Walnut Wednesday

Well today was the first day back at work, after a 5 week break. So what did I decide to cook for dinner – a roast of course!!! Luckily I was home early and it was a cool day, so all was good. Instead of a traditional roast lamb and veges, I took a different tack and made a spiced roast leg of lamb with caramelised onion cous cous (based on Quick Smart Cook p158).

The flavouring on the lamb was delicious (cumin, coriander, paprika and garlic) and very aromatic. The lamb itself (from the amazing Cooroy Butchery – love buying locally) was tender and juicy, and cooked to a lovely pink medium. The caramelised onions and walnuts in the cous cous created a whole different flavour than you usually get with cous cous. Since lamb and lemon are old friends in my house, I added lemon wedges to serve. This helped to balance the sweetness of the caramelised onions in the cous cous. We had gravy from all the pan juices, but really it wasn’t necessary. Lucky those who are having leftovers tomorrow, including some friends’ lucky dog, Dozer, who gets the bone! Tonight’s lamb gets 4.5/5 wooden spoons (and yes I’m sticking with wooden spoons).

Spiced roast leg of lamb
3 tablespoons each of ground cumin, ground coriander and paprika, mixed with 3 crushed garlic cloves and 2 – 3 tablespoons olive oil. Rub this over whatever cut of lamb you have. Cook your lamb to medium, however you like to cook a roast – bbq, stove top, oven.

Caramelised onion cous cous
Slice 2 onions and 2 tbsp rosemary (or thyme). Cook in a frypan over a med-low heat, with a little bit of oil, for about 4 – 5 minutes till the onions start to soften (try not to get too much colour on them). Add 1 – 2 tbsp caster sugar and 100mL balsamic vinegar to the onions, and cook over low, stirring ocasionally until almost all the liquid has been absorbed and it looks almost jammy. Make the cous cous as you would normally (200g cous cous to 400mL boiling water). Once the cous cous is ready fluff it up with a fork and add 2 tbsp chopped parsley, the onions (and any juice), 20 g butter and 100g toasted chopped walnuts. You may need to add a little olive oil to the cous cous to loosen it up a little. Slice the lamb and serve with cous cous and lemon wedges.

Keeping with the walnut theme was tonight’s dessert – Carrot and Walnut Puddings (from Delicious Sweet p79). I describe these as basically a little warm carrot cake, and who doesn’t love carrot cake.

After baking in the oven, these were served with a dollop of cream and a drizzle of

golden syrup on top and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. They were very tasty. But the size of “mould” suggested in the recipe was far too big and we only managed to eat half a pudding, despite the sensational flavour. Next time I’d do them half the size and make twice as many. These will definitely freeze and reheat well too! Also I think I’d also add some spice next time – nutmeg or cinnamon, or even a ground up cardamom pod or two perhaps, just for a little bit more something! If you’d like the recipe, let me know. 4/5 wooden spoons.

PS Yes, I know we cook lamb a lot - but we love it!