Now, December is a notorious month for spending money not only on presents for your nearest and dearest but also a huge amount is spent on food; caviar, beef fillet, shellfish and champagne. Oh sorry please forgive me, I forgot to mention the old Norfolk black turkey as well, which I feel is an overpriced giant chicken with not as much flavour and doesn’t fit in any normal persons oven without a struggle. I’m glad I got the turkey rant off my chest.
Now since everyone is still talking about the credit crunch and recession, I thought that it might be a good idea to give you some sensible tips and advice on how to look after your Christmas food budget. The real secret to this is buying your food in smaller batches instead of just one massive shop that costs hundreds of pounds, as you always end up wasting food or throwing stuff in the bin that has either gone off or nobody can face eating any more. My second tip is buying British seasonal produce as it has to travel less which keeps the costs down. Also try and buy less well known cuts of meat; try bavette of beef for roasting instead of rib or sirloin as it has so much more flavour and is a quarter of the price. Try Lamb shoulder instead of leg, slowly roasted in the oven with beetroots and basted with real ale to keep it moist, makes a wonderful dish. On the fish side if you still want an impressive big fish then try stone bass, which is sustainably farmed and a really good alternative to the non credit crunch line-caught wild bass.
The recipe that I’m doing today is one of my favourites during the cold winter months and is cheap which is always good.
Lamb Stew with Kale, Carrots and Swede. Serves at least 4-6.
500g diced neck of lamb (don’t trim the lamb too much and cut into large dice)
1 litre of lamb stock (vegetable or chicken will do fine)
A good splash of white wine
1 bunch of carrots
1 large swede (that’s the one with yellow flesh)
2 leeks
4 sticks of celery
500g potatoes (use a waxy variety: Charlotte)
1 large bag of curly kale
3 banana shallots
4 cloves of garlic
½ a mild chilli
Small bunch of thyme
Salt and Pepper
1 dessert spoon of flour
A pinch of ground cumin
A good knob of butter
Method.
Dust the diced lamb neck in seasoned flour and seal in a large pan with butter, getting good colour all over. Then remove the meat from the pan and add the chopped shallots, garlic and chilli with a pinch of cumin powder (if you don’t have powder then use seeds). Cook until translucent. Add the sealed meat back into the pan and deglaze with the white wine. This is a really important step as all the flavour of the meat is on the bottom of the pan so really try and get all the sediment off the bottom.
Now, all you have to do is add the leeks, carrots, swede and potatoes, cover with stock and simmer very gently for 1 hour. After 1 hour check the meat is tender and well seasoned then add the kale and chopped thyme. Cook for a further 5 minutes and serve. I think that this stew is better after a day or two so if you have time to do it in advance then it only benefits.
By Gordon Jones
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