Roast Lamb with Oranges and Paprika

We have just finished eating this, and it was tender and delicious. I think this is a version of a Spanish recipe, I have a note that one of my daughters copied it from Gordon Ramsey’s Healthy Appetite .

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 leg of lamb, around 2kg – part-boned if possible
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • salt and pepper
  • Olive oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 2 oranges, sliced
  • A sprig of thyme

METHOD:

  • Heat the oven to 220 C
  • Trim the joint of any superfluous fat. Mix the ginger, thyme and paprika with 1 tsp salt and a few good grinds from the pepper grinder, and rub this mixture all over the lamb, including the boned cavity, if it was boned.
  • Fill the boned cavity with the garlic and half the orange slices. If the lamb is not boned, create a pocket in the meat, and fill that instead.
  • Put the lamb on a rack in a pan, baste with olive oil, and put a bit of water in the bottom of the pan. Roast the lamb for 20 minutes in the hot oven, then replenish the water.
  • Turn the heat down to 190 C and roast for a further 25 minutes per 500g. If the top of the lamb is getting a little dark during the cooking, cover with foil. Keep the water topped up as well, if it is in danger of becoming dry.
  • For the last half hour, cover the lamb with the remaining slices of orange.At the end of the cooking time, transfer the lamb to a suitable platter for carving, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Carve thin slices and serve with potatoes and vegetables.

Seville Orange Tart

This is a delicious tart, and a grand way of using the January supply of marmalade oranges. The juice is used to make a delicious orange curd that is baked in a pastry case. The recipe is from the Moro cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:

For the pastry shell:

  • 140g plain flour
  • 30g icing sugar
  • 75g chilled butter, chopped small
  • 1 egg yolk

For the curd filling:

  • 140g caster sugar
  • 170ml seville orange juice
  • 170g unsalted butter, chopped small
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 2 whole eggs
  • grated zest from one orange

METHOD:

  • To make the pastry case, sift the flour and icing sugar together, and then rub the butter into the mixture to fine bread-crumb texture
  • Add the egg yolk and mix until the mixture comes together – it will be quite stiff and dry. You may need to add a teaspoon or two of milk or water. Shape the pastry into a ball, wrap and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
  • When you are ready, grate the pastry on a coarse grater, and press it evenly around the edges and base of a tart tin, to a thickness of around 3mm. Prick the base and rest the pastry case in the fridge for 30 minutes. Put the oven to 220C.
  • Bake the pastry shell in the top of the oven for 15 minutes – should be light brown. Remove and cool on a rack. Turn the oven up to 240C
  • Next, make the curd. Put all the curd ingredients into the top pan of a double boiler, and cook slowly, stirring until thick. The mixture will thicken quite suddenly, after about 15 minutes or more.
  • Spread the curd into the tart shell, and bake at 240C for 10 minutes until the surface starts to brown.
  • As soon as the tart is baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool before serving.

This is delicious served slightly warm, with something cool and creamy. Try beating 50/50 creme fraiche and mascarpone together.

Seville Orange Marmalade

Marmalade 2019

I have several recipe books devoted to preserving, jams and other such domestic creativity. This particular recipe for marmalade works well for me and for Mr B, who has very particular standards.

The marmalade should set well, be a pleasing colour, with good distribution of peel. The shreds of peel should be fine and short, about the thickness of a penny and maximum one centimetre long.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 kg seville/marmalade oranges
  • 2 kg jam sugar
  • 2.5 litres of water

METHOD:

  • Wash the oranges, and put them in a large covered pan and simmer for around an hour and a half.
  • Remove the oranges from the liquid, and allow to cool.
  • Put around 8 clean jam-jars on a sheet in the oven at around 90C to warm and sterilise.
  • The messy bit; cut the oranges in half, and remove the pips. Scoop out the pulp and add to the pan.
  • To get a good set, put the pips in a small pan with some of the liquor and bring to the boil, and then strain this back into the big pan.
  • Next, cut the rind of three or four of the oranges into fine shreds. I do this by cutting the rind into 1cm wide strips, and then running a table knife along the inside of the peel to remove as much of the pith as possible. Then I chop into fine shreds, only adding the best ones to the pan. How much you add is a personal choice.
  • Start to bring the mixture to the boil, and add the sugar, stirring all the while.
  • Keep boiling until setting point is reached – around 222 (jam) on the thermometer. Use the wrinkle test and the flake test as well. Pour the marmalade into the warm jars, and leave to set.

A word about the flake test – this is my favourite method of checking that the jam or marmalade will set. I dip a spoon into the boiling jam and hold it horizontally. As the jam drips off the edge of the spoon, it will start to set, and the drips will start to join together, to form gelatinous webs.

Tangerine Marmalade

After Christmas, I have been taking stock of all our left-overs. We must have been expecting a frenzy of people wanting tangerines, gin & tonic, and fresh ginger.

I made this mixed fruit marmalade with all the citrus fruit. Still to work out what to do with a huge bag of fresh ginger.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Tangerines, Limes, Lemons, Oranges, Grapefruit, combined = 1.4 kg
  • 1.4 kg jam sugar
  • 2.8 litres of water

METHOD:

  • Peel the tangerines, and slice the peel into thin shreds. Put this in a wee muslin bag
  • Chop all the fruit up coarsely, with the peel on – slicing it works well.
  • Put the wee bag of peel and the fruit into a large pan with the water, and bring to the simmer, cook for 2 hours. Remove the wee muslin bag about half way through.
  • Strain the mixture through a jelly bag, and measure the juice – if it is more than 1.4 litres, put it into the jam pan and bring to the boil and reduce.
  • Add the sugar, dissolve it, and bring to the boil. I use a thermometer to get to jam temperature, then I hold the stirring spoon horizontally to see if the drips start to set and combine together (flake test)
  • Skim off any foam, add the shredded peel, and let the mixture start to cool. Pour into clean warmed jars. (I warm the clean jars in the oven).