Thursday, March 17, 2016

My Buggy Story, Easter Lamb,

My bag of diatomaceous earth arrived today, Wednesday, along with the puffer for spraying it into receptacle areas. I think I am beginning to win the battle anyway with my steamer so this should fix my little visitors but good. I sent the building manager another email with a picture of some of my bites. I got a notice saying that the pest control people will be here on the 31st to inspect. That's two whole weeks. It would probably be another whole week before they would be here to treat once again. Meanwhile I am supposed to lie in my bed getting bitten? I am hoping by that date I will be able to tell them where to go with their pest control. I sent them 2 pix, this was one. The line of red is bites.

Today, Thursday, I get to see the orthopaedic surgeon having picked up the CD of my Xray. I am hoping to call in at The Rising Dough bakery for some more Cornish Pasties and some Hot Cross Buns. They make very good ones. For me, Good Friday needs Hot Cross Buns the same as Easter weekend needs a lamb roast. This is half a picture which has always fascinated me, it's from one of my Time Life Cookbooks. It shows the men of a Greek village cooking their family's sheep over a communal barbecue in the street. Meanwhile their wives are preparing everything else which goes with the feast. I don't know if it still happens, but they used to get a young lamb and bring it up as a family pet, then slaughter it at Easter which was symbolic of the crucifixion. I cannot imagine living with an animal and then eating it. I was talking about a programme called Cook Abroad. The chef was in Egypt and they slaughtered the lamb in front of him. It was not shown on film but some years ago there was a travel programme made in the UK and they did show a goat being slaughtered before being eaten. One knows it happens but most of us are unable to watch such things. We like to get our meat in a nice little packet all wrapped up in the supermarket. I am just as bad as anyone else.

I personally never cook anything special for St. Patrick's Day. Nor did most Irish people living in Ireland. It is much more celebrated here I think. I read the other day that the first St. Paddy's Day parade took place in Boston - not in Ireland.

This a recipe from England. I have never heard of browning the roast before you put it in the oven, but if you have time, not a bad idea.

Roast lamb studded with rosemary and garlic

BBC Good Food

If you have time, stud the lamb a day in advance to allow the flavours to really permeate the meat

Serves 6 - 8
  • leg of lamb  weighing 2½ kg/5lb 8oz
  • garlic  bulb
  • 1 bunch rosemary
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • carrot , cut into large chunks
  • onion , cut into quarters
  • 1 glass red wine (about 150ml)
  • 1.2litre beef or lamb  stock

  1. The first job is to stud the lamb with garlic and rosemary. Use a sharp pointed knife, make at least 30 small incisions all over the meat. Peel 4 garlic cloves, thinly slice them and prod a slice into each incision. Next, pull off small sprigs of rosemary and push into the incisions,too. If done in advance, cover the lamb well and refrigerate. Remove from the fridge 1 hr before roasting
  2. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Heat a large frying pan, add a little oil and brown the lamb all over. Scatter the carrot, onion, remaining garlic and rosemary in a large roasting tin, pour in the wine and stock, then place the browned lamb in the tin.
  3. Roast for about 1 hr 45 mins. Turn the lamb halfway through so by the time it’s cooked, each side has been in the stock. When cooked, remove the lamb and allow to rest in a warm place covered in foil for about 30 mins.
  4. While the lamb is resting, make the gravy. Pour all the stock from the tin through a sieve into a saucepan to remove all the vegetables and herbs. This stock should be rich, slightly thick and have a great lamb flavour. Reduce it a little on the hob if you feel you want to concentrate the flavour, skimming off any fat that comes to the surface. Serve the lamb with the gravy, potatoes leeks and butternut squash



Have a great day
 

24 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - that seems an inordinate amount of time they keep you waiting ... I would have thought bed bugs were a serious pest and need to be treated regularly and immediately all the time. Good luck - once again ...

    Roast lamb is just wonderful .. and this recipe sounds good - I expect we'll have that at Easter ... love it. Roast veg, some delicious new veggies, home-made gravy from the pan, onion sauce, mint sauce - made with mint from the garden, and so on ... fantastic ... now my taste buds are wangling around!

    Good luck with the consultant today ... and enjoy the pasties, and the Hot X buns ... I'm sure lamb is still done that way in some villages ...

    Normal day for me ... but have a good St Patrick's when you're out and about - cheers Hilary

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    1. Now they are telling me we are not co-operating!!!!

      I love roast lamb. I will certainly be cooking it for Easter. My mother used to make onions sauce, I never liked it. Maybe I would today.

      Normal day for us too.

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  2. My parents kept chickens, ducks and rabbits, so I got used to eating animals that we had around. Fortunately, there was a poultry house just a block away where they could get them butchered. I had planned to have a pork roast for Easter, but cannot find one 'on the bone' locally so I may just make a leg of lamb.

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    1. Matt's family kept rabbits during the war when food was scarce. I really like lamb for Easter.

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  3. I sure hope you get a handle on those bedbugs. I would be so stressed out at bedtime, knowing I was going to get bit. I know I could never raise an animal as a pet and then have it slaughtered, but I also didn't grow up needing to. My husband is a hunter and quite used to killing, skinning and dressing the meat. No thanks. I'll get my meat in the store!

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    1. Me too JoJo. I mostly don't want to go to bed but it has been better since I have been using the steamer.

      I will eat the meat someone has killed, but I don't want to take part in the process.

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  4. Two weeks? Glad your stuff came in - now, get rid of those bugs.

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    1. Doing my best Alex. They now tell me the pest people say we are not co-operating. When I think of all the work and money we have expended - grrrrr.

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  5. Good that you are sending pictures to your landlord about the bites. Good to document it if needed down the road for something. My mom's mom would get live chicken and then wring its neck. My mom never liked seeing the chicken without the head walking around for a few minutes. I think I would be the same too; couldn't see what I would be eating slaughtered in front of me.

    betty

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    1. It is certainly prompting some reaction Betty.

      It is difficult for most of us to see our food live one minute and dead the next.

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  6. Just exactly how are you NOT co-operating??? By sleeping in your bed? Unbelievable. Are you the only unit with this problem?

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    1. No we are not the only ones Denise. There is a lot you are supposed to do before they come in. Trouble is we have a room full of books, computers, and stuff. There is no way we could unload all the books. Where the hell would we put them and how would we treat them anyway. Can't put them through the dryer. Guess we could bag them for 18 months (bugs are supposed to die in that time) but where would we put them then?

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  7. I read where America made a religious holiday into the wondrous party it is today. Partying and marketing is what we capitalist do best!!

    I feel so bad for you. How creepy to be a buffet, night after night.

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    1. It's not that much of anything in Ireland Liz. Any more than St. George's is in England or St. Andrew's in Scotland. I think it is all a product of immigrant Irish feeling homesick.

      I think/hope I am becoming more of an hors d'ouvres rather than a main course.

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  8. I suppose the Irish in Boston needed to connect with their heritage. It was big in my home town because so many Irish moved there in the Gold Rush area in the 1850s. There's an entire suburb with Irish-oriented street names. Plenty of Irish blood there.

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    1. I would think so Pinky. I think they were homesick when they first emigrated.

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  9. I live with an Irish husband and we don't cook or bake anything special on the 17th, either. In fact, we had chicken, veggies and quinoa. It was yummmmmy!

    So sorry about the bites.

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    1. I had an Irish friend who lived in Cyprus and she used to get so mad with all the to do about Irish food etc. Ivy. Your meal sounds good.

      Not as sorry as I am LOL

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    2. Understandable. Tim though, doesn't get mad, but he doesn't wear green or 'pretend' to be Irish for a day. I used to put green stuff on my blog but this year, writing foods to heal me has me plenty busy.

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    3. I used to publish Irish recipes around the time but I don't do that any more. Maybe one of these days. For you Ivy, healing foods is much more important.

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  10. Many years ago I was in Greece at Easter staying in a small village and they did exactly what your picture shows. It was when I was still a carnivore and we were invited to taste the meat. It was quite special.

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    1. Lucky you, I would have enjoyed that Helen. I bet it was special.

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  11. I wonder if your local MPP could help with this bed bug issue. It might be worth a shot, the worst he could say is "no". My mom remembers having lambs, rabbits and other animals around. They would have names and , Whack, Whack, they became dinner. I never understood how they could name a animal and then eat it...yuck.

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    1. Not sure what they could do Birgit. The landlords are dealing with it, slowly. Also it is a big problem at the moment so the pest control people are overwhelmed I assume. Not happy they are blaming us though. No I couldn't name an animal and then eat it either.

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