Posie’s Place

Change of plan for this evening’s dinner.  The debut of the new cookbook has been postponed for today.

I’ve had a crappy, long, tiring day and so in dire of comfort food I headed off to the supermarket.  I wasn’t sure what I fancied and so wandered up and down the aisles and waited for inspiration.

I opted for a seasonal choice of sprouting broccoli, lamb neck fillet, new potatoes and spring onions.

Here is what I came up with..

SPICED LAMB WITH SPROUTING BROCCOLI AND CHAMP POTATOES

Serves 1

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Lean neck fillet lamb (about 180g)
• 3 Spring onions, finely sliced
• 200g New Potatoes
• 100g Sprouting broccoli

For the spice rub

• 1/2 Tsp Ground coriander
• 1/2 Tsp Ground Cumin
• 1/4 Tsp Chilli powder
• 1/4 Tsp Garlic powder
• 1/4 Tsp Onion powder
• 1/4 Tsp Paprika
• Pinch white pepper
• Olive oil

1. Pre-heat a grill pan.
2. Add all the spice rub ingredients into a shallow dish along with 3 Tsp olive oil, mix well to ensure it is thoroughly mixed. Place the lamb into the spice rub and turn to ensure that the fillet is completely covered in the spice rub. It is not necessary to marinade the lamb in advance.
3. Grill the lamb on the pre-heated grill pan until the lamb is tender and still pink. Set aside in a warm place to allow the lamb to rest for 10-15 minutes.
4. Whilst the lamb is resting add the potatoes to a pot of boiling water and simmer until tender (approximately 15 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes).
5. Steam the broccoli stems for 11 minutes whilst the potatoes are cooking and the lamb is resting.
6. Mash the potatoes with a fork adding olive oil to desired texture, season with salt and mix in the chopped spring onions.
7. Serve the lamb, broccoli stems and champ potatoes on a warmed plate.

This recipe for champ is adapted from my grandmother’s recipe. Champ is a traditional Irish dish and a childhood favourite of mine. In my gran’s original recipe floury potatoes are peeled and boiled until tender. Meanwhile chopped spring onions are placed into a small pot and full cream milk is added until the spring onions are just covered. The milk is slowly brought to the boil then removed from the heat until the potatoes are ready. The spring onions are drained and the milk infused with the spring onion flavour is reserved (this is used to mash the potatoes). The potatoes are mashed using the hot milk and a knob of butter until smooth but not runny. The mash is then seasoned and the spring onions are folded through.

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