Pasties & Poppers

I made this great recipe for Ravioli of Slow-Baked Lamb with Sage Butter. Isn't it pretty?

It was disgusting.

However, the lamb was wonderful, so I'll give the details for that part of it - it's a great go-to roast lamb recipe.

The whole palava gave me some pause though. You might think I'm coocoo but I believe you can find metaphors for life in everything. Even in a leg of lamb. You see, in order to make those vile little raviolis I spent hours roasting an entire leg of lamb. And all that effort for nothing sounded familiar.

Lately I've been going through a bit of a personal "issue". And like with the lamb, what I put into this "issue" is so much much more than what I get out of it. If after all that effort my ravioli (i.e. my reward - in case you're having a bit of a slow metaphoric day), was wonderful, then it would make all that lamb roasting worthwhile. But if my reward sucks, then maybe I should be rethinking all that effort I put in. 

Here's another thought. Having realised that the ravioli sucked I could have given up. Nothing wrong with a leg of lamb on its own. But I wasn't ready to give up. So I made lamb pasties.

So now the only question left is this: Do I give up because my effort isn't rewarded. Or do I try a different recipe? 

xx

J

LEG OF LAMB

1.5kg Leg of lamb

4 Carrots roughly chopped

2 Onions roughly chopped

1 Head of garlic halved

2c White wine

Handful of thyme

Preheat oven to 250C. Oil and season the lamb. Place the carrots, onions and garlic in a roasting dish and put the lamb on top. Roast uncovered for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 160C. Add the wine and thyme, cover tightly with foil and roast for about 2 hours. Remove the lamb and strain out the vegetables, retaining the juices. Allow to cool down so you can remove the fat. Keep about 1c for the pasties.

LAMB PASTIES

200g Flour

110g Butter chopped

250g Cooked lamb chopped

2t Fresh mint chopped

2T Onion chopped

1/2c Peas

2 Potatoes chopped

1/2c Cream

Egg

Sift the flour and crumble with the butter. Add 2T water and keep mixing until you have everything incorporated. If you need more water add it 1t at a time you want it firm not runny. Cover with clingwrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

In the meantime boil the potatoes in beef stock until just done and drain. Fry the onion in a little butter until soft. Add the potatoes, lamb, peas, cream and a cup of the lamb juices. Thicken with maizena. Stir in the mint.

Roll out the dough and cut into 4 rounds about 16cm or so. Divide the lamb mixture between the rounds. Dampen the edges, fold over and crimp together. Give it a slice to let the steam out and brush with the beaten egg. Bake at 220C for about 20 minutes.

PRAWN POPPERS

400g Prawns
3/4c Breadcrumbs
1t Lemon juice
2 Egg yolks
Tabasco sauce
2T Spring onions chopped (green part only)
2 Beaten eggs

1/4c Yoghurt
1/4c Cream cheese
1t Dijon mustard
1t Worcestershire sauce

Fry the prawns in butter until done. Shell and chop up finely. Mix with the 1/2c breadcrumbs, the lemon juice, 2 egg yolks, spring onions and about 6 drops Tabasco sauce. Roll into 12 balls, dip in the beaten eggs, then in the 1/4c breadcrumbs. Put in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Mix together the yoghurt, cream cheese, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and season. I added about 10 more drops of Tabasco to the dip. (Living dangerously). Deep fry the balls. Serve with the dip, lemon and loads of Tabasco.