Dear Tooting & Balham Foodies,
I hope all is well and that you had a nice Easter.
I don’t think that we could have asked for better weather over the last week, it was sensational. Who would have thought that we would have snow so soon!
This time of year often sees BBQ's being wheeled out and given a dusting down after a winter's hibernation. I am no different and was keen to get mine out and give it a whirl. And that we certainly did.
It was delightful to be sitting there with family, feeling the rays of sunshine, as the smell of smoking locally sourced plum-wood filled the air with our lunch cooking slowly on the ‘cue. Aussie heat beads provide a brilliant heat source as they provide a solid heat for 5hrs or so are perfect for long lazy afternoons of kicking back with the BBQ, eating and drinking.
Lamb doesn’t really feature in the canon of American BBQ, but being Easter there was really only one choice. It was touch and go for a while as all the supermarket shelves were bare at 7pm on Saturday when I finally got round to doing the shopping. Luckily Tariq’s, always good for its lamb and chicken, on Tooting High Road came to the rescue as we baggsied their last two lamb shoulders! Safely returned home, I decided to take a tried and tested approach to the lamb, chopping up a serious amount of garlic and some fresh oregano, before mixing with olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper and leaving in the fridge overnight.
Bringing the lamb out just before putting on the grill, the smell of the oregano and garlic was immense and had us licking our lips for waiting for lunch. With the lamb on the grill, a tray was placed to pick up all the delicious flavours being dripped out, being mindful not to let it evaporate. Whilst lamb isn’t huge in the US, with it being too gamey for local tastes, there is a small part of the country where the focus is on the sheep. Visit Owensboro, Kentucky, and you’ll find that it’s our woolly friends that are all lined up for the grill. This comes from Dutch settlers in the area who bought their sheep with them, and once an animal had finished its wool producing, it became dinner! Though to be super authentic you’d need to be using Mutton instead. With a nod to this, we mixed up a delicious BBQ Sauce which was inspired by an 18th Century recipe that we have. With some white wine, sage, paprika, chilli powder and garlic, this was combined with the veritable nectar of the pan juices, which will always take a sauce or gravy to the next level. This was phenomenally good, and worked so well with the lamb, though I suspect a deep & gutsy rub would work better than the herbal Italian flavours chosen. The lamb was sweet and cooked medium, and had picked up some smokey notes that really worked with the gamey flavours, and with a deeply flavoured bbq sauce it was both looking forward to summer, but back to winter. Though frankly, that sauce would be devoured at any time of the year!
Being spring we also had lots of veggies! Leeks were braised in a chicken stock with asparagus and peas. Corn was grilled on the cob alongside some courgettes and aubergines, and packing a more than the sum of its parts punch buttery-harissa over tender-stem broccoli with a lime-coriander gremolata. And not forgetting roast potatoes!!!! It really was a feast fit for the first family gathering in so long.
The leftover lamb made an excellent shawarma style kebab, with the BBQ sauce knocking it out the park!
This week we are going for a double header in the kitchen, with chicken Burger Friday, and a Sunday BBQ special. I am particularly looking forward to the BBQ as it has being so long since we’ve smoked a pork shoulder. It’s fabulous how the pork helps form an emulsion with the sweet, vinegary heat of the NC BBQ Sauce. It’ll be a great way to share a Sunday get together, either on the common or in your garden, so that you can focus on catching up and not having to worry about cooking or the dishes!
As always, thank you for your support, and I hope you’re enjoyin’ the cookin’! All the best, Rich
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