Highway 41 - North by Northwest

Yet another win on the meal front this week! We had the great pleasure of making and eating Liver & Bacon, Onion Gravy, Smashed Potato, Dressed Green and Berry & Custard Ripple. I really can't complain about a single part of this dish - either can DH's family, who joined us this week for the challenge. We subbed lamb backstrap in where the liver should be, and it worked perfectly. So here is how it went down!

The lamb was probably the simplest part of the whole meal this week, you start by frying up some bacon in a pan and then add in the meat. Leave it be. It is really that simple! If you were making the liver version of this meal, you would need to flour and season it before starting to cook it, but the lamb simply doesn't need it. I let it rest for a few minutes after we had finished cooking and the final product was a succulent, perfect piece of lamb, topped with some crispy bacon - absolutely delicious! Add to that the onion gravy (which is divine!), and you've got a gorgeous lamb dish.

The smashed potatoes are simple but really fresh and tasty. I love potato and I love finding new ways to cook it, and this is just a really simple variation on mashed potato that delivers a refreshing, tangy flavour. Simply chop up your potatoes, boil them, and when they're ready add a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper and some lemon zest before a quick mash and stir. Super simple, seems super obvious and makes a really lovely side dish!

The dressed greens are nothing all that special. We ended up using green beans and silverbeet, which was a nice fresh and crunchy dish. Steamed, seasoned and then served - easy and yum!

The dessert was absolutely lovely too. We used peaches instead of gooseberries but it came up fabulous. You start by stewing the fruit (in our case, peaches and blueberries) in their own syrup, which gives off a divine sugary scent as it bubbles away - a lot like toffee. It is a bit messy when you get all the ingredients into the serving bowl together, and even more so when you try to get it into individual cups, but nobody seemed to mind. Not a mouthful was left over once it hit the table! It is really light, fresh, sweet but not overpowering and totally delicious! The shortbread biscuits give it a nice bit of crunch too - texture is everything!

So there you go, another week done and dusted. I'm really looking forward to next week, with a beautiful Stuffed Focaccia, Prosciutto, Celeriac Remoulade, Dressed Mozzarella and Fresh Lemon & Lime Granita. Gorgeous!!

Til next time - Bon Appetit!