This recipe is for a tasty but low-key meal that is quick, simple and cheap — perfect for those times when you want to eat well but just don't feel like going to a lot of trouble. It's also low-fat, which is always nice and all too rare in a pasta dish.
The anchovies give it a (necessary) depth of flavour, but they dissolve into anonymity and overall flavours of the dish are balanced, so even fussy kids will enjoy it.
Serve with a simple green salad.
Lamb, Feta and Herb Pasta
A simple, budget-friendly and kid-friendly weeknight meal.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 400 g tortiglioni or penne pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4-5 anchovies, drained, chopped
- 500 g lamb mince
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- ¼ cup mint leaves, chopped
- ½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Directions
- Cook pasta following packet directions.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and anchovies. Cook for 1 minute or until anchovies dissolve.
- Increase heat to medium-high. Add mince and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes or until mince is browned. Add lemon juice, tomatoes and salt and pepper. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until tomatoes soften. Remove from heat.
- Drain pasta and return to pan. Add mince mixture, feta, mint and parsley. Toss.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Posted by Vicki on Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 04:18 PM in
Recipes and
Lamb and
Low-fat and
Pasta.
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This simple meal is bursting with flavour. The sweetness of the roast pumpkin is just gorgeous and it goes soooooooo well in a salad with spinach leaves, feta and toasted pine nuts. It is further enhanced by the dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic. It's a delicious combination that beautifully complements the natural flavour of the lamb.
You can start preparing this meal a bit ahead of time. When we had this a night or two ago, I prepared and roasted the pumpkin a couple of hours before dinner time. While the yummy, golden little wedges were roasting, I toasted the pine nuts (you can buy them already toasted but I love them when they are freshly toasted, which only takes a couple of minutes) and also prepared the other salad ingredients and the dressing. I then went to sit down for an hour or so until it was dinner time, and when it was time to eat all I really had to do was cook the lamb and let it rest before serving.
The original recipe uses a lot more salt and pepper than I did. I really don't think food needs to be swamped with salt and pepper, and the dressing here is already salty from the balsamic vinegar so I've omitted it from the dressing. I also took it very easy with the seasoning on the pumpkin and lamb — we only want just enough seasoning here to enhance the natural flavours.
Lamb with Roast Pumpkin Salad
Lamb with Roast Pumpkin Salad
Serves 2
Ingredients
- olive oil cooking spray
- 6 lean lamb cutlets
- Roast Pumpkin Salad
- 600 g butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, cut into thin wedges
- 50 g baby spinach leaves
- 2 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted*
- 100 g feta cheese, cut into small cubes (I used Danish feta — I just love its creaminess — but use your own favourite or even a reduced-fat version)
- Dressing
- 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
Directions
- Preheat oven to 230°C.
- Line a baking dish with baking paper. Place pumpkin in a single layer in baking dish. Spray with oil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Turn pumpkin. Repeat with oil and salt and pepper.
- Roast for 20 minutes, turning once, until tender.
- Preheat a barbecue grill or chargrill on medium-high heat. Spray both sides of lamb with oil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes each side for medium or until cooked to your liking.
- Transfer to a plate. Cover loosely with foil. Stand for 5 minutes.
- Place spinach, pine nuts and feta in a bowl. Toss to combine.
- Whisk vinegar, oil and garlic in a jug. Add to salad with pumpkin. Toss gently to combine.
- Serve lamb with roast pumpkin salad.
Notes
The dressing is quite garlicky, so if you have to breathe on anyone later, you may want to tone down the garlic a bit!
*To toast pine nuts, heat a dry skillet on medium-low. Add the pine-nuts and shake and stir for a minute or two, until the nuts are lovely and golden all over and smell and taste divine. (Yep I always taste — I can't help myself!) Remove them from the pan immediately they're done to your satisfaction, as they will continue to brown for as long as they are in contact with the hot pan.
Posted by Vicki on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:18 AM in
Recipes and
Lamb and
Low-fat.
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This recipe is adapted for the slow cooker from the one in the Winter 2007 edition of Spice magazine, which is one of the few foodie magazines to which I subscribe. Spice has a Slow Food focus and really resonates (I love that word) with me.
To adapt any recipe intended for the oven or stove-top for the slow cooker (or crockpot — same thing) it's important to approximately reduce the liquid by approximately half. It will seem, at first, that there is nowhere near enough — but, believe me, there will be plenty of fluid by the time the meal is ready. If you're not using a slow cooker and instead choose to cook this in a casserole in the oven, I suggest doubling the amount of passata and ensure the stock covers the ingredients in the casserole.
Braised Lamb Neck
Tender and rich, and lends itself to HUGE servings!
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 4 lamb necks, cut across into 3 sections each
- flour
- salt
- pepper, freshly ground
- olive oil
- 1 big onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
- 1 cup white wine
- half 690g bottle passata (pureed tomatoes)
- 4 sprigs thyme
- low-salt stock (I used chicken)
Directions
- Lightly dust the necks with seasoned flour.
- Heat a shallow covering of olive oil in a heavy pan and brown the neck sections on all sides until golden brown. Place these in a heavy pot.
- Add the vegetables to the same pan and cook them until they have taken on a little colour. Add these to the pot.
- Then add the wine, tomatoes, thyme and enough stock to almost cover the ingredients. Season well.
- Transfer to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours (or place in an oven-proof dish and cook, covered, in a 150˚C oven for about two and a half hours) or until they are meltingly tender.
- Skim off any excess fat and serve with either creamy mashed potatoes or dumplings.
Notes
This dish could also be made with lamb shanks or sections of capretto.
Posted by Vicki on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 10:17 AM in
Recipes and
Lamb and
Slow Cooker.
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