FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BIG GIRLS DIET CRISPY MONGOLIAN LAMB

11 Mar 2016

BIG GIRLS DIET CRISPY MONGOLIAN LAMB

How can food that tastes this good and makes you feel like you are being really naughty be diet food? That's because it's NOT, its LIFESTYLE food, food that will see you loose weight without being on a diet, it is really that simple, diets do not work long term, I am proof of that, as a emotional eater I finally got to 315lbs and turned 40yrs old and that was my cut off point! So far I have lost 126lb in 22 months by just removing a few processed foods from my life, I now eat more than I ever have and have a much wider selection of meals that I ever thought I could eat without getting bigger.

If you do try the Paleo Lifestyle you will quickly see a huge difference in how your body loves Paleo and rewards you with good steady weight loss while you get to eat gorgeous beautiful food that you never thought you could if you were on a diet! For more on this type Paleo in my search engine at the top of my blog to see all my recipes and a complete guide to Paleo weight loss for life. Also my inspiration has been from PALEO LEAP, PALEO NOM NOM, PALEO GRUBS & CAVEMAN DIET.

Prep Time 15 minutes / Cooking Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4-6)

2 large breasts of lamb

2 tsp five spice

70ml soy sauce

150ml shaoxing wine

50ml water

1 tsp sea salt

To Serve With

8-12 large lettuce leaves for wraps

1 carrot julienned

200g spinach leaves

10 spring onions julienned

2 red chillies finely sliced

Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce

50ml organic soy sauce

100ml sake

1 tbsp honey

Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees C, 428 degrees F, season the underside of the breasts of lamb with the five spice and sea salt. In a wide shallow roasting tin place the soy, shaoxing and water and then lay the breasts skin side up in the pan, season the skin with more sea salt, pop in the oven for 45 minutes by then you will have juicy succulent lamb with a gorgeous crispy crackling skin. Leave to rest for five minutes and then finely slice or chop up and place on your serving plate.

While the lamb it cooking line each of your serving plates with a few of the lettuce wraps some of the julienned carrots, spinach leaves, spring onions and red chilli and place on the table.

To make the sweet soy dipping sauce place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer and cook for a couple of minutes, remove from the heat and place in a small bowl with a teaspoon and place on your table.

Take over the rested lamb and your ready to go, everyone can stuff and roll their own warps to their own liking, family style where great food creates great family memories.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.