primal cavewife

Showing posts with label lamb. Show all posts

Lamb Saagwala

I tried lamb saagwala for the first time at an indian restaurant a couple months ago... best decision I have ever made. It's so good and I can't get enough of it, I decided I should try and make my own. Lamb Saagwala is basically a creamy spinach sauce with lamb. Since the boyfriend suggested we have more vegetables in our diet, adding a whole bag of spinach in our food seemed like a simple and easy way to incorporate that. Green is a yucky colour, but lately I have been really into adding random colours to our dishes, especially after I found out there are more varieties of every fruit and vegetable than there are offered at the supermarkets. There are yellow tomatoes, white eggplants, yellow zucchinis etc. Since they can't easily be obtained, I've decided to grow more different kinds of vegetables. We'll see how that goes!

Ingredients:

butter/coconut oil

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 bay leaf

2-3 cardamom pods

1 tsp cumin powder

1 onion, sliced

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground garlic

1 tomato, chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 cup water

boneless lamb, cubed

1 bag spinach

1/4 cup coconut cream

salt

pepper

Heat butter/coconut oil in saucepan. Add cayenne pepper, bay leaf, cardamom pods and cumin.
Add onions and sauté until translucent. Add turmeric, ginger and garlic.
Add tomato, stir and add the rest of the spices. Stir and add 1/2 cup water.
Add the lamb and stir.
Cook on medium heat for an hour with the lid on.
Place the lamb in a bowl and add the spinach to the sauce. When the spinach is partly cooked, blend it with a stick blender and place it back on the stove for another five minutes. Add the coconut cream, flavour with salt and pepper and mix the lamb back in the sauce.

Lamb Leg Roast

Boyfriend went to Thailand this week so we bought me a lot of meat and veg to hopefully last me until he gets back. One of the meats was a lamb leg, so the night before he left I made us a lamb leg roast! I've never cooked lamb leg or even lamb for that matter before and oh my God, this was so good!! Haven't perfected the marination yet but the meat was tender and juicy, definitely will give it a go again. Since my rosemary plant in the backyard is still quite small, I wasn't able to use a lot of it without killing the plant...

Ingredients:

lamb leg

rosemary
mustard seeds

salt

pepper

garlic

1 sweet potato, cubed

1 broccoli

Grind the mustard seeds.
Cut slits in the lamb at 3cm apart and stuff garlic, rosemary and ground mustard seeds in the slits. Salt and pepper the lamb.
Place more rosemary sprigs on top and under the lamb.
Chop up the sweet potato and broccoli and place them around the lamb.
Cook at 180C in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes for every 500g and add another 30 minutes. Set aside for 10 minutes before serve.
Flip the vegetables every once in a while to cover them with the lamb juices/oil so that they don't get dry and will get tasty with the lamb flavour!

Cheese and Mushroom Meatballs

The other night I made three different types of meatballs for dinner - Vegetable Meatballs, Sultana Meatballs and Cheese and Mushroom Meatballs.

Last time I made these, I grated the cheese and mixed it in with all the other ingredients. The cheese ended up melting off the meatballs when they were cooked which was rather disappointing. So this time, instead of mixing it in with the ingredients, I chopped them in little cubes and put it in the centre of the meatballs so they would still be cheesy and in the meatballs rather than off them!

Ingredients:

500g mince

1 cup mushroom

3/4 cup herbs (I used stuff from my backyard - parsley, basil, chives and oregano)

1 egg

2/3 cup almond meal (I didn't use this but I would recommend it so that the mix would be less soggy and the meatballs would be more solid)

cheese, cubed

salt

pepper

Cut the mushroom up in smaller pieces and together with the herbs, put it through the food processor until they become tiny bits.
Mix them in with the mince, egg, almond meal and salt and pepper.
Take a little portion, press a little dent in the middle and place the cubed cheese in it and roll the meat mix around it to form a ball.
Bake the meatballs at 180C for 15 minutes.

Beef Mince Potjie

My boyfriend and I went to visit his dad and he gave us a potjie recipe book because my boyfriend wanted potjie. I have no idea what potjie is... layered South African stew is the closest I can describe it. I think potjie itself is a cooking pot thing? But we used a slow cooker. It takes way longer. The recipe said 1.5-2 hours, but we cooked it for about 4 or 5 hours in the slow cooker. The recipe also asked for 4kg of chuck steak but I only had just under 1kg of mince so that had to do.

Ingredients:

1kg mince/ chuck steak/ lamb

400g bacon, chopped

500g mushroom, sliced

1 medium onion, sliced

7 carrots, chopped

1/2 butternut pumpkin, chopped

parsley, chopped

4 tomatoes, chopped

salt

pepper

In a frying pan, heat up the mince and flavour with salt and pepper. Remove the mince from the heat when it is cooked and place it in the slow cooker.
In the same frying pan, fry the bacon until it is crispy then add mushroom and onion. When the mix is cooked through, layer it on top of the mince.
Layer the carrots, pumpkin, parsley and lastly tomatoes on top and add salt and pepper to flavour.
Turn the heat to high and cook for 4 hours or until all the vegetables are soft.

Sultana Meatballs

When I made the cheese and mushroom meatballs last weekend, I made these deliciously sweet meatballs as well. These sweet meatballs balance out the savoury meatballs quite well!

Ingredients:

600g mince beef/lamb

1 cup sultanas

1 cup almond meal

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 200C.
Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
Mix all the ingredients together with a fork or your hands.
Roll the mix into balls and place them on the tray.
Bake in the oven at 200C for 25-30 minutes.

Lamb Roast

For Christmas dinner last year I cooked up a storm for me, boyfriend and his dad. There was shrimp cocktails as entree, this lamb roast with a side of sweet potato topped with sour cream for main and flan for dessert. I didn't french trim it because I think it's too wasteful just to make it look pretty. I think this looks fine anyway.

Ingredients:
3 racks of lamb
1 cup macadamia nuts
1 large garlic clove, peeled
1/2 cup chopped parsley
4 tbsp coconut oil
2/3 tsp salt
salt and pepper to taste
butter or coconut oil

Wash and pat dry racks of lamb. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
Place macadamia nuts, chopped parsley and garlic clove in a food processor. Add 4 tbsp of coconut oil and a pinch of salt. Process into a thick paste.
Heat a teaspoon of butter or coconut oil in a frying pan. Seal each side for a minute each. Remove to a plate and once cooled down, cover the meaty side with 50mm thick layer of macadamia paste, pressing down with your fingers. Place in the fridge to set.
Preheat oven to 200C. Place lamb racks in a slightly oiled tray crust side up and bake for 13 minutes at 200C. Turn the oven down to 165-170C and roast for a further 8 minutes.
Rest out of the oven for 10 minutes before serving with gravy.

Zucchini Stuffed Curry Mince

Paleo Gluten-Free Zucchini Boat Stuffed Curry Mince Recipe

I love zucchinis. Back in Canberra we used to grow them in the backyard and they would grow so big, bigger than the size of my arm and they are very easy to grow as well. This recipe is one of our favourites. Mine because of the zucchini and my boyfriend’s because of the amount of meat in it. Perfect for dinner for the both of us!

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchinis
300g mince, beef/lamb
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can coconut cream
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne, depending on how spicy you like it
1/2 tsp cumin

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Cut zucchini in halves lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and set aside. The shell should be about 1/4 inch thick.
Sprinkle the zucchini shells with salt and pepper and microwave, covered, for 3 minutes. Set aside.
Chop the zucchini innards.
Heat the oil over medium/high heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until onion is translucent. Add the mince and cook until browned. Drain the fat.
Add the zucchini innards and sauté for a minute, until it just starts to soften.
Stir in the curry, garam masala, cayenne, and cumin.
Pour in the coconut cream, bring to boil, then lower to simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sauce is thickened and creamy.
Spoon the mince mix into the zucchini shells, ensuring not to add too much liquid.
Bake for 10-15minutes.

Shepherd's Pie

I used to work at a bakery when I was still studying my Bachelor degree. I love the smell of pastry and bread. Smells so homely. I can still bake them now, but it’s no fun baking when you can’t share it with your other half properly. Even though it’s not the same without the smell of freshly baked pie, this is a close alternative especially for those cold winter nights to keep your bellies warm.

Ingredients:

coconut oil
1.5kg beef mince
2 onions, chopped finely
4 medium carrots, chopped finely
dried herbs
2 bay leaves
8 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups bone broth
cinnamon

Mash Potato Topping:
1 large sweet potato
pepper
cinnamon
butter, melted

Preheat oven to 190 degrees.
Add coconut oil to a large frying pan and heat over a low/medium fire.
Add the mince, onion and carrot and stir until cooked.
Add the bay leaves and herbs and stir through for about a minute.
Stir in the cinnamon, pepper, chopped tomatoes and broth, and cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste.
Peel the sweet potato and cut it in thirds and boil it until it is soft. Drain the water and mash them. Season to taste.
Pour the mince mix into a large casserole dish and cover with the mashed sweet potatoes. With a brush, glaze the top with butter.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Older Posts Home

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )