A little light lunchtime five-tier pitta!

So, you all know that I run a Facebook page in conjunction with the blog here, right?  Well, if you hadn't realised, it's here at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jenny-Eatwells-Rhubarb-Ginger/161388070631031?sk=wall where I post up all the stuff that doesn't really belong on the blog.

Except, I started to think that perhaps it was a shame not to put some of the Facebook photographs on the blog too.  Like today's lunch.  Oh, it was stellar.  Oh yes indeed.  Why should you guys who don't indulge in Facebook, miss out on what might give you some inspiration to create your own stellar lunch?

You see, this is one of the changes I was talking about earlier.  From now on, you'll find some shorter (stop cheering at the back!) blog posts appearing, dealing with breakfast, lunch or just a fantastic biscuit we've found.  (Have I told you about Asda's Chocolate Melting Moments?  Get some, you have to).

Okay then, so what was so great about today's lunch?

From right to left or left to right, I could.  I really could.  Mmmmn.

Well for starters it was in a pitta bread, so low GI and won't cause bloating in me - which is good to begin with.  I lightly toasted my pitta bread, which left it puffed up and warm.  So what did I put into it?

Firstly, some of my home made hummus.  Aaah, Yotam Ottolenghi how I do love you.

Next, a layer of super finely sliced Milano salami.  Aha!  That's got your interest, I can tell.

Then, a smidgeon - just a smidgeon! - of mayonnaise, to provide something for the rocket (aha, token green stuff) to stick to.

The rocket, in turn, provided a home in which to nestle two halved cherry tomatoes and three halved queen green olives.  Ta daaa!!

That's ... that's just beautiful, that is. 

Oh yes.  Take me home, country roads - it's a taste of summer.  I commend it to you all!

Roasted leg of kid goat with almond & orange blossom sauce

Do you recall the Seco de chivo (or Goat with Green Peppers) that I cooked some while ago?  Well, I was talking to Jason at Farmer's Choice via Twitter about the results and how the fattiness of the stewing goat pieces wasn't to my family's taste - although I liked it well enough.

He very kindly arranged to send me a boned leg of kid goat, so that I could try a leaner cut on the menfolk and see what they thought.

The joint arrived and looked fantastic, with light marbling through the meat that said it would be succulent and tasty, without the huge lines of fat that put my menfolk off the whole thing.

I'm really dead keen to use kid goat as and when possible - and it is becoming easier to get hold of and a little bit more affordable than it was.  By rights, it should be extremely affordable, so as to avoid the terrible wastage of the boy kid goats that aren't useful to the goat milk trade.

Now this whole thing happened around the time that Yotam Ottolenghi's t.v. programme "Jerusalem" was out on television for the first time.  (It's been around again since - yes, that's how long ago this was!).  I'm sure you all know my opinion as to just how much of a god Yotam Ottolenghi is to me - and we'd been watching "Jerusalem" alternately salivating like mad and watching with our mouths wide open in astonishment at the ingredients and combinations.

So when the kid goat meat arrived, it seemed right to consult Ottolenghi's genius as to what to do with it.

I recalled seeing a completely amazing Ottolenghi recipe involving young lamb - what we'd term, here in the U.K., as "spring lamb" - and as kid goat can be treated in the same way - in cooking terms - as spring lamb, I didn't look any further.

Now, it has to be said that I was a bit hamstrung where following the recipe to the letter was concerned, as the meat should have been barbecued.  We do have a barbecue, but it had been pouring with rain for the last three weeks and seemed set to continue for the next three weeks, so being able to barbecue was unlikely.  I do have a griddle pan - and I suspect I could have used that to better effect - but hindsight is a marvellous thing, as is experience.  Having done this recipe the once, I would be a bit braver the second time around.  However, I was very conscious that I may not get the chance to use kid goat again for a while (it was really very expensive then) and just didn't want to be too robust with it and wind up making it inedible.

I opted to leave the meat in its rolled state and seared the outside using the griddle pan.  That gave us a degree of charring effect that added to the flavour - but done again, I'd cut the meat into smaller chunks and just griddle the lot (assuming I didn't have a barbecue available, that is!).  Having marinated the goat in garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, thyme and rapeseed oil, you can just imagine the mouthwatering smells that were issuing forth from the griddle pan.  Just gorgeous.

Having seared the meat, I then oven roasted it in the same way as you would spring lamb.  I opted to go for well done - with no pink in evidence - purely because I knew that son & heir wouldn't be able to eat kid goat if it was at all rare.  He was having trouble enough getting his head around the fact that what he had on his plate was a bit of a baby goat, as it was.

Now, I will say - straight away - that my almond & orange blossom sauce was a bit of a disaster.  I admit it.  However, not in flavour - which was completely and utterly fabulous - but in texture.  I used our food processor to grind the cooked almonds - which was where I went wrong.  All it seemed to achieve is grinding a certain amount of the almonds into a virtual flour, while the remainder stayed in huge lumps.  Not good at all.  As a consequence, any liquid was slurped up by the finely ground nuts and the whole thing turned into a beautifully flavoured almond butter type mixture.  Nowhere near sauce consistency!

So - if you're considering following this recipe yourself, I recommend that you use a pestle and mortar for grinding your nuts!  At least, that way, you can be more in control of what degree of pulverisation you give them.

Now, a special mention has to go to the almonds.  Just straight almonds - not blanched - were what I used and the revelation of how they turned out after spending a few minutes in hot oil in a frying pan, was immense.  I was very tempted to just eat the lot and pretend I'd dropped them into the sink or something.  Try it sometime (not dropping them in the sink - but frying some to nibble on), even if you don't make the recipe.  Just heat up a nice oil - olive or rapeseed - and cook some almonds until they're turning golden, then toss them in something nice like sea salt or a combination of herbs and spices.   I can imagine that lemon zest and black pepper with the sea salt would be amazing.  No, it's not low fat, but yes it is good for you - especially if you use an oil that is low in saturated fat.

So, getting back to the sauce.  The alchemy that goes on, just by mixing the few seemingly odd ingredients together, is just stunning.  Oh and yes, I use the word "stunning" in the full knowledge of its meaning.  I tasted the nuts when they were cooked and they were lovely.  Very moreish.  I tasted the sauce once I'd added and combined the lemon zest, juice, honey, orange blossom water, salt & pepper and rapeseed oil - to test for seasoning - and it was just incredible, without even having had the fresh herbs included.   Once you add the mint and coriander, it just takes you to a hot and dusty atmosphere, with cool shady colonnades beneath big airy villas, the smell of donkey, dust and humanity in the air.  How does he do that?  So, as I say - stunning.

We all loved the roasted kid goat.  It was succulent, the flavour of the marinade serving to accentuate the delicate sweetness and earthiness that is uniquely kid goat.  Coupled with the chargrilled red peppers and the almond & orange blossom sauce, this is one of the most jaw droppingly good dishes I've cooked since starting Rhubarb & Ginger.  Even with a sauce that had an incorrect consistency!

I served it with a jacket potato dressed with coriander and lime chilli yoghurt, which was amazingly well suited.  The only thing I would have added would be some green leaves of one sort or another.  Ottolenghi suggest fresh parsley, which I can imagine would be very good indeed.

I would dearly love to have another crack at this one - and I'll be keeping my eye open for kid goat leg, in future!

ROASTED LEG OF KID GOAT WITH ALMOND & ORANGE BLOSSOM SAUCE

Ingredients :

1kg piece of boneless kid goat leg
2 long red peppers, cut into quarters and seeds removed
olive or rapeseed oil
sea salt & black pepper

Marinade :
  2 garlic cloves, crushed
  grated zest of 1 lemon
  45ml lemon juice
  one and a half tbsp fresh thyme leaves, woody stems removed
  45ml olive or rapeseed oil

Sauce :
  50ml olive or rapeseed oil
  80g whole almonds
  grated zest of half a lemon
  2 tbsp lemon juice
  half a tbsp of runny honey
  quarter of a tbsp of orange blossom water
  10g fresh mint, finely chopped
  10g fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped.

Method :

1.  In a large bowl combine all the marinade ingredients and season well.  Divide the goat meat into several large pieces and add them to the marinade.  Using your hands, massage the marinade into the meat and leave for a minimum of 2 hours, or preferably, overnight.

2.  Pre-heat the oven to 220degC/425degF/Gas 7.

3.  Whilst the oven is heating up, and for the sauce, heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a small frying pan and add the almonds.  Cook - stirring often - until the nuts are golden and evenly cooked.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

4.  Place the nuts into a pestle and mortar (or any other method of crushing them that doesn't involve a food processor!) and pulverise them until they are broken, but not powdery.

5.  Decant into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients.  Stir well and taste for seasoning. 

6.  Heat a griddle pan until blisteringly hot.

7.  Drizzle the peppers with a little rapeseed or olive oil and a pinch of salt, then cook on the griddle until charred on all sides and softened.  Set aside to cool.

8.  Place the goat meat pieces onto the griddle pan (you will probably need to do this in batches, so as not to overcrowd the pan) and sear for 2-3 minutes on each side until starting to caramelise.  Transfer onto a roasting tray.

9.  Place the goat meat into the oven for a minimum of 4-5 minutes, leaving it longer depending on how thick the pieces are and how you like your lamb.  (Use lamb as a measure for pinkness.  If you like your lamb pink - you'll like your goat pink).

10.  Once done, cover with foil and set aside in a warm place, to rest.

11.  Add the freshly chopped mint and coriander to the sauce and stir to combine.

12.  Slice the goat meat into thick slices and serve with the peppers and the sauce drizzled over the top.

Heaven.

Printable version

Tuesday thoughts

Goodness, but this 'ere food blogging malarky is turning out to be even more fun than I anticipated it would be!

Have I told you the latest regarding the Avocado explorations?  I can't remember, but briefly, if you were ever considering making cold Avocado soup involving a fairly expensive piece of blue cheese - don't.  Vile.  Enough said.

The postie delivered my prize from Whimsical Wife's competition to win some Flying Pumpkin Lanterns and I was so excited!  We haven't had a chance to use them yet, between inclement weather and running out of time on Halloween, but I'm sure they'll be fun when we do!

Hubby had a brilliant idea and reminded me that I still had some money from my birthday  vouchers left with Amazon, so why didn't I buy Ottolenghi's "The cookbook", which I'd been renewing religiously ever since I borrowed it from our Library.  An inspired idea! Having had a look on Amazon, it transpired that the price had been significantly lowered on both "The Cookbook" and "Plenty" - so I got the pair of them.  ~hugs them to herself~  Such joy!  Just looking through them at the photography is enough, never mind the fact that simply all the recipes are saliva-inducing.  Rarely have I felt so protective over a pair of books.  I'm cooking a recipe from each this week and, rather than have them spoiled by cooking fallout, I'm going to type and print out the recipes I'm using.  I think I might cry if the books were marked in any way, right now.  Sad, isn't it?  However, thanks go out to Laura for supplying the wherewithall for them.  ~blows kisses~

Now, here's something exciting!  I had an email yesterday from the PR folk who are running the "secret ingredient" campaign for Heinz Tomato Ketchup.  They'd seen my recipes for Sausage Goulash and Spicy Minced Beef both included ketchup and wanted to know whether I'd be interested in having them included on their Tomato Ketchup Facebook site.  Needless to say, I responded that I would very much like them to be included, so long as I could include a link to my Rhubarb & Ginger blog - as it needs all the publicity it can get right now.  Ha!  Fun, eh?

Another exciting thing is that I saw a Tweet from Quadrille Books on Twitter today, asking for food bloggers to review one or more of their new recipe books.  I replied saying I'd love to - and am now expecting "My Kitchen - real food from near & far" by Stevie Parle.  Apparently Stevie spent time living on a houseboat in London, as I did in Kingston, and it sounds as though the recipes in the book could mirror those I like to produce.  So I'm excited about receiving that - and the review will appear on Rhubarb & Ginger very soon.

Last, but a long way from least, is the news that we are having Sparky for a week again.  Sparky is a Parsons Jack Russell terrier - and one of immense character.  Once more, this is down to Facebook and Twitter, as Sparky's owner placed a message asking whether anyone in our area could recommend a holiday kennel for dogs and my friend Laura put her in touch with me.  We had Sparky for a week a few months ago and loved having him here.  We dubbed him the Father Jack of Jack Russells, as for all the world, he appears to have the same propensity for yelling "drink ~ feck ~ gurls!", except in Sparky's case, I suspect it's more "ham ~ biscuit ~ chase!".  We can't wait!

So - all these things have happened as a result of Twitter, Facebook or Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger.  Awesome!



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