Slow Cooker Greek Lamb with Garlic Sauce (Gravy)

In an attempt to get more (or at least some) order in my life and balance family, study, blogging, a wedding and a new relationship, I’ve been using my slow cooker for just about every meal these last few months. In fact, most of my meal planning incorporates the slow cooker. As well as being the perfect appliance for heart warming stews in winter, it is perfect for the warmer months as it won’t heat up the kitchen but it will cook a joint of meat, such as this lamb, just perfectly. This is how I cook lamb all the time. I’ve shared this Free Form Lamb & Potato Pie before plus using the lamb in wraps, but I thought I’d share the recipe on it’s own and how you can make the perfect sauce made with the juices.

It really couldn’t be any easier than throwing as many cloves of garlic you like in the bottom of the slow cooker (skin and all), place the lamb on top, sprinkle on oregano, salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil. That’s it! Just leave it to do it’s thing.

Once cooked, retrieve the garlic cloves and squeeze out the garlic. It’ll be soft like butter.

This delicious squishy mush will be used in the sauce for the meat. Put the meat aside to rest while you make the gravy.

Pour the juices into a saucepan and carefully skim off any excess fat. Make a paste from 2 tablespoons of flour with water until a smooth paste forms. Add this to the juices from the lamb and over a medium heat, stir until thickened. Adjust seasonings if required. Return the roasted garlic to the gravy.

The lamb may not be as crispy as if you cooked it in the oven but the meat will fall off the bone and be so full of flavour.

Serve with vegetables of your choice and besides the above recipes for using up the leftover lamb, stay tuned for another tasty recipe to come. Make use of your slow cooker as much as you can. Your evening meal is prepped in the morning, cooking all day which makes your job a lot easier come dinner time.

Slow Cooker Greek Lamb with Garlic Sauce

• leg or shoulder of lamb
• 5-6 cloves of garlic (no need to peel)
• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Garlic Sauce (Gravy)

• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• enough water to form a smooth paste
• juices and garlic from the lamb

1. In a slow cooker, place 5 to 6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled.
2. Place the joint of lamb on top of the garlic and sprinkle with the oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil.
3. Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
4. Once cooked, set the lamb aside and retrieve the garlic cloves, squeezing the soft garlic from the garlic peel.
5. Pour the juices from the lamb into a saucepan and carefully skim off any excess oil.
6. Make a smooth paste from the flour and water and add to the sauce pan with the soft garlic. (If you don’t have enough juices from the lamb add 1 cup of stock.)
7. Stir over a medium heat until sauce is thickened.
8. Serve with vegetables of your choice.

One minute Chimichurri Sauce

 

 

Boy oh boy! Talk about forgetting your head. The 20th of the month is a date I don’t usually forget. My birthday is on the 20th (February), my sister’s birthday is June 20th and more importantly, the Surprise Recipe Swap is on the 20th. As soon as we’re given our surprise blogger on the first of the month, I plan what I’m going to cook. On Monday this week, I knew what I was going to cook because I wanted to eat it and guess what? I forgot. I forgot all about it. I’ve been so busy, with my sister’s birthday of course and making 140-odd cupcakes for my daughter’s school morning tea. Yikes!

 

 

So, behold, I give you the 1 minute Chimichurri http://www.f4uschampionship.com/users/6076438 Sauce. I feel like such a slacko but I knew I couldn’t join Jutta from Hungry Little Girl nor my wonderful surprise blogger, Jess from Simple, Clean and Homemade this month.

 

So, behold, I give you the 1 minute Chimichurri Sauce. I feel like such a slacko but I knew I couldn’t leave Jutta from Hungry Little Girl nor my wonderful surprise blogger, Jess from Simple, Clean and Homemade without joining in this month. What was even more amazing was that I didn’t even have to get the blender dirty for this. I had all these herbs (in a tube) in my fridge and I just mixed them all together. I can’t wait to use it on some grilled chicken over the weekend.

I had intended on making this beautiful looking French Onion soup. I bought the Gruyere cheese and everything. I will still be making it this weekend.

I’ve also bookmarked these gorgeous Almond Joy Lara Bar Balls. So many wonderful recipes over at Jess’s blog.  Thanks so much Jess for some wonderful recipe inspiration and I’ll let you know when I’ve made the other recipes.

You can see who else linked up with over at Hungry Little Girl’s blog.

Roasted capsicum (bell pepper) & garlic sauce

There’s a green grocer/butcher/deli shop at my local shopping mall and I guarantee you that if you walk past at about 11:30am, any day, you can smell capsicum (bell pepper), garlic and other vegetables roasting. Talk about drool! The smell gets me every time. If the red capsicums are cheap enough to buy (that is if they aren’t the price of a new TV), I’ll pick some up and take them home to roast.

Its become a bit of a habit for me and its not unusual for me to have a batch of this roast capsicum sauce in my fridge. I use it in everything. Unlike roast capsicum pieces, this sauce is a puree that can be used on sandwiches, in pasta dishes, in vegetarian dishes and the way I use it mostly, as a dip with tortilla chips. When added to dishes, it adds a real sweetness and smokiness to the dish. Its my new love. Its so easy to do. Just de-seed (although you don’t really need to do that), put on a baking tray with garlic (just put the whole garlic bulb on the tray), sprinkle with olive oil and salt and roast until the skins on the capsicum go black.

Remove from the oven and pop into a plastic bag for about 20  minutes. The skins will be come really loose so you can peel them. Once peeled, add to a bowl. Add the garlic. The garlic is soft and juicy and can be squeezed like a tube. Using a stick blender or food processor, puree until the desired consistency and store in the fridge. This is just a fabulous tasting food and is so easy to prepare. You can add to oils for salad dressings, cream cheese or mayo for a dip or spread or finely diced tomato and other vegetables for a salsa. You’ll find heaps of way to use it. I actually prefer it as a puree rather than pieces or strips. Hope you give it a go.

Sweet & Sour Sauce

If there’s one recipe you have in your collection, it has to be this one. This recipe was given to me by an online friend years ago (hi Lyn if you’re around) and it the best and easiest Sweet & Sour sauce recipe I’ve ever tried. Its made using basic pantry ingredients and is a cinch.

You can serve it without any pineapple or vegetables and use it as a dipping sauce for chicken, fish, meatballs etc when you’re entertaining or add any vegetables and pineapple with the meat of your choice for a quick, easy mid week meal.

Sweet & Sour Sauce

• 1 tbs cornflour
• 4 tbs juice (I used the pineapple juice from the canned pineapple but have used normal orange juice before)
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs tomato sauce
• 200ml chicken or vegetable stock

• Vegetables of your choice, eg onions, carrots, capsicum (bell peppers), beans, peas, zucchini
• Fresh or canned pineapple

1. Combine juice and cornflour.
2. Add to a saucepan with vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, tomato sauce and stock. 
3. Stir until thickened.
4. You can par-cook vegetables you’re adding but I just add them to the sauce straight away and as the sauce thickens the vegetables get cooked. (I prefer them a little crunchy anyway.)
5. Add pineapple and heat through.
6. Serve with meat of your choice and rice. (Tonight mine was sausages which is actually pretty tasty but it’s perfect with fish, chicken, pork or beef.)

1 Minute Microwave Hot Choc Fudge Peanut Sauce

Okay, look away now if you’re on a diet or avoiding sugar.

I’ve been making this sauce for a few years now (probably more times than I should have) especially when I have a little bit of cream that needs using up. Its either this chocolate fudge sauce or I use the cream in a pasta dish. Either way, I probably shouldn’t.

Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae

This is a sauce based on Nigella’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae Recipe but instead of worrying about cooking it over the stove top in a saucepan, I use a microwave suitable dish and cook it for 1 minute. Yes, that’s all folks. In one minute (60 seconds) you can have this delicious, rich, thick, chocolate-y, gooey, fudge-y sauce. You can pour it over ice cream, as I have done in this Banana Split OR, if you’re really naughty, you can put in the fridge to harden and its the perfect recipe for truffles. Take small pieces of mixture, roll into a ball and roll in cocoa, icing sugar, crushed nuts or coconut. You can also omit the peanut butter and add nutella with a sprinkling of chocolate hazelnuts. You could also allow to set slightly and ice a cake with it.

Whichever way you have this, enjoy, in moderation of course. (Do as I say, not as I do!)

1 Minute Microwave Hot Choc Fudge Peanut Sauce

• equal quantities of cream, chocolate and peanut butter
• 2 tbs of golden syrup (based on approx 100ml each of above ingredients – use more or less based on above quanitities)

1. Put all ingredients into a microwave safe jug and heat for 1 minute.
2. Stir until ingredients have combined.
3. Use as required.

Salmon Patties with a quick tartare sauce

On those days when you’ve realised, at 4:30pm, that you haven’t defrosted any meat for dinner, I always go looking in the pantry for inspiration. I always have a can of tuna in brine and pink or red salmon in the pantry for moments like these. I grabbed the canned salmon, checked we had enough potatoes and made salmon patties. I served it with a very simple salad of lettuce and tomato and a quick tartare sauce that I make.

Salmon Patties with Quick Tartare Sauce

large can of pink or red salmon, bones and skin removed
3 medium potatoes, peeled, chopped, boiled and mashed
1 egg, beaten
1 tbs lemon juice (and/or 1 tsp grated lemon rind, optional)
1 tsp dried dill
1 small onion, grated or chopped very finely
Panko or other dried breadcrumbs
oil for shallow frying

Quick Tartare Sauce:
1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise
1 tbs gherkin relish
1 tbs lemon juice
pepper

1. Mix flaked fish and mashed potato.
2. Add beaten egg, dill and onion.
3. Form into patties and roll in breadcrumbs. (If you have the time, refrigerate for 30 minutes before frying.) I make teeny little nuggets for the kids.
4. Fry patties in oil until golden and drain thoroughly.
5. For tartare sauce, mix all ingredients and serve with patties.

Note: I have made these patties with tuna and swapped the potato for sweet potato for both types of fish. These patties also make a good fish burger, piled high with salad between a bun.

Easy Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Sunday nights are usually easy dinner nights and tonight was no exception. A Ceasar Salad sandwich followed by Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce. I can’t even remember if I’ve ever made a Sticky Date Pudding. Plenty of cakes and muffins with dates but not ever a pudding. The Sticky Date made a huge comeback there a couple years ago, appearing on menus everywhere but it wasn’t something that I usually went for. This recipe is from my Country Women’s Association (CWA) Cookbook “Country Classics” and it’s as easy as to throw together at the last minute.

Easy Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce

1 cup chopped dates
1.1/4 cups water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
60g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour

Sauce:
1 cup soft brown sugar
125g butter
150ml cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C and grease an ovenproof pan or dish.
2. Cook dates in water, until combined.
3. Beat in remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Pour into prepared tin and bake for 25 mins or until cooked.
5. For sauce, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes.
6. Pour over pudding to serve. Serve with cream or ice cream.