So what happened?

The lamb was F-A-N-Tastic!

Though i feel the photo doesn’t do the chops justice… *The red part is not blood, it is actually brown after i seared it, not too sure why it end up looking bloody in the photos!*

The lamb was succulent, well marinated with the flavor of rosemary.. just one draw back, the chopped rosemary was the mistake as I had to pick it out when eating the lamb.

Ingredients:

The lamb:

1. Lambchops: french cut (with or without fat – lamb tend to be stronger smelling with fats)
2. Bunches of Rosemary
3. Bay Leaves ( optional )
4. Salt and Pepper

The bread dough:

1. 2 cups Plain Flour
2. 1 teaspoon Salt
3. 1 – 1 1/2 cup Water (add bit by bit till the flour combines)
4. 1 tablespoon of Oil

How to do it:

1) Bring 2 spring of rosemary with firmer stems to poke through the meaty part of the chops.

2) For the rest of the herbs, chop them up and rub them onto the meat with salt and pepper.

3) Wrap the chops up in a piece of waxed paper.

4) Combine the ingredients of the dough, knead and roll it out on a plate. It should be big enough to wrap the chops.

5) Wrap meat in the dough and put into oven to bake at 200 degree C for 25 minutes – the meat should come out Medium done, leave the meat in the oven with heat off for another 10 minutes for well done chops.

6) Cut the bread crust to reveal juicy chops:

7) The chops should now be ferfectly cooked with the rosemary sealed into the meat. To help increase its appeal, i seared it slightly with olive oil in the pan.

8) Serve with roasted vegetables or, like what i did, I matched it with a light and zesty side, Ravioli in Yogurt Mint sauce (Natural yogurt+chopped fresh mint+lemon juice+lemon zest)

Mistakes you can learn from:

1. No to be too enthusiastic about the rosemary… I think i drown the lamb with the rosemary and the rosemary bits on the lamb sort of spoiled the texture
2. The plating appeal and the browning of the lamb can be improved on, might consider shortening the time in the oven so that it comes out medium rare – then sear it at the sides.
3. I didn’t prep any brown sauce, if i did, i would recommend a reduced Red wine sauce, preferably Shiraz.

The good news is…. this method works!! Just gotta refine it. I’ll be back!

Herbs in my Garden…

So, I did get my first Basil plant, and i tell you, it ain’t easy.

I found some nice baby basil plants in Cold Storage at Vivocity =) earlier this week. I bought a pair of them back to replant, however, they didnt seem to be growing as well as i hope it to be, a day after shifting the 2 plants to a  pot, they don’t seem to happy… all slopping and “slouching”…=(

After some googling i found that 1) Basil grows well with lots of sun and 2) require little waterings, adding too much water will reduce the plant’s flavour and it also increase the possibility of white mildews to form on the plant.

To make the best out of my sloppy plant, I picked the basil to use for my dinner leaving the stem to bud with new leaves… and it looked even worst after…. *cry*

Please, dear basil, grow up strong soon!