Pot Roast Brisket

Brisket is one of the cheaper cuts of beef. It's quite tough, so shouldn't be done rare at all, but should be cooked very slowly with a lot of liquid. I took inspiration from a lot of places for this recipe, which worked out nicely.

A slice of roast brisket, served with the gravy and some roast potatoes, parsnips, carrots and squash

Serves 3-4

• 600g brisket, rolled
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 2-3 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• Leaves of a few sprigs of thyme
• 800ml beef stock
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Brown the brisket in a frying pan, then remove and place into a casserole dish. Fry the onion and carrots in the same pan until softened, and then add to the casserole dish. Add the bay leaves, thyme, a dash of salt and pepper, and stock to the casserole dish, put the lid on, and then place in the oven for 3 hours.

After the brisket is done, take it out of the casserole dish, wrap in foil, and rest for 15 minutes. Put the gravy back into the oven to keep it warm. After the 15 minutes, take the gravy out and mix in the Dijon mustard., adding more salt and pepper to taste. Calve the brisket into thick slices, and serve with the gravy spooned on top.

Note: If you're wanting to do roast potatoes and parsnips (like we did), these will take about 1 hour 30 min at this temperature.

Crab Cakes

What to do when you have a random whole crab? Why, make crab cakes from scratch, of course! And so that is what I did one sleepy weekend.
The crab was boiled in salted water and allowed to cool completely. All the brown meat and white meat was then meticulously removed. I am very inexperienced in this matter so it took me around 45 minutes. I'd like to say it was worth it in terms of flavour but in hindsight I would probably buy fresh crabmeat from the fishmongers instead.

Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Prep time: 20 minutes ( + 45 minutes for the crabmeat)

Serves 4

• 500g waxy potatoes
• 500g crabment (2 : 1 ratio of brown to white meat)
• 1 red chilli
• 1 spring onion
• 1 lemon
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• plain flour

Peel and dice the potatoes roughly. As they boil in some lightly salted water, mix the crabmeat with finely chopped chilli, spring onion and lemon zest. Drain the potatoes and allow the steam to evaporate and the potatoes to dry out a little. Incorporate with the rest of the mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to loosen and then mix together thoroughly with a masher.

Shape into a dozen patties. Set aside in the fridge to chill for a few hours or overnight to firm up. 

Heat 2 tsbp of olive oil in a frying pan. Scatter some plain flour onto the work surface and pat the crab cakes in a layer of flour before placing carefully into the pan. Take care not to overcrowd the pan though otherwise a crisp bottom will not form. Also, resist the temptation to continuously handle the cakes. The best results occur if there is no interaction until they are ready to be turned - around 5 minutes. Repeat on the other side; they may require another dash of olive oil into the pan at this stage. 

Serve piping hot.

Sirloin Steak with Peppercorn Sauce

This is quite a quick meal to make, but its expense makes it something for special occasions. It was recently Natalie's birthday, so I treated her to this. (All cooked up on a work night, I might add!)

Serves 2

For the steak:

• 2 sirloin steaks
• Olive oil
• Dried rosemary (or fresh, if you've got any)
• Salt and pepper

For the peppercorn sauce:

• 50ml brandy
• 50ml beef stock
• 2 tsp black peppercorns, roughly ground with a pestle and mortar
• 2 anchovy fillets, very finely chopped (optional)
• 150ml double cream
• 1.5 tsp Dijon mustard

To serve:

• Sautéed potatoes
• Rocket

(Note: If you're making sautéed potatoes, get them going first. They take longer than anything else in this recipe)

Rub the oil, dried rosemary, salt and pepper all over the steak. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan (large enough for both steaks) over a medium-high heat, until the oil starts to smoke. Render the fat, by placing the fatty side of the steak on the frying pan for a few seconds, before putting each steak on the frying pan. Cook the steaks for 2-2.5 minutes, then flip, and cook for another 2-2.5 minutes (for medium-rare, see below* for more cooking times). Take both steaks off the heat, place the steaks on top of the potatoes, and leave them to rest for 5 minutes while you make the sauce.

To make the sauce, add the brandy to the same pan, and scrape up anything left behind from the steaks. Add the beef stock, black peppercorns and anchovies (if you're using them), and heat over a medium heat until reduced by half. Then add the double cream and Dijon mustard. Heat up again, and then pour over the steaks.

Finally, pop the rocket on the plate, and serve immediately.

*We did the steak medium-rare. If you like it done differently, these are typical times (although we haven't tried these, so we can't promise they'll work!)

• Rare: 1.5-2 minutes each side
• Medium: 3 minutes each side
• Well done: 4 minutes each side

Trout in breadcrumb blanket

We celebrated my return from GP land and the late Indian summer with a yummy trout recipe. This is an easily adaptable recipe so feel free to chop and change to suit your particular taste and accommodate what's available in the fridge!

Trout in Breadcrumb Blanket (Served with rustic carrot mash)

Oven time: approx 10-15 minutes

Prep time: 15 minutes

Serves 2

• 2 whole trout
• 2 mini loaves of onion bread (Co-op)
• 1 small red chilli
• 4 tbsp tomato and chilli chutney
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp of fresh chives
• 1 tsp of fresh thyme
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of pepper
• 1 pinch of sugar

Give the trout a good rinse. Carefully remove the backbone by easing the bones away from the flesh and butterflying from the tail. Pat dry and place on some baking paper which has been drizzled with some olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. The trout should be lying skin down, pink flesh facing upwards.

Dollop 2 tbsp of chutney on each of the trout and spread out evenly on to the flesh. Leave to marinade as you prepare the breadcrumb blanket. In a food processor or by hand, break up the onion bread in a rough crumb consistency. Mix well with a finely chopped chilli, chives and thyme. Add 6 tbsp of olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Mix thoroughly by hand and press onto the trout - the chutney should help the mixture stick.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 C for 10 minutes. Check that breadcrumbs are golden and crispy. It may need up to 15 minutes.

De Luca Cucina, Regent Street, Cambridge

Though not usually big on dining out at Italian restaurants, we decided we had to give De Luca a try after it was strongly recommended by some friends. These friends have now dropped a little in our estimation.

De Luca describes itself as a modern Italian restaurant, and it prides itself on "the theatre" whereby an open plan kitchen allows guests to watch the action. This is a great idea. Not only are the chefs unable to get away with unhygienic practice, it also provides welcome entertainment if your date leaves you to use the bathroom etc.

The menu is a short simple affair. The menu had a grand total of six "primi"s (pasta, risotto, salad - the cheaper and more conventional Italian food), and six "secondi"s - and none of them particularly exciting. The specials weren't advertised anywhere we could see and I had to ask to have the specials list reeled off at record speed. Then I had to ask separately for the prices - It apparently shocked the waiter that I might consider the price of the food I was going to be paying for...

For our starter, we ordered Antipasto to share - a mixed platter of cured meats, cheeses, peppers, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and olives. The ingredients themselves were a little salty, and nothing special done with the sharing aspect. On the positive side, the olives were very nice and meaty, and the peppers and green leaves offered some respite from the salt fest.

The Antipasto to share - A little on the salty side

For mains (after considering the extremely limited menu), I went for the sirloin steak (medium-rare) with green peppercorn sauce. On asking the waiter how peppery it was, and which wine he recommends, he seemed even more confused than when I asked the price of the specials. He seemed to have little knowledge of the food (the minimum I would expect from the waiter) or the house wines. After a short period of uncomfortable umming and ahing, we settled on the Primtivo del Salento.

To be fair the steak was perfectly cooked and the peppercorn sauce delicious. The chips were great, and the peppery rocket complimented the meal. The wine on its own was excellent, but was a little too weak for the peppery steak.

The sirloin steak - A highlight

Natalie opted for a salmon and pea risotto. Risotto in provincial restaurants are unanimously disappointing! And yet the appeal of the perfect risotto - where the texture is firm but yielding, each mouthful uniform in silky smoothness but varied in tastes - is so strong that I find it too tempting time and time again. This risotto suffered from common errors - too stodgy, too meagre on the salmon and on the pea (how stingy do you have to be to be frugal with peas? Peas, for heaven's sake!?). And too salty. Way too salty.

She found it so salty that she had to order more water. Sadly, it didn't come. So, as you do when you don't succeed, we tried, and tried again. On the third request, the water came. Not good enough.

Salmon and pea risotto - Definitely on the salty side

By the time it came for dessert, business was picking up. We had to wait so long for our waiter to come that eventually we called the manager over to take our order - Usually a privilege, but it was clear in this case the the restaurant was clearly not prepared for the event that people might actually want to eat there. After ordering a single Tiramasu between us, we had to wait a long time. They'd forgotten about our order.

When it finally came, we found that De Luca's Tiramasu was a slight twist on the traditional. A layer of sponge, followed by a chocolate mouse layer, topped with cream and dusted with chocolate. It was a delicious take, and finished off the meal nicely.

De Luca's take on a Tiramasu - A highlight (when it finally came!)

Along comes the bill, to which they've presumed that we were so overjoyed with the service, that we'd like to pay a 12.5% tip. If you pay with card, you don't get the option to change your tip with the machine they give you, so I had to politely explain exactly why I wasn't going to give the full tip. To be fair, the waiter seemed to expect it...

Service: 4
Atmosphere: 8
Food: 7
Price: Starter for two, two mains, one dessert and one glass of wine for £45.

Overall: 6

Beef in Beer

After splashing out on a brand new, volcanic orange, Le Creuset casserole dish, we were desperate to put it to use. And what better way than with a recipe straight from the Le Creuset website. They call it beef in beer, and in line with the unpretentious nature of this blog, we're sticking with that (having said that, we did just buy a le Creuset dish...). However, I believe the fancier name for it is carbonnade of beef.


Serves 5-6

For the beef:

• Vegetable oil
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 2 garlic gloves, chopped
• 500g carrots, roughly chopped
• 1kg diced casserole beef
• A few springs each of rosemary, thyme and parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 750ml pale ale
• 175ml water
• Salt and ground black pepper

For the bread topping:

• 8-12 thick (2-3cm) slices of french bread
• Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Heat the oil in a pan, and fry the onions, garlic, and carrots until softened. Pour into your brand new Le Creuset casserole dish (or, indeed, any other casserole dish), trying to keep some of the juices in the pan.

Preheat the oven to 140°C

Put half of the beef into the pan and brown slightly, then add the rest and brown evenly. Add to the casserole dish, along with the herbs, ale and water. Season with salt and pepper - Don't overdo it though, you can add more later if it needs it.

Cover and place the casserole dish in the oven and leave for 3 and a half hours (during which, your kitchen will being to smell amazing). Spread the Dijon mustard on the bread, and place the bread tightly on top of the beef, so that it just sits on top of the juices. Sprinkle over the parsley, and then return the casserole dish, covered, to the oven for another 30 minutes.

A good casserole dish will keep this meal warm for a few hours, so you can take it out of the oven and wait until your guests are ready to eat. We didn't need anymore carb, but if you do, I suggest more fresh bread to mop up the delicious juices! The Le Creuset recipe suggests jacket potatoes, pasta, rice or mash.

After a total of 4 hours in the oven, the beef should be deliciously tender

Chez Francoise, Paris

This classy modern French restaurant, tucked away underneath the imposing Aerogare des Invalides, is a favourite haunt of "Parisians in the know", usually untarnished by tourists. We certainly would never have found it had we not indulged in some pre-holiday restaurant research procrastination. This hidden gem was booked through Toptable: a glass of bubbly, amuse bouche, three courses, a bottle of wine, coffee, cake and petit fours for €40 per person. Incredible value for a city which is renown for its pricey food.

The restaurant itself is simply and elegantly furnished with tasteful lighting and we were greeted warmly by the maître d' created upon arrival. Despite this excellent first impression, the place was quieter than we had anticipated for 1930 and did not have the cosy feel of a buzzing restaurant until much later in the night. However, the French eat later than us Brits and with the ample flow of wine and the excitement of the food, we were able to forgive this quite readily.

The service was exemplary. In stark contrast to the stereotypical snotty French waiter, ours seemed to genuinely happy to explain the menu with us. The English translation they also provided us with was hilarious but unfortunately rather uninformative. We conversed happily and unabashedly in broken French. At one point he even used Google on his iPhones to help us.

Our epic meal began with a glass of bubbly (good - not amazing). The chou-fleur (cauliflower) amuse-bouche however was something new and very nice, although a little on the salty side. It still got us going for the rest of the meal though!

Natalie and I both went for the starter of foie gras with melba toast and fig chutney. An excellent concept in its simplicity but disappointing in its execution. Though the foie gras was of a very high quality it suffered from being served straight out of the fridge. Consequently much of the rich, unctuous textural tastiness was lost. Also, the toast was overdone (although this seems appeared to be a recurring theme so it might just be the way the French prefer their their toast - very toasty).

The mains were exquisite. Natalie chose the the duck. Delicious - perfectly cooked, pink and tender, melt in the mouth. Not so rich as a confit de canard and more flavoursome. It was served with some pretty piped potatoes, caramelised fig and two token leaves of green.

The Duck - A highlight

I went for the squid - served in a tomato sauce, on rice. The squid was perfect - nice and tender (not chewy and rubbery as it often is), and very tasty! The rice, on the otherhand, was a little underdone (in contrast to the toast - perhaps the French just really like rock-hard carb?).

The Squid - The rice was a little underdone

Dessert was definitely a highlight - not just of quality but of generosity. Natalie opted for a deconstructed Eton mess of summer fruits, Chantilly cream and meringue with a sharp raspberry sorbet to cut through it all. I plucked for the chocolate fondant. Both desserts were magnificent! In addition, we were served five sizeable slices of Madeira cake (a tad dry). Despite valiant efforts, we couldn't finish it all.

The deconstructed Eton mess, with the Madeira cake and chocolate fondant in the background  - A highlight, although the Madeira cake was a little dry

Finally, coffee was served - not just with one small chocolate each, but a whole selection of four chocolates each. Very bitter and luxurious they were too. A great way to end a meal.

Service: 9
Atmosphere: 6
Food: 7
Price: Bubbly, amuse-bouche, 3 courses (and Madeira cake), wine, coffee and petit fours for €39.99 each.

Overall: 7

Blueberry Cake

I'm still not sure whether a slice of blueberry cake counts as one of your five a day - A quick search on the internet reveals some dubious sources claiming both ways - but regardless, it's deliciously moist and tasty! I scaled down and slightly adapted the recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, so that I could make it with one 250g block of butter. And also so that I wouldn't be eating it until Christmas - That book makes enormous cakes!

Serves 12-16

For the cake

• 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 tsp vanilla essence
• 320g plain flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 200ml soured cream
• 200g blueberries

To serve

• More blueberries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Beat the butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla essence, flour, and baking powder. Add the soured cream and beat until light and fluffy.

Mix in the blueberries by hand. Then pour the mixture into a greased, 25cm ring mould and smooth over with a spoon. Put it in the oven for 45 mins until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched.

Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool a little in the tin. Then turn it onto a drying rack.

We didn't bother icing it - Blueberry cakes are moist enough without. We served it with blueberries (until we ran out). Then it's definitely one of your five a day!

d'Arry's, King Street, Cambridge

We were greeted at d'Arry's by a wonderfully friendly and accommodating waitress. The atmosphere was set perfectly by candlelight emanating from cleverly refurbished wine bottles. Wanting to choose our food and drink, the waitress left us peacefully as we made our decision, and offered superb advice on wine when we asked for it.

We started with bread and olives. The bread was perfectly toasted and the olives were delicious. D'Arry - whoever he is - was off to a good start!

Bread and Olives - A highlight

The mains menu is pretty limited to quite standard (but very good) restaurant dishes, but this is complemented by a good selection of specials. Natalie was seduced by the seafood elements of the risotto dish. Sea bass, crispy squid and a white wine and squid ink sauce - what more could a girl ask for?! The presentation certainly did not disappoint! A gigantic mound of glistening caviar grains of Arborio rice complete with buried squid treasure provided the base for three dainty seabass morels and lightly squid tempura rings.

And taste-wise, it was indeed something different. But it suffered from heavy handed seasoning and overall it was too rich for both our palates. This was a dish with all the right elements but a critical imbalance in proportions. The fashionable micro cress and the summer peas added welcome bursts of freshness but the dish needed more citrus, more lightness, more balance to truly sing. The waitress had recommended The Broken Fishplate to accompany the risotto, but having never come across a Sauvignon Blanc worth drinking, Natalie decided to plump for The Stump Jump. Delicate and floral, this Riesling was a delicious choice, though unfortunately thoroughly overpowered by the risotto.

The Squid Risotto - A little too rich and salty

I went for the pork belly (apparently not on the website, but it was on the main menu). The very generous portion was beautifully cooked and the Swiss chard was done to perfection. The only down side was the crackling - 2/3 of it were melt-in-mouth perfect. Unfortunately, the final third was a little soggy. But, all in all, a very impressive meal. The waitress' advice of The Love Grass - a Shiraz - was well placed and complemented the pork perfectly.

The Slow-Cooked Pork Belly - A highlight

Service: 9

Atmosphere: 8

Food: 7

Price: Bread, two mains, and two small glasses of wine came to £45

Overall: 7 - Because food is the most important thing!

Haggis-Stuffed Marrow with a Parmesan Crust

With the first of the big juicy summer marrows gracing local supermarket shelves, I was inspired to create my own hodgepodge recipe which combines the season's best vegetables with a forgotten haggis rescued from the freezer. Traditionally, sausagemeat provides the core meaty depth to stuffed marrows, but I was surprised at how well my peppery haggis variation turned out. The parmesan crust is not essential but the little extra effort is worth it for an additional textural dimension.



Oven time: 2 hours 20 mins

Prep time: approx 30 mins
For the marrow:

• 1 marrow (any size - we used one approx 30cm in length) 
• 1 haggis (500g) 
• 2 ripe tomatoes 
• 1 potato 
• 1 carrot 
• 1 large onion 
• 4 cloves of garlic 
• 1 large egg 
• 3 tbsp of plain flour 
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 2 tsp black pepper 
• 1 tsp dried sage 
• 1 tsp dried rosemary 
• 1 tsp dried oregano 
• 1 tsp dried parsley 
• 2 tsp dried basil 

For the Parmesan Crust:

• 4 slices of stale bread 
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan 
• Pinch of salt 
• Pinch of sugar 
• 4 tbsp sunflower oil 

Served with:

Pan fried peppers in garlic with garden peas.

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C.

Slice the marrow longitudinally and, with a spoon, hollow out the seeds and discard. Carefully remove some more of the marrow flesh so that a 2 cm marrow case remains.

Chop this up and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped onion, carrot, garlic, potato, tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and the dried herbs. Add a beaten egg, the olive oil and half of the haggis. Mix well. Up to 5 tbsp of plain flour can be added to thicken if necessary. The consistency to aim for is like that of a yoghurt smoothie.

Split the remaining 250g of haggis into two and press a layer into the hollowed out marrow. This requires some patience but does not need to be perfect. Then fill the marrow with the vegetable and haggis mixture to the brim. Any remaining mixture can be frozen (to be added to soups, casseroles, lasagne) or use it to stuff some peppers alongside the marrow.

Bake at 170°C for 2 hours.

In the meantime, prepare your breadcrumbs using four slices of stale bread. We used a mixture of white and brown. Grate the parmesan and season with salt and sugar. Add the sunflower oil and mix thoroughly into the breadcrumbs. Hand mixing is best for this.

After the marrow is cooked all the way through and steaming (2 hours at 170°C) carefully spoon a generous layer of breadcrumbs evenly onto the marrow surface. Pat down to hold it in place, but careful - it's very hot. Another 15 - 20 mins in the oven and it's ready to serve!

Coffee Cake

I was always taught not to eat anything bigger than my face. But when it's a friends birthday, and they love coffee cake, then I'm not sure what alternative there is beyond showing up with the most enormous coffee cake you've ever seen. (Admittedly, if you're sensible, the individual slices of cake are a great deal smaller than my face - So maybe the rule doesn't apply as strictly...)

Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Serves 16-20 (or even 32 if you're very modest with servings!)

For the cake

• 2 tbsp instant coffee granules 
• 170ml boiling water 
• 420g unsalted butter (at room temperature) 
• 30g margarine 
• 450g caster sugar 
• 8 medium eggs 
• 450g plain flour 
• 2 tbsp baking powder 
• 2 tsp cocoa powder 

For the icing

• 250g icing sugar 
• 80g unsalted butter (at room temperature) 
• 25ml milk (we use semi-skimmed) 
• 4 drops of vanilla extract 
• 40g dark chocolate

First, make the coffee essence - Put the coffee granules into a saucepan, and pour over the boiling water. Simmer until reduced by half - this should take 10-15minutes. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Set aside a tablespoon for the icing.

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Beat together the butter, margarine (the original recipe suggested 450g unsalted butter, but we modified the recipe so that 2x250g packs of butter do nicely), caster sugar and coffee essence in a large (at least 3L) bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. Then beat in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder until everything is combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.

Pour the mixture into a 25cm cake ring. Be careful not to overfill the cake ring - Don't fill it more than 2/3 full. We have a pretty deep cake ring and it very nearly overflowed! Using a spoon, smooth over the top of the cake mixture. Put it in the oven and leave the oven closed until the cake is done. After 40 minutes, turn up the temperature to 170°C and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the cake feels firm to tough.

Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool a little in the tin. Then turn it onto a drying rack.

Once cooled, make the icing: Carefully beat together the icing sugar and butter. Still beating, slowly add the milk, a little bit at a time. Finally, beat in the vanilla extract, and the tablespoon of coffee essence left over from before.

Spoon the icing on the cake. Use a peeler or grater to make chocolate flakes to decorate. You might even want to decorate with a few coffee beans if you've got some - We didn't.

Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb with Mashed Veg, Peas and Caper and Mint Sauce

Lamb is almost certainly my favorite meat. So it brings me great pleasure to open this blog with the most tender, delicious lamb I've ever cooked! We adapted and scaled down Jamie Oliver's recipe, Incredible Roasted Shoulder of Lamb with Smashed Veg and Greens. This will serve four, or a romantic meal for two and some left overs for a few lunches!

For the lamb

• 800g boneless shoulder of lamb 
• 2tsp dried rosemary 
• 1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves and peeled 
• Olive oil 
• Salt and pepper 

For the mashed veg

• 500g potatoes, cut into large chunks 
• 4 carrots, cut into small chunks 
• 1 medium swede, cut into small chunks 
• 50g butter 

For the sauce

• 1/2 tbsp plain flour 
• 250ml veg stock 
• 1tbsp capers 
• A large bunch of fresh mint, chopped 
• 1tbsp balsamic vinegar 

For the peas

• Frozen Peas (However much you want!) 

Preheat the oven to 220°C

Place half of the garlic, and 1tsp of rosemary in the bottom of a roasting dish.

With a sharp knife, score the fat of the lamb, trying not to cut the string. If the string comes lose, don't worry - The lamb will fall apart when cooking anyway. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and olive oil and rub all over the lamb with your hands. Place the lamb on top of the garlic and rosemary in the roasting dish. Push the remaining garlic into the top of the lamb, then sprinkle the other tsp of rosemary on top.

Wrap the roasting dish tightly in tinfoil, and then place in the oven. Immediately turn down the oven to 170°C, and leave for 3 hours.

With 20 minutes remaining (i.e. once the lamb has been in the oven for 2hrs 50), place the potatoes, carrots and swede into boiling water with salt, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Take the roasting dish out of the oven. The lamb is done when you can tear it apart with two forks. If it isn't done, stick it in for a little longer. If it is, wrap it in tin foil and leave it to cool for 10 minutes. For the sauce, pour the lamb juices into a saucepan, add flour and vegetable stock, and simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes.

In a separate saucepan, pour the frozen peas in the boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes.

Drain the vegetables, add the butter and mash.

Add the capers, mint and vinegar to the sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Serve the mashed vegetables first. Carving the lamb should be easy - just serve it in nice lumps of meat on top of the mash. Drain the peas and serve around the side, then pour the sauce on top of the lamb.

We served it with a 2006 Rioja Reserva, which worked nicely with the lamb.