Slow cooked lamb, sour cream, chive and garlic mash, cheesy cauli and bok choy.

I was in the kitchen today and got whipping up a good old traditional dinner. I found some cheap cuts of lamb, bits of shoulder with bones in which I trimmed the fat off and tossed in seasoned flour. The flour had salt and pepper, chilli flakes and freshly diced rosemary (which I stole from a garden down the road, the owners let you help yourself to any of their herbs in this massive herb garden so I guess it wasn't stealing!). I seared the seasoned lamb pieces and put them in a glass dish. I then cut up and cooked in the same pan, 2 small onions, a large carrot, 3 sticks of celery and half a head of garlic. I added a little balsamic vinegar and let it reduce with the veg. Once this was on it's way I added about 3 tbsps of tomato paste, a can of diced tomatoes, a glug of red wine, some shakes of Worcestershire and some water. I also sprinkled some of te left over seasoned flour over it to help it thicken. I dropped 2 sprigs of rosemary on the top, covered it with foil and put it in a medium oven for 1 1/2hrs. The meat was barely covered in juice, and it was all I needed, I cooked it uncovered for another half hr to reduce it further and give some colour to the dish after scooping off the excess oil from the top.

With this thick, rich dish I served some mashed potatoes. I cooked the spuds with their skins on for extra goodness and threw in about 5 cloves of garlic to boil with them for flavour. I mashed them right into the potatoes along with milk, butter, sour cream, finely chopped chives and salt and pepper. Divine!

Our veggies were a glorious dome of cauli and simple bok choy chopped up and sauteed in butter.

Doesn't the cauliflower look amazing!? And this was the one occasion when I was missing the bright yellow American mustard, which I hate all the time bar in my cheesy cauli crust. I cut the stem out of the cauli and par-steamed it then let it cool. I slathered it with a mixture of mayo, cheddar, parm, Worcester sauce, dijon mustard ( because there was no yellow stuff) and salt and pepper. It took about half an hr to crisp up in a medium oven. 

I loved the contrast of the rich, tomatoey sauce and the fall off the bone lamb with the mash, cheesy crust and then simple greens. Everyone else agreed, though not in those words, but by the empty plates, 'oohs' and 'aaahhs' and the second helpings! Love happy eaters!