Crispy Onion Bhajis

Last night’s dinner had an Indian theme. The main course was a Lamb Shank Dhansak, roughly based on an old Nigella Lawson stew recipe and for starters, hot little onion bhajis with raita and chutneys. After turning the house upside down looking for the scrap of paper with my ancient recipe on it, I ended up following the one on the side of the Natco Gram Flour bag. And they were great. Eat them as soon as they come out of the pan.

Makes about 24
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves
2 green chilles, seeded and thinly sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
½ tsp hot chilli powder
1 -2 teacups gram flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
lemon wedges, to serve

Heat a few centimeters of sunflower oil in a wok.

Mix together the onions, coriander, chillies, cumin, salt, chilli, gram flour and bicarb, making sure the onions are well coated. Stir in some cold water to make a thick batter then leave to rest for 5 minutes or so until the oil is hot enough.

Drop small spoonfuls into the pan (I cooked mine in batches of 4 and put them straight onto the table where they disappeared just as the next batch was ready) – and cook until crisp and golden - they should take about 3 minutes, if they’re taking longer, let the oil get a bit hotter to ensure they cook crisply. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with wedges of lemon.

Kefalonian Meat Pie

The food in Kefalonia is a bit limited - not much fruit, veg or fish but plenty of good meat. The local pie was the highlight for me, packed with chunks of slow-cooked meat and nicely spiced rice with a crisp pastry top. I shall have a crack it myself soon but in the meantime, here's a real Greek recipe.

Italian Roast Lamb

On our way back from brunch yesterday, we stopped in at Waitrose and picked up a little shoulder of lamb for about a fiver. On the whole, most people choose a neat but pricy, boneless joint that's lean and easy to carve. I prefer a shoulder myself, it's fatty and tricky to carve so it can look a bit of a mess on the plate but if you roast it slowly, all afternoon, by tea time, it just falls off the bone, all sweet and tender.
Serves 3 - 4
1.2 - 1.5kg whole shoulder of lamb
2 rosemary sprigs
3 garlic cloves, quartered lengthways
150ml wine vinegar
6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsp dried oregano

1 Make deep slits in the lamb and stud it with rosemary and garlic. Rub in some sea salt then pour over the vinegar and leave to marinate for 20 - 30 minutes.

2 Pour away the vinegar, cover with foil and roast at 160C for 3 - 4 hours. Put the potatoes in pan of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes; drain well.

3 Drain most of the fat out of the tin then add the potatoes, tossing to coat them in the remaining oil. Sprinkle with oregano and salt and return to the oven. Raise the heat to 180C and roast for 30 minutes until the potatoes are turning golden.

4 Lift the lamb out onto a board, cover with the foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Spread the potatoes out in the tin and and raise the oven temperature to 200C and brown and crispen then up a bit while the lamb rests. Serve with gravy and greens.

Pot Roast Lamb

A bit like cooking lamb shanks but using a whole leg...

Serves 6
whole leg of lamb, at room temperature
500ml cider
100ml cider or wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
few thyme sprigs
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced or a handful of whole shallots
cheesy mash and roasted carrots, to serve

1 Preheat the oven to 170C, Gas 3. Place the lamb in a large roasting tin and add the cider, vinegar, sugar, thyme, garlic and red onion. And some salt and pepper.
2 Cover with a lid or foil and cook for 5 hours until the lamb meat is very tender.
3 Carefully lift the lamb out of the pan and leave to rest for 5 – 10 minutes. Carve and serve with the cider gravy.

Pot-Roasted Lamb Shanks

Most of us do slow-cooked lamb shanks the same way, in red wine with herbs and onions. That's because it works so well and some matches are just meant to be. Like crackling'd roast pork and Bramley apple sauce. Like sausages and HP. Like......

Serves 2
2 lamb shanks
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped
3 carrots, chunked
2 red onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
few sprigs of rosemary or thyme
few juniper or allspice berries
2 tsp sweetness: brown sugar, honey, redcurrant jelly
1/3 bottle red wine
glass of water
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 160C. Place all of the ingredients (except vinegar) in a casserole dish, cover and roast for 3 hours or so. Take the lid off for the last half hour if it's too liquidy for you. I like to balance it out with a bit of vinegar at the end.
Serve with mash.

Take The Pie Road

Writing recipes is a strange way to make a living. Mostly we are writing for publication at least one or two seasons ahead so none of the ingredients we need are in the shops. And no-one's really in the mood to eat what we're cooking.
Tomorrow, I have asked Heidi, Bert, Sami and Milo to pop over after their walk in the woods with Rob and Scrap for lunch at ours. I am testing recipes for bonfire night which includes mulled cider and a slow-roast pot-chicken I am experimenting with. Only we will be eating it at midday on a sunny Saturday in April.
When my best friend Angela was writing her lovely book Pie, she tested so many recipes she ended up knocking on all the neighbours doors asking if anyone fancied a pie for their tea. She made these for me and Robert and gave us them all ready to cook at home. They tasted wonderful – but how sweet are they! I love initials on things

Anyway, we ate so many of her pies that I can’t remember which one this was. So here’s a recipe from her lovely book. Thanks Ange!

Braised Lamb Shank Pie
Serves 6
FOR THE PASTRY
400g puff pastry
beaten egg, to glaze
FOR THE FILLING
50g plain flour
6 lamb shanks
2 tbsp olive oil
4 red onions, quartered
8 cloves garlic
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
300ml beef stock
2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
3 tbsp recurrant jelly
salt andpepper

1 Season the flour with salt and pepper and dust the shanks.

2 Heat the oil in a casserole dish and brown the shanks all over. Add any remaining flour and the onions and garlic and stir well.

3 Pour in the wine, stock, rosemary, redcurrant jelly and a good grinding of black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 2 hours until the sauce is rich and thickened and the meat is falling away from the bones.

4 Remove the bones from the pan, reserving three of them and flake the rest into small pieces.

5 Preheat the oven to 200C. Spoon the mixture into a 2 litre pie dish. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3mm and 2cm bigger than the dish. Cut a 2cm strip of pastry. Brush the rim of the dish with a little water and place the pastry strip around the rim.

6 Sit the three bones into the pie filling at intervals along the length of the dish – these will act as pie funnels, releasing the steam as the pie is baking as will also stop the pastry from sinking into the filling and becoming soggy.

7 Cut three slits in the pastry at the same intervals as the lamb bones and place the pastry lid over the top, sliding it over it the bones. Press down the edges of the pastry to seal.

8 trim off any excess pasty and crimp the edges. Brush with the beaten egg and bake for 30 – 35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.