whatkimcookednext

Last minute fillet

Panic, panic what to have for dinner?

Everything has been left to the last minute, as usual, so a quick nip in to Waitrose, ensuring I only grabbed a basket so it didn’t take too long. Why is it that I can always fill a supermarket trolley even when I don’t need anything? I was drawn to the lamb neck fillets, cheap and unbelievably easy to cook. I knew I had a few other random ingredients at home, so a quick checkout and I was done.

First I rummaged round in the herb garden and grabbed a few handfuls of basil,coriander, a little mint and a sprig of rosemary. Along with a red chilli lying at the bottom of the fridge, I added the zest and juice of a lemon, a clove of garlic and olive oil and threw them in the food processor. The smell was amazing.

I only whizzed it for a little as I like it quite chunky. At this point you could add some grated parmesan or pine nuts if you wanted to go down a pesto route. Pre-heat your oven to gas Mark 4, electric 180/160 for fan ovens.

Spread the paste on one side of the lamb fillet, then place, paste side down in a very hot frying pan with a little olive oil. After a couple of minutes, carefully turn over, the crust should be brown.

Turn down the heat, and cook the underside for a couple of minutes. Place in the oven for a further 5 minutes or so if you like it rare, or longer if you prefer well-done. Take the lamb out of pan and leave to rest. Poor thing, its had a hard time. Add a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly and a slosh of red wine to the wine juices and allow to bubble for a couple of minutes.

I served it here, with some simple stir-fried veggies, but you can really team it with anything.

Best part about this? It took me under half an hour.

Feet up, glass of red wine, Corrie (Don’t knock it, best writing on telly)and my lovely last minute fillet. Bliss

You can only have so much plum crumble – is vodka the answer?

Imagine that your freezer is already full of tin foil containers, with the words “plum crumble Aug 2009” scrawled on the top of them and yet every time you look out of the window, your plum tree is still loaded with more ripe plums than there are at Covent Garden? On top of the fact that your garden is now a refuge for every wasp within a five-mile area ,what do you do with them? You can’t let them rot…..can you? And then as so often happens in life, you find the answer at the bottom of a bottle , in this case, a vodka bottle . A simple solution, make your own plum vodka!

Today, 10 months later is decanting and tasting day. I tried two different methods so it will be interesting to see which has worked best. I will post both recipes later this week if you want to try.

Delight! The colour of the vodka is a wonderful delicate pink and when I open the kilner jars, the aroma is definitely of plums. First, I taste the straight vodka, which is just basically plums stuck in a jar with vodka and a little sugar syrup and left for a long time. It is surprisingly good, colour is marvellous and the taste is delicate, the plums themselves are hard and inedible, but they have done a good job.

Secondly, I taste the batch made by gently stewing the plums in sugar syrup, cooling and then adding vodka. Oh my, equally good, but a lot sweeter. The colour is just as good, but the main difference is that the plums are soft, delicious and alcohol laden.

The bottles are placed in the fridge for future consumption after dinner parties and there’s only one problem…It is 11.30 on a Tuesday morning and I have a very nice plum vodka buzz going on….oh well!