Valentine's Day Aftermath

As far as the Mr and the son are concerned I pulled off my first ever roast leg of lamb. It was pink and utterly tender. Considering the meat was just from the supermarket and not a speciality butcher is quite something. To cook the lamb I washed and then dried it, and then rubbed it with dried English mustard made up with olive oil. Cut whole garlic in half lengthwise and cut slits into the lamb and stuff in half a garlic and a sprig of fresh rosemary deep into each slit. About 8 slits one side and maybe 10 the other. Lay out the remaining rosemary on a wire rack in a roasting tin and laid the lamb on it and let it stand a couple of hours before cooking.

Then make up half a pint of beef stock and pour that into the base of the roasting tin and put into a preheated oven at 170C for about 50 minutes. I think our joint could have stayed in for another 10 minutes easily but it worked out as I don't really eat it and there was plenty that was cooked enough. The next day I finely sliced the left overs and warmed them through in gravy in a hot oven for about 30 minutes so it was fully cooked by then, but still tender.

The 70p I squandered on a "ready made gravy for lamb" mix was worth it on this occasion as it really made it work and lasted the two meals.

And for pudding I made an upside down pineapple cake which is one of Mr Doris' favs.

The aftermath bit comes when Mr Doris put the white towels on to wash the next day. Somehow, one of the red paper napkins from our Valentines meal made it into the wash load too, leaving my wonderful white towels very red. Some dygone later (or rather the equivalent) and they are just a mellow shade of pink. Oh well.