Diary Recipes

Its time to launch another month of Dish of the Month a blog event to celebrate the recipes of Nigel Slater. If you tweet your recipe @realnigelslater he might even reply to you some of last months entrants found out.  Check it out in the February Dish of the Month round up. Some of us are cooking our way month by month through The kitchen diaries II, however you can make any dish from any of Nigels books or use the on line recipes. The full rules are shown at the bottom of the post.

My Dish of the Month for is from March 16th in the Kitchen Diaries II. its an adaptation of Nigels Pork shoulder with ginger and anise.  I didnt have a pork shoulder, but I did have two huge and delicious Saddleback Pork Chops provided to me for review by Farmison its a really simple slow cooked recipe packed with flavour.

All the gorgeous meat I got from the two Saddleback Pork Chops

I managed to make the two chops stretch to feed three of us and the flavours of the ginger and anise were outstanding,  I would definitely make this again.  If you use the pork shoulder, the recipe is designed to provide leftovers for some further dishes which is great idea.

This month I am delighted to say that one entrant will win a 2.8L Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl and a Medium Silicone Spatula from the lovely people at OXO Good Grips.  Products from OXO Good Grips are of  the highest standards of design and manufacture, a delight to own and use.  The winner will be chosen by Random Number Generator when the Linky closes on 28th March. The prize draw is for UK residents only but anyone can join in and share their recipe on the Dish of the Month Linky.




If you would like to take part, then please:

• Make a Dish of the Month from ANY recipe by Nigel Slater
• Link to Farmersgirl Kitchen or A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate
•  Use the Dish of the Month logo in your post
• If you use twitter, tweet your post with @serialcrafter or @Heavenona_plate and #DishoftheMonth and we will re-tweet it to our followers. 

Rules:

• If you own The kitchen diaries II please do not publish the recipes on your blog without permission, they are copyright.
• If you are using recipes from the BBC Food website, please link to the recipe on BBC Food rather than publishing the recipe.  Likewise recipes on the Guardian Lifestyle website.
• One entry per blog.
• Recipes must be added to the linky by the 28th of each month.

The round up for Dish of the Month is now live over at A little bit of Heaven on a Plate
 Add your Dish of the Month to the linky below:
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Last week, boxed-cake-mix-maker Duncan Hines was forced to pull its latest marketing gimmick from the airwaves after a public outcry labeling Duncan Hines as "racist."

Entitled "Hip Hop Cupcakes", the commercial features unfrosted (presumably preservative-laden Duncan Hines) vanilla cupcakes, seemingly coming to life as a headless actress drizzles even more preservative-laden chocolate sauce atop the cupcakes, who then sprout cartoon eyes and lips, and begin to "sing" probably the best hip-hop music Ive ever heard in my life.


Lets get one thing straight: I hate racists and racism. Other things I hate: Glee hiatuses, red peppers, and buying shoes at full price only to see them go on sale the next day.

Now that Ive solidified my politically correctness, lets get real here--the hip-hop that Duncan Hines speaks of sounds more like the musical ramblings of a 14-year-old who just tinkered around with Garage Band for the first time. I try not to listen to any music that doesnt sound like itd be the color pink, but Im still pretty sure hip-hop is owned by the likes of Jay-Z and CB4. I mean, honestly, this "rap" isnt even half as edgy as the kind of songs performed on "The Sing Off".

And yet somehow, people are PISSED!!! Its reminiscent to a large population of people with way too much time on their hands and not enough real problems to worry about of the actual racist practice of black face. Add in the idea of hip-hop and clearly you have a whole new clan of racism forming--the KakeKakeKake.

Look, the real problem here is two-fold: Duncan Hines is horseshit and their ad team is clearly a group of third-graders who have a thing for Chipmunk voices and cartoons. I guess when you think of it like that, its actually quite a sophisticated ad campaign.

Seville oranges, also known as sour oranges, or marmalade oranges, are really only available in December, January and February. They make a fine, slightly sour-spicy sauce which balances the richness of a leg of lamb beautifully.

However, if you cant get them, you can reasonably replace them with a combination of regular oranges and lemons, a little heavier on the oranges. 

I have gotten to be very fond of gravies made by puréeing the vegetables that have been cooked in the juices of a roast. However, it is important that the roast be a fairly lean one, or the sauce will be too fatty. There should be a thin film over the leg of lamb before it is cooked, but be sure to remove any more substantial quantities, if they are present. It shouldnt be too bad; leg of lamb is usually quite lean.

I have likewise given myself over completely to slow-cooking large pieces of meat. What you lose in the inability to have it rare, you gain in the tender, melting texture. This leg of lamb did not need to be carved; the meat fell from the bone and I just had to pull it apart a bit with the spoon as I lifted it from the pan. 

8 servings
7 hours - 1 hour prep time


1  2 to 3 kilo (5 to 7 pounds) leg of lamb
1 large onion
2 medium carrots (2 cups sliced)
1/4 of a large celeriac (2 cups sliced)
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef or lamb stock, or water
the finely grated zest of 2 Seville oranges
OR the finely grated zest of 1 orange AND 1 lemon
the juice of 3 Seville oranges
OR the juice of 2 oranges AND 1 lemon
1 teaspoon allspice berries
2 teaspoons fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon rubbed oregano

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Put the leg of lamb into a roasting pan, with just enough room around it to add the vegetables. Peel and roughly chop the onion, peel and slice the carrots, and peel and slice the celeriac. Arrange them around the roast. Pour the red wine and stock or water over them.

Grate the orange (or lemon and orange) zest. Juice the oranges (or oranges and lemon) and pour the juice around the roast. Grind the allspice berries and fennel seeds with the chile flakes, and mix them with the grated zests. Mix in the salt, ginger and oregano. Sprinkle the spices over the roast and vegetables.

Roast the lamb for 6 hours. Lift the meat out of the pan into a serving dish and cover it with foil to keep warm as you finish the gravy. It should just fall from the bone; you can pull it apart with a fork and a spoon. Discard the bones carefully - be sure that there are none left in the sauce. Scrape all the broth and vegetables into a blender. Blend until very smooth. Put into a gravy boat and pass with the meat.





Last year at this time I made Steamed Chocolate Date Pudding.