Garlic Pea Crusted Rack of Lamb, Dauphinois Potatoes, Black Garlic Foam

Rack of lamb is a pretty expensive treat but this Welsh rack is a mighty fine treat indeed. This version combines the sweetness of peas with the flavour of garlic to form a colourful but flavourful crust. Paired with garlicky dauphinois potatoes and black garlic foam it takes some beating.

Ingredients:

1x Rack of lamb, seasoned
1x Slice of white bread, grated into crumbs
1x Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1x Handful of frozen peas, allowed to thaw and finely chopped
1x Garlic clove, crushed or grated
Dijon mustard

500ml Lamb stock
1x Black garlic clove

1kg Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2x Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
300ml Double cream
300ml Milk
Butter


Method:

1. Arrange the potato slices in an oven dish.
2. On a chopping board sprinkle some salt over the 2 crushed garlic cloves then using the back of a fork work the garlic into a pulp.
3. In a saucepan mix the garlic pulp with the cream and milk and a good pinch of salt and pepper, and warm through.
4. Pour the garlic cream over the potatoes and scatter the top with knobs of butter.Cover with tin foil and put in the oven on gas mark 3 for 90 minutes.
5. To serve I simply placed a glass upside down on top of the dauphinois, cut around it with a knife then pushed the glass into the potatoes. You can then drop the potatoes out of the glass onto the plate to add that extra bit of visual presentation.

Black Garlic Foam:

1. Reduce the lamb stock by half by simmering on the hob, whisking regularly.
2. Peel the black garlic and crush it with the side of a knife. Add the pulp to the stock and continue simmering.
3. Thicken the sauce if needed with a cornflour and water mix then pass through a fine meshed sieve.
4. Pour the sauce into a whipping siphon and charge with one cartridge and shake very well. You can omit this bit if you haven't got a siphon and simply serve the sauce, it's just as tasty.

The Lamb:

1. Mix the breadcrumbs, peas, parsley and garlic together in a bowl.
2. In a hot frying pan brown the lamb on all sides but leave it a bit longer on the skin to melt the fat. Remove from pan and allow to rest.
3. Spread a really good dollop of dijon mustard over the skin and stick the garlic pea mixture to it.
4. Put the lamb in a gas mark 6 pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes. We like our lamb very rare so cook it a bit longer if you prefer it more done.
5. Slice the chops in pairs then plate up. We served ours with some french beans simply blanched for 3 minutes in boiling water.

You can read more about black garlic here www.britishblackgarlic.co.uk

Pot Noodle and Chips

Yes you did read that right, this is pot noodle and chips! This, erm recipe, was born out of a teenage hangover and is equally suited to times when you're not feeling 100%, just like Mrs Larry is right now. Tonight for simplicity we have used the Golden Wonder plastic potted version but below you will find my recipe for homemade pot noodle. You must serve it with crinkle cut chips, those crinkles create a bigger surface area for absorbing more of your favourite noodle sauce. Mrs L likes the beef and tomato version whereas I prefer the chicken and mushroom loaded with extra chilli sauce, either that or the BBB (Bombay Bad Boy). All I can say is don't knock it until you try it!

Ingredients:

Pot Noodle
Chips, crinkle cut


Method:

1. Cook your chips as per packet instructions.
2. Boil kettle and make pot noodle as per instructions. Add additional chilli sauce if you like.
3. Pour pot noodle over chips.


To make your own pot noodle:

Ingredients:

Noodles, either fresh or dried soaked in water.
Meat, chopped into small pieces, I used pork in the photo below but chicken is good
Mushrooms, diced
Shallot, diced
Carrot, peeled and diced
Peas
Chicken stock
Soy sauce
Cornflour


Method:

1. Sweat off the onion in a pan until translucent.
2. Add the meat and brown if raw.
3. Pour in the stock and soy sauce then add the remaining veg.
4. Simmer for a few minutes then thicken with cornflour and season to taste. Add any chilli sauce if you like.
5. Add the noodles and cook through.
6. Plate up! Eat as they are or if you're feeling delicate pour them over a hot steaming plate of crinkle cut chips.

Venison Fillet and Black Garlic Sauce

One ingredient I absolutely love is British black garlic. How it is made is a closely guarded secret but it is basically an aged and cured garlic bulb that turns black as part of the process. The flavour is similar to balsamic vinegar, a sort of liquoricey garlic, a perfect accompaniment to venison fillets. I simply combined it with leftover gravy from the venison cawl the other night but any stock will do.

Ingredients:

2x Venison Fillets
500ml Leftover gravy or stock
1x Large clove of British black garlic


Method:

1. Reduce the gravy or stock by half by simmering on the hob, whisking regularly.
2. Peel the black garlic and crush it with the side of a knife. Add the pulp to the gravy and continue simmering.
3. Thicken the gravy if needed with a cornflour and water mix then pass through a fine meshed sieve.
4. This bit is optional. Pour the gravy into a whipping siphon and charge with one cartridge and shake very well.
5. Season the venison then sear both sides in a hot pan for about 90 seconds a side.
6. Plate up and squirt or pour over your black garlic sauce.
7. Serve with veg of choice, mine is with sweet potato chips and mange tout, and I sneaked a poached egg in there too.


You can read more about black garlic here www.britishblackgarlic.co.uk

Venison Cawl

It's not been the best trip away in the van this one as Mrs Larry and the Little Larrys have been poorly with this dreadful lurgy that's traversing the UK at the moment. What they need is a good hearty stew and as we are in Wales I'm serving them up a Welsh cawl using some venison saddle. I think cawl is Welsh for soup, which makes sense because it is a very thin stew. Sometimes the gravy is served as a soup to start but we are going to mop it all up with some crusty bread, and keep some of it to use as stock for dishes later this trip.

Ingredients:

500g Venison saddle, cubed
200g Bacon lardons
1x Large onion, diced
2x Leeks, sliced
3x Carrots (300g), peeled and sliced
500g Swede, peeled and chopped up
3x Potatoes (600g), peeled and thickly sliced
Chicken stock, 1 litre

Method:

1. On a high heat brown the lardons in a big frying pan then transfer to a casserole dish.
2. Season the venison cubes and lightly brown in batches in the bacon fat. Add them to the casserole dish.
3. Turn the heat down to medium low and sweat off the onions in the frying pan for 10 minutes.
4. While the onions are cooking add all the remaining veg to the casserole dish.
5. Mix the onions into the casserole dish then pour in the stock.
6. Bring the casserole to a boil on the hob then transfer to the oven on gas mark 1 and cook for 2-3 hours.
7. Serve with some lovely crusty bread to mop up the gravy.

Mwynhewch eich bwyd!