomenon in the USA over the past few years and like most booming food trends they are slowly making their way to the UK. If you love the Food Network like I do you may have seen them featured on shows like “ Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America,” “Andy Bates’ Street Feasts” and my personal favourite, due to the dreamy Tyler Florence mostly, “The Great Food Truck Race.”  Basically think of your favourite cuisine in a mobile kitchen giving you your favourite eats to go.  Trucks in the USA have massive followings and they only need to tweet their location for the day to have a queue down the block.

So when I heard that Scoop Events and Smoak were coming together for the first ever Street Food Cartel, a pop up food truck restaurant in Glasgow I was mega excited—then I heard it had sold out almost immediately. Bummer. Luckily for me they added a second night and we were able to get tickets. Tickets cost £5 each and gave you entry and a free drink.

We went for the 6:30 setting but I’ll be honest and say we arrived about 15 minutes late to SW3 but that wasn’t a problem. It was a bit sketchy walking in since it is literally a big warehouse, but once inside it wasn’t so scary.

The venue was a warehouse so it was pretty cold but my main complaint venue wise was that it was really hard to hear. The plywood tables were quite large so NotBlondeHusband was pretty far away from me and since the music echoed in the empty warehouse it made it quite hard to hear. I was looking forward to going out with my husband and while I don’t mind sharing a table with other people I spent most of the night invisibly rolling my eyes at the utter shite the person next to me was shouting at their friends.

However, you don’t really go to a pop-up restaurant for the ambiance so let’s talk about the food. We were offered an elderflower cocktail or beer for our free drinks and since I don't like elderflower I became the designated driver and NBH got two beers. He went for the Harveston Schiehallion and really enjoyed it: it had a lot of flavour. The menu was split into two—one half for Scoop and the other for Smoak.

They suggested dishes were to share but 3 dishes per person, which to be honest I found a bit confusing but we went for five between the two of us. Our Smoak dishes came out first:

Truffle Mac and Cheese with Brioche Crumb

This picture does not do it justice—the mac and cheese was amazing. I may or may have not stuck my fingers in the sauce after all the pasta was done. Seriously delicious. 

Smoked & Confit Chicken Slider, Bourbon Dipping Sauce & Plantains

This was good but when a dish is described as being “to share” I tend to expect more than one slider. Also it was impossible to dip into the dipping sauce because it was in such a wee cup. We ended up pouring on the sauce rather than dipping. The chicken itself was really nice I just wish there had been two or three sliders in our tray.

Next up was the dishes from Scoop:

Confit Pork Belly, Viet Slaw, Scratchings Lettuce Wraps & Nouc Cham

This was NotBlondeHusband’s choice. He’s a big fan of pork belly but for him the winner of this dish was the Viet Slaw. It wasn’t that the pork belly was bad but it was quite fatty and didn’t really stand out on its own. If you took away all the other components of the dish it wasn’t palatable.

Ox Cheek Taco, Guacamole & Sweet Pickled Onion

We both love tacos but the ox cheek was far too rich. The guacamole and onions were both nice but for me taco fillings should be lighter and less heavy. It didn’t taste bad it just was too rich for my taste.

Butternut Spring Roll, Beetroot Pesto, Feta & Toasted Hazelnut Dukkah

This was hands down my favourite. I love beetroot and the pesto was so fresh and the perfect pairing with the sweet butternut squash. It was so good I tweeted Scoop to ask how they made it. Also hands down the best feta I’ve ever had. I might have to tweet them again to find out where they source it from as it was light and fluffy rather than dry and salty like some feta.

We went for both desserts on offer because well that’s how we roll and oh wow I’m so glad we did.

Smoak: White Chocolate Cheesecake, Raspberry & Bourbon Cranachan

Normally I’m not a huge fan of Cranachan because it can be a bit too boozy for me but this was perfectly balanced. To be honest I don’t really like cheesecake that much but it was creamy without being sickly and smooth without being overly rich.

Peanut Butter Parfait & Jam Sorbet

Being American I’m a huge fan of the peanut butter and jam combination and this did not disappoint. We expected it to actually just be strawberry sorbet but the sorbet was actually made of strawberry jam and was tart enough to counter balance the peanut butter parfait. Again I may or may have not stuck my fingers in the leftover melty bits on the plate.

With £10 entry, £38.50 for our food (plus one more beer) + tip it certainly wasn’t cheap but the quality of food was high. Yes everything was served in paper baskets but you had proper china and silverware to eat out of---it’s street food that doesn’t bother me. I’d hope if these trucks go out and about (and have no warehouse overhead) that item costs would be slightly lower. On the whole we had a great evening but that’s not the kind of money we could spend on a regular basis.

I hope this was just a taste of what’s to come for Glasgow and we’ll soon have food trucks all over our dear green place with amazing and interesting alternative dining options for us all.

Frankie & Benny's New Menu

I used to hold a major grudge against Frankie and Benny's after I had a bad experience at one at Stansted airport. I would straight up refuse to go there but now that we live less than two minutes from one I've let go of my grudge. The food has gotten a lot better and their new menu is no exception.

We went to check out the new menu a few weeks ago; the first thing you have to know is the portions are INSANE. Frankie and Benny's isn't actually an American restaurant (my MIL very sweetly took my Mom there after Blondie Boy was home because she thought she'd know it and was a bit embarrassed to learn it doesn't exist in the US) but the portions are giant American sized. NotBlondeHusband and I both had starters but we could easily have split one as neither of us finished our meals.  So what did we have:

Starters:

Breadsticks and Cheese Dip

Calamari

We'd had the breadsticks before and they did not disappoint. We tend to get them because we know Blondie Boy can munch on them too since they are egg-free. I was really impressed with the calamari; it is really easy to mess up but this was light and fresh.

Mains:

Kid's Margherita Pizza

Chicken & Prawn Alfredo

Double Philly Stack

Bacon Cheese Fries

Blondie Boy's main actually came out with our starters which from a Mom point of view is great. It means he can take his time (as toddlers do) and doesn't get frustrated that we are eating and he is not. The kid's pizza was huge; two children could easily split it.

Alfredo is my favourite pasta sauce and you don't really get it in the UK. While this version was not the sauce I was expecting it was still good and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of prawns and chicken in the dish.

NotBlondeHusband isn't exactly a small guy and he could not finish his burger but really enjoyed what he could manage. It was huge as well! I think if we both knew how big portions were we'd have split or skipped starters all together.

I'm a glutton for punishment and fell for the card on the table advertising the new cheese fries-- I freaking love cheese fries (not the same as chips and cheese) and you don't really see them in the UK. They did not disappoint and the crispy bits of bacon were a nice touch; I really wish there had been ranch dressing to dip them in to complete the Americaness.

Dessert:

Vanilla Ice Cream

NBH and I had no room for dessert but Blondie Boy's kid's meal included dessert so we decided to let him have a treat and try some ice-cream.  Frankie and Benny's passed the allergy test and the waiter brought me out the tub of ice cream to read the ingredients to double check there wasn't any egg in it. I'm always happy when servers go that extra bit to make sure something is egg-free.  He LOVED the treat and got a little bag of buttons we took home for later.

Frankie and Benny's menu has something for everyone and great value for money when it comes to portion sizes. Right now you can get £10 off the new menu with this voucher when you buy two or main courses! 

Transatlantic Blonde were provided vouchers for our meal but the opinions are our own.

Lemon Shortbread with Lemon Frosting (Egg Free and Allergy Friendly)

I love to bake but it is tough to find recipes that don't include eggs and since Blondie Boy is allergic to eggs that means he doesn't get to help me bake very often. I decided to try and find a recipe online that was egg free and allergy friendly we could try together. I found a recipe for lemon cookies that used Ener-G egg replacer and decided to give it a go. 

Blondie Boy had a lot of fun being my helper and best of all no eggs meant he got to lick the spoon! Who doesn't like the lick the spoon? Now I have no idea if they turned out as intended since the recipe had no reviews or photos but we liked them. 

I tweaked the recipe a little so below is my version of Allergy Friendly Egg Free Lemon cookies with Lemon Frosting. They have a consistency similar to shortbread and the lemon frosting gives them a tangy taste which would make them perfect to have with a cup of tea.

Ingredients

Cookies

3⁄4	cup	softened butter (about 6oz)
1⁄4	cup	sugar (plus 1tbsp)
2 1⁄2	tsp	Lemon Juice (1/2 a lemon)
1	tsp	grated Lemon Peel (zest of 1 lemon)
1⁄4	tsp	vanilla
1 3/4	cup	all purpose flour
1	tsp	Ener-G Egg Replacer
1⁄8	tsp	Ground Cloves

Icing

1⁄4	cup	softened butter (about 2oz)
2 1⁄2	tsp	Lemon Juice (1/2 a lemon)
1⁄4	tsp	vanilla
1	cup	powdered sugar (icing sugar UK)

In mixing bowl, beat butter for 2 minutes on medium speed. Turn speed down to slow and gradually add in the sugar. Mix for another 3 minutes on medium-high speed and scrape down sides as needed. 

Zest the lemon before you juice it or it will be really hard to zest after. Pour in the juice, peel and vanilla. 

In a separate bowl, blend together the flour, Ener-G Egg Replacer, and cloves. Slowly add dry mix with butter mixture. Mix on slow for a few seconds and then on medium until incorporated; repeat until all the flour is mixed in. Place dough on flat surface, roll into a log shape, cover, and refrigerate for an hour. 

After the hour, preheat oven to 360 degrees F (180C). Replace chilled dough back onto surface and cut into 1/4" circles. Set cookies on a non-greased tray so they are not touching (cookies will not rise so you don't need mush space)

Turn oven down to 350 degrees F (175 C) and bake for 15-17 minutes or until lightly browned.

Let cool for 10 minutes before apply Lemon Icing (recipe below).

In a medium bowl, beat ¼ cup soft butter (I used Lurpak spreadable because I was out of butter) for 3 minutes. 

Scrape sides and add in 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 ½ tsp lemon juice (the other half of the lemon) and ¼ tsp vanilla. Blend on slow for 8 seconds, then increase to medium-high speed for 4 minutes, scraping sides as needed. Frosting will be thin but not watery. Add more icing sugar until desired consistency is achieved.

Fish is the Dish: Lemon Sole

You might remember from the last time I posted how excited I was to receive a box of delicious fish in the post from John Milne at Delish Fish and the people at Fish is the Dish. Well after seeing how good the fish was last time I was probably even more excited this time, in fact the only time I've been more excited recently is when I  got Blondie Boy got a Lego advent calendar.


Anyway, this time the box contained some lemon sole. Which interestingly is neither a fruit or a sole, it's actually a type of flounder. It's a fish I remember eating a lot as a kid, it has a really delicate flavour so it's ideal for kids who might be fussy, or even fussy adults. Who could that be?... 


Also in the box was a little bonus: some of John's delicious hot smoked salmon. We're a smoked salmon kind of gang in this house anyway, hot or cold, so when I say this is pretty much hands down the nicest you'll find, that's high praise. We ate it as a starter, just with some bread and it was so good. Blondie really enjoyed it, it had a flavour of honey about it that she thought reminded her of really good honey baked ham. Blondie Boy snacked on it and kept coming back for more.

There were two recipes with the sole, a recipe for lemon sole goujons, which is how I always ate it as a kid so it sounded ideal for the boy, although he hasn't tried it yet: his is still in the freezer. I'll report back on that at a later date. The "adult" recipe was for a pan fried lemon sole in butter, a kind of meunière I guess. Like last time it was really easy.

Ingredients:-

Lemon Sole Fillets (1 per adult)

Chopped Almonds

Green Beans

Flour (For Dusting)

80g Butter

How to Cook:-

Cook your green beans, I blanched mine in a pot but if you're feeling lazy you could microwave them.If you've bought whole almonds toast them under the grill for a little, until they start to darken. Cut the the beans in half and chop the almonds.

Take the skirt off of the sole fillets (the easiest way is with scissors although you can do it with your hands) and dust them with flour, then shallow fry in a medium/hot frying pan  

 

Please ignore the flour spill, I cleared that up later.  By which I mean my Mum cleared it up later. Don't feel too bad for her, she got to eat the fish after all her hard work.

Take the fish out when cooked and place it on a warm plate. I covered it in tinfoil to keep it warm.

Whilst this is cooking brown the butter in a pan at a medium heat, then add in the green beans and the almonds. 

Serve the fish and spoon the butter, green beans and almonds over the top.

I served with boiled new potatoes, in more butter (I don't believe there is ever such a thing as too much butter), some more green beans and baguette. It would appear that I cooked it in my well out of date but still cool green Red Sox jersey. NBH being NBH.

 

It was amazing, such a good result for so little effort. My brown butter, as you can probably tell, was not so brown. When I do it again I'll give it a little longer in the pan. It's pretty easy to burn, and if it does it's pretty foul, so you just have to keep an eye on it and keep stirring it. Nobody complained so I may have got away with that, until now at least, but even with slightly less than brown butter the lemon sole was delicious. Like I mentioned before, it's such a delicate fish that cooking it simply like this with a light sauce is the way to go.

It's sustainable too, a 2 on the sustainability scale where one is the best and 5 is worst. I reckon this might be a good recipe for entertaining: it's so easy to make but still delicious and pretty impressive. Your guests would think you've been slaving for hours in the kitchen, when actually you've been back there playing with your your son's Lego advent calendar. Living the dream.