I ended up cooking (by which I mean creating something from scratch) twice today, by accident. I usually have something simple for lunch (an ITSU cup soup, some salad leaves with smoked salmon or goats cheese with chutney) but a dear friend came for lunch at the last minute, I had ‘nothing in’ and had to be creative. So I made carrot, sweet potato and ginger soup with what I had in the fridge. And it was really rather lovely, especially with the sourdough bread I found at the back of the freezer. So I think it’s worth sharing the recipe for. Then for dinner – I’d defrosted some lamb cutlets I’d had to freeze when an over enthusiastic butcher had chopped up the lamb rack I’d intended to cook covered in mustard and herbs for a dinner party (and was too British to complain about) and had been mooching about on the internet looking for something interesting to do with them, when I came across a fork and a pencil (v good food blog do have a look) and decided to make their golden Moroccan lamb cutlets because I was tired, there weren’t many ingredients or processes and they sounded yummy. And they were!  I added smashed new potatoes along with the peas and mint, and Mr AC says it was a thing of deliciousness and beauty and I am allowed to cook it again (along with plenty of other compliments about how lucky he is, what a splendid wife I am etc etc – it’s nearly father’s day, our anniversary and our birthday – 23 July yes both of us on the same day since you ask…..) So here we are with the recipe(s)..

Carrot, sweet potato and ginger soup (serves 6):

Ingredients:

• Three medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 6 small/3 medium sized carrots, peeled and chopped
• Two small/1 medium sized onions (you could use white/yellow or red), diced
• One large clove of garlic, pressed/chopped/bashed
• A thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• One small or medium sized white potato, peeled and chopped (you could actually do without this if you don’t have one to hand)
• 1 teaspoon of miso paste (use a gluten free brand if necessary. I use the Yutaka brand from Sainsbury’s which is gluten free)
• 1 litre of vegetable stock
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of single cream (optional; you could also just swirl yoghurt in before serving)
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1) Sautee the onion in olive oil over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

2) Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 ish minute more.

3) Add the miso, stir and cook for another minute or two.

4) Add the carrot, sweet potato and white potato.

5) Stir and cook for another two minutes. Add salt and pepper.

6) Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the white potatoes and carrots are cooked through and soft.

7) Use a hand blender to puree it to a smooth consistency. Add extra boiled water if too thick (add extra stock – perhaps a crumble of stock cube, which I did – if you’re going to end up with diluted flavour) and finally add the single cream, and serve, with sliced, warm sourdough, ciabatta or baguette and lots of butter. Yummmm.

Nice additions/alternatives:

• Add some chopped red chilli when you add the ginger and some smooth peanut butter after blending, along with some cayenne pepper/chilli powder, coriander and chopped, salted peanuts for a bit of North African punch.

• Replace the ginger with smoked sweet paprika, and add some fried bacon/lardons at the end to serve. Yummmmo!

Golden lamb cutlets with smashed new potatoes, petit pois and mint (Serves one person with a normal appetite or two people being very polite on a first date (you’ll notice my photos only include two cutlets; I am not going on any first dates though)

Ingredients:

• 4 lamb cutlets
• 1 tablespoon of of ras el hanout (spice blend; available at most supermarkets)
• 1 tablespoon of turmeric
• 1/2 a teaspoon of sea salt flakes
• 150g of new potatoes (baby or jersey royals all good)
• 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
• 250g of frozen petit pois
• a handful of chopped fresh mint
• some salted butter
• Salt and pepper

Method:

1) Bash the lamb cutlets with a meat mallet or rolling pin (you can put a piece of cling film over them but I didn’t bother) to make them thinner.

2) Place the cutlets in a plastic sandwich bag, and add the ras el hanout, turmeric and salt. Close the bag and shake till the cutlets are covered in the spices.

3) Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat,  and cook the cutlets for 2-3 minutes each side (depending on how you like your lamb done), then transfer them to a sheet of tinfoil folded over to make them a little sealed but tented cocoon, and rest.

4) Meanwhile put the potatoes on to boil, with some fresh mint – 15-20 minutes until soft.

5) Sautee the chopped shallot in the same pan you cooked the lamb in, for about 3 minutes, until soft. Add the peas and cook for another 3 minutes until they are soft. Take off the heat and reserve.

5) Once the potatoes are cooked, run the cold tap over them and my advice would be to put on some of those latex gloves you can get in chemist shops and peel off the skins.. The gloves really do prevent you burning your fingers, taking the skin off the potatoes is essential, and NOBODY wants to peel new potatoes. And the gloves are cheap.

6) Add some salted butter to the new potatoes; add some chopped mint, crush them with a potato masher and mix together with the petit pois.

7) To serve, put some potato and pea mixture on a plate and arrange the cutlets attractively on top. Y U M!

(I served it with the juices from the cutlets while they’d been resting, and some mayonnaise mixed with wholegrain mustard, but Mr AC said he thought the mustard might overpower the flavours of the lamb and potatoes if you weren’t careful. So be careful).