Hugh's Roast Breast of Lamb with Lemon and Apricots

By Chris,

Main Ingredients:

• Two lamb breast joints
• Fennel bulbs
• Onions and lemon
• Dried apricots, shallots and garlic
• Thyme, butter and egg

This week it was my turn to try the snazzy new blender and I must say, it's really quite addictive. I'm never chopping anything ever again! Hugh's recipe said to chop up all the ingredients for this stuffed lamb joint, but it blended to a fine mixture in seconds. Three bulbs of garlic and three shallots were whizzed up and then lightly fried. This was then mixed in a bowl with chopped dried apricots, thyme leaves (a very fiddly thing to prep) and the zest of three lemons. An egg was used to bind it all together and I was meant to add a few handfuls of breadcrumbs, but I forgot...

The lamb breasts were then rolled out flat, seasoned, covered with the stuffing mix and rolled back up. Lamb breast is quite a cheap, fatty cut of meat, but if you cook it for long enough it can be really quite tender. The two bundled up joints were tied with string and roasted at 200 degrees for half an hour to seal in the flavours.

Next up, I chopped two fennel bulbs, two onions and two of the three lemons I had zested for the stuffing. These were used as a trivet for the lamb to sit on after the half an hour was up. This kept everything nice and moist and I could pretty much leave it alone for 90 minutes at a nice gentle 150 degrees.

To go with it, I honey roasted some carrots and whipped up some lovely herby cous cous. When dished up, it looked almost as good as in the book, even though the joint fell apart into strips when carved. The meat was still quite fatty and a bit chewy, but the stuffing was delicious and not too runny, even without the breadcrumbs. If I was to do this again, I'd give the meat a little longer and maybe try a different root vegetable, as the fennel bulbs were still tough and crunchy, despite having had 90 minutes in the oven. With a few small tweaks, this could be a real winner and even cheaper than the £2.49 a head that this cost.

Best for... A generous Sunday roast, followed by a nice long walk to burn it all off

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Everyday

Helen says... It looks stunning and smells even better. Plus the cous cous made it a lighter option than the traditional roast veggies.

Jamie's Wicked Souvlaki Kebabs

By Chris,

Main Ingredients:

• 400g Diced Pork
• Green and red peppers
• Warm flatbreads
• Greek Yoghurt
• Dill, Mint, Oregano and Lemon Juice

As Jamie says in the preamble to this recipe, kebabs are often regarded as a guilty pleasure, but there's nothing guilty about these kebabs. In fact, they're probably the healthiest kebabs I've ever eaten. First up, the meat was marinated in the juice of half a lemon, 50ml of olive oil, half a tablespoon of dried oregano and half a tablespoon of dried mint. This combo was pepped up with some red wine vinegar, a finely chopped garlic clove, a pinch of salt and some cracked black pepper, and then left for half an hour.

Next up, I made some tzatziki by grating and wringing out a quarter of a cucumber, which was then mixed with 50ml of Greek yoghurt, chopped mint, more red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. The next step would probably be much easier (and quicker) on a gas cooker, as I had to blacken two peppers under the grill. This took about ten minutes under an electric grill, so in the meantime I prepared the dill and mint garnish, which would go on these peppers later.

Once the peppers were done, I took them out from under the grill and put them into a covered bowl to sweat for a while. The pork was then skewered and fried in a dry pan for ten minutes and the flatbreads were warmed in the bottom of the oven. After the meat had nicely soaked up all the marinade, we were ready to roll. The flatbreads were filled with a dollop of the tzatziki, a generous skewer's worth of meat, the peeled and sliced peppers and the garnish.

The result was a lovely, zingy, herby wrap that was both filling and taste-bud tingling. With my predilection for spice I would be tempted to chuck a red chilli into the marinate next time, and if I was feeling a bit more plush, I'd upgrade the pork to diced lamb. Otherwise, this was fairly simple and very satisfying. The catch? At £4.13 a head, this is one of the priciest dishes we've made so far...

Best for... A super indulgent lunch on a stonking hot summer day

Taken from... Jamie Oliver - Jamie Does... Greece

Helen says... Surprisingly filling and beautifully rich and herby. Plus I'm sir you could cheat and use jarred peppers if you were in a hurry!

Hugh's Herby Barbecued Chicken

By Chris
Main ingredients:

• 1.2kg Chicken legs
• Tarragon, thyme and parsley
• Oil, lemon juice and black pepper
• Garlic and English mustard

With barbecue season in full swing at last, I turned back to Hugh for inspiration and once again he did not disappoint. Having had great success with his lamb and beef burgers, the chicken was a bit more of a gamble, given the likelihood of it ending up worryingly undercooked on the inside and carbonised on the outside.

My brave adventure of salmonella avoidance began with a mound of fresh herbs. Hugh called for four herbs - tarragon, thyme, parsley and chive, but my local Tesco was out of chives and it was three for two on herbs, so it fell by the wayside. Three tablespoons of the herby pile was added to a large bowl and mixed with four tablespoons of oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, black pepper, garlic and half a teaspoon of Coleman's mustard. The whole she-bang made a nice zingy marinade for the chicken.

After two or three hours letting the chicken drink up the juices, we sparked up the barbie and whacked on the meat. The problem with cooking chicken, or indeed any sizeable chunk of meat on the BBQ, is balancing inner cooked-ness with outer blackness, and this wasn't helped by the amount of oil used and the woody thyme sprigs, which resulted in a flamy start. After the flames died down, we moved the now slightly crispy chicken to the side of the barbie and let them sizzle for 25 minutes.

Served with a mustard, egg and caper potato salad, these went down a treat, with the skin blackened in places, but not burnt so much that the flavour didn't survive. If I were to do this again, I'd give it more time to marinate (possibly overnight), but it was well worth the risk: so far no-one has died and this would have happily made dinner for four people for just £1.95 a head.

Best for... Something a little adventurous for the barbecue if you're bored of burgers and sausages and aren't in too much of a hurry.

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day (full recipe)

Helen says... Our guests approached the chicken cautiously at first but were all pretty pleased with the result!

Hugh's Roast Chicken with Pearl Barley

By Helen
Main Ingredients:

• Whole chicken (obvs)
• Pearl barley (natch)
• Dried apricots
• Onion and garlic

Pudding month over and one of my least-new New Food Mondays so far.

My former housemates will tell you I'm no stranger to a roast chicken, but I don't usually bother with stuffing since it makes the whole thing take even longer and I'm not a fan of the slightly slimy sage and onion variety.

This recipe appealed as Hugh claimed that the barley, gently simmered with the onions, garlic, cumin and carraway in chicken stock would turn into a lovely risotto which would mean no need for potatoes, and which would seem all the more special once I stirred in chopped dried apricots, walnuts, parsley and lemon.

Unfortunately as Josh (...and Chris and Rowena and Andy) will tell you, I am also no stranger to kitchen clumsiness, and I managed to utterly ruin the first batch of stuffing by grinding pepper a little too enthusiastically and accidentally emptying a whole tub of peppercorns into the lovely mixture. Once that was binned I could move onto attempt two - which may have been a little less carefully prepared but still had a really good mix of flavours - sweet apricots, warming spices and sharp lemon.

As promised, the mixture (once stuffed) absorbed chickeny juices and swelled up into an arancini/porridge consistency which prompted even the most traditional eater at the table to go back for 'more of that cereal stuff'.

Overall a lighter, summerier stuffing than usual which will make a good packed lunch with the last of the chicken this week. Cost: only £2.30 a head, including three vegetables and a free-range chicken.

Tastiness: 3/5
Easiness: 2/5
Value for Money: 3/5
Feelgood Factor: 4/5
Overall Rating: 3/5

Best for...Making a chicken go a long way without feeling cheated
Taken from...Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Chris says...Nothing (away on business)

Jamie's Lemon Kinda Trifle

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• Sponge fingers
• Lemon and orange
• Mascarpone cheese
• Raspberries

Since I spent the last five days in a field (and most of today on an almost unbearably hot, smelly train) today's recipe was going to have to be uncomplicated in the extreme. 

Accordingly I squeezed the juice of an orange into the bottom of a dish, added the sponge fingers and topped with a mixture of mascarpone cheese, lemon juice and zest, a little milk and icing sugar. A handful of raspberries and a sprinkling of dark chocolate and we were done!

I was a little sceptical that the result could even be called 'kinda' trifle but this was a real success - the cheese and lemon mixture stood in well for both whipped cream and custard.

The whole thing was refreshing, summery and made to be eaten with a big spoon and a big sunburned smile.

Cost: around £1.20 a head (if you can stop yourself going back for seconds, that is!)

Best for...Testing out the idea that you have a separate stomach for puddings
Taken from... Jamie Oliver - 30 Minute Meals
Chris says... Light, fluffy, tasty and very easy to wash-up, an all-round winner!