Sunday Dinner - Family Gatherings
Shoulder of lamb on a bed of sliced potatoes
Sunday dinner with family - These two recipes are perfect for Sunday, you can throw the lamb and potatoes in the oven and practically forget about it and the cake can be made ahead.
Spiced Shoulder of Lamb with Potatoes
Serves 5-6
1 leg or shoulder of lamb
2 cloves of garlic peeled and roughly chopped
1 shallot roughly shopped
2 tbsp of garam masala spice mix
2-3 tbsp coconut or olive oil
8-10 medium white potatoes or a mix of white and sweet potatoes
400ml vegetable stock
2tsp fresh thyme chopped
Oven at 200C
Peel the potatoes and thinly slice. Layer the potatoes, seasoning well as you go in a roasting tin big enough to hold the leg of lamb. Sprinkle over the chopped thyme. Splash the stock over the potatoes.
Add the oil garlic shallot and spices to a blender and blend to a rough paste.
Pierce the lamb and lay out on a board and spread the paste over both sides.
Season well with salt and pepper.
Lay the lamb on top of the potatoes and cover the pan with foil and roast for 20 mins per lb and 20 minutes over for medium. After about an hour, remove the oil and press the potatoes down to ensure they are still in the stock. Replace the foil lid and continue to cook to your liking. Set aside to rest keeping warm until you are ready to serve. Serve with some green veg on the side.
Coconut and Lemon Cake with Glazed Blueberries
4 free-range eggs
8oz caster sugar
8oz self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
8oz unsalted soft butter
2 oz desiccated coconut
jam or lemon curd to serve
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
Grease and line 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar, flour, baking powder and soft butter. Mix everything together until well combined- it is easiest with an electric hand mixer. Stir in the lemon zest. The finished mixture should be of a soft ‘dropping’ consistency – it should fall off a spoon easily. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and gently smooth the surface of the cakes. Place the tins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Check them after 20 minutes. The cakes are done when they’re golden-brown and coming away from the edge of the tins. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool in their tins for a few minutes then run a palette knife around the inside edge of the tin and carefully turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack.
Set aside to cool completely. To assemble the cake, place one cake half onto a plate and spread it with plenty of jam or lemon curd. Top with some more lemon curd and cover with desiccated coconut.
Glazed Blueberries
2 tubs blueberries – about 400g
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp cassis if you have it
zest of half a lemon
Heat a pan to medium and tip in the blueberries,
Sprinkle over the sugar and shake the pan
Add the water and Cassis if you are using it and swirl the pan to make a glaze