I mean, I suppose we could just say bugger the sides and just eat the meat of the bone (I did consider it), but you know, the sides are actually what makes the meal even more exciting and gives you some really great complimentary flavors.
Before we get to that, I'll tell you how I did my Lamb. Honestly, when I was getting to the end of cooking everything else I was pondering whether it was even necessary to do the lamb, but I am so glad I did. We did have more guests than expected and I definitely still wanted leftovers, so it was worth it. Since it wasn't a whole roast lamb, I left the cutlets till last. They were the easiest thing to cook out of everything and really don't take much time.
The Lamb
The night before, I marinated the cutlets in my garlic/ herb mix (chopped fresh garlic, rosemary and basil) and then drizzled with olive oil, half a lemon and half a glass of Rose wine. I added a bit of flavored salt to taste, and that's absolutely it. Lam does not have to be complicated at all. In fact, the simpler the marinade, the better the taste.
When it was time to cook them, I just put them under the grill in the oven, for 5 minutes per side and them pulled them out. Done. They were a perfect medium rare to medium. I got a bit of a fright as the fat spat onto the element and we had a few mini-explosions in there, but damn were they good. Tender meat and crispy fat, which is just the perfect combination.
The Greens:
For greens, I chose green beans, which I simply topped and tailed, brussel sprouts, and broccoli. I did them all in separate dishes but inevitably ended up serving them combined as we ran out of table space. There truly wasn't much wizardry here as I just made sure I gave the veggies generous lashings of butter, my fresh garlic herb mix, and a sprinkle of seasoning salt. I then just left them to do their thing at 180 deg celcius, but didn't let them get too mushy. Then I just let them bathe in their garlicky yumminess, mixed them around, and warmed them up when it was time to serve.
Root veg
I always do caramelized carrots, but with all those leftover veggies from preparing the gammon, I decided to just crunch those up by topping them with cinnamon and sugar and butter and letting them brown in the oven. The flavour was particularly amaizing because of the apricots that had completely dissolved in the preparation of the gammon. I let those brown in the oven and that was the end of that.
Perfect Roast Potatoes
Roast potatoes are annoyingly difficult to get right. The trick is definitely to pre-boil them and then make sure you dry them off before placing them in a generously greased pan (olive oil) and to make sure your pan isn't overcrowded. Use two pans if you don't have space. I saved all the liquid from my gammon prep and added a little extra water, and used that to pre-boil my potatoes. Remember to watch them. You're not cooking them, you're par-boiling, so take them off the heat and drain them once they're about halfway done. Then place them in the pan and generously cover with garlic and herb mix and sprinkle with seasoning salt. Don't be tempted to mess with them during roasting. You can turn them one or twice, but don't even touch them until they're already going golden brown. Too much fussing leads to the potatoes breaking apart and then everything sticks and its just a big mess, so just let them do their thing as much as possible. Parboiling means you don't need to wait forever for the potatoes to be soft on the inside. In fact, doing it this way makes them soft AND fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside, which is everything you want, right?
As for condiments on the table, I had German mustard and mint Jelly, but I must admit they were forgotten as everyone just got stuck into their Christmas dinner!
And that is the end of my Christmas secrets! Here's to 2024 and a whole bunch of new recipes!
Check out my previous Christmas recipes from this year's feast here:
🎄🍨🍒🍫🍦Claire's Crazy Cakes, Bakes and Kitchen Hacks: Chapter 32 - Don't Trifle with my Trifle!!🎄🍨🍒🍫🍦
