The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Recipes => Topic started by: mowhaugh on February 02, 2014, 05:34:21 pm
-
What's the best way of cooking two necks of lamb? Wasn't concentrating when I got the bag out of the freezer, thought it was mince for shepherd's pie. Have absolutely no idea what I've done with then in the past, I think they probably have been minced. All ideas gratefully received!
-
My favourite dish! Navarin of lamb. Use any small cuts but IMO the very best Navarin uses neck :)
Navarin of Lamb - baste the meat in a very little fat (the fat you tipped off your last mutton dish works brilliantly), remove the meat, soften some onions, add 'fingers' of carrot, turnip, parsnip and cook until golden, sprinkle a little sugar and cook until glazed, add a little flour, stir and cook for a minute or so, add stock and mix, return the meat. You want the stock to come half-way up the meat. Cook, covered, for 45 mins in a moderate oven, or all day in a slow cooker. Turn the meat over and cook a little longer. Then reduce the juice to about 1/3 its volume. Professionals discard the veg it was cooked with, I eat the lot.
-
Minced!??? Sacrilege!
Best part of lamb for me - cut into chunk, marinade in thyme, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil then skewer them and barbecue or grill. Yum!
-
My sheep's necks are too scrawny to be a useful cut :(
-
My favourite too especially when I had the aga. I did mine with onions carrots tomatoes or a bit of tomato paste and fresh green peas. Making my mouth water just to think of it. Slow cooking is the answer with neck. All the richness comes out and the meat is beautifully tender.
I used to do quite a lot, lift the meat off the bones and freeze it down in pots, then add more fresh (or frozen) peas when reheating, which can be done in a saucepan on the top, with just a bit of water added to stop it burning or drying out too much.
With home grown new potatoes it has to be the bees knees.
-
Thank you, going to save it for tomorrow and try the navarin, then I can put it in the aga bottom oven in the morning.
-
Wasn't concentrating when I got the bag out of the freezer, thought it was mince for shepherd's pie.
i have done that many times except i thought i was defrosting a roasting joint only to find a pigs head...arghh made me jump every time.
-
Worst one I did was to buy a huge salmon for a special birthday gathering of about 20, stick it in the freezer unlabeled, then got out and defrosted a whole leg of lamb instead. The panic which ensued as I rushed to defrost and cook the enormous fish in time for lunch meant that I never put anything in the freezer again without a proper label. :innocent:
-
Our butcher always takes the meat off the bone in one piece giving you neck fillet-lovely cut of meat and no hassle to use.
Imagine down the length of the neck as opposed to chopping up the neck. Make sense?
-
I love neck of lamb, had one on Saturday done to a Hugh F-W recipe.
Brown the neck bits in pot on the stove, add juice of a lemon, some thyme and cover with boiling water. Stick in oven for 2hrs at 140C. Take out of oven and add some pearl barley and simmer for 30mins. With about five mins to go add some chopped cabbage/chard/greens. Dead simple and delicious.
-
It's in the bottom oven, so we'll see.
-
Yum, thanks everyone! Apart from a minor bit of food exchange where William traded all of his carrots for some of Angus' lamb (I didn't notice until it was too late to stop them, but at least I've got one boy who loves carrots!) it went down well with the whole family.
-
I prefer neck of lamb if I'm making a stew - pressure cooker or slow cooker.
-
I would say pressure cook it till the meat is cooked, then peel the meat away and then you an make all sorts of meals with the meat. I usually make moussaka with either scrag of lamb or lamb breast.
Hope this helps