Cured reindeer, slow roast lamb and cheese
In the days between Christmas and New Year a couple of friends came to London and made time for a stop over for dinner! They are true foodies so I got quite excited and did a lot of thinking of what to cook.
I did a small pre starter of prawns to go with a glass of bubbly to get started.
I got some cured reindeer at the Swedish Christmas market, it is very lean and so tender and I wanted to use this. I meant to get some lingonberries to go with it but I forgot. The reindeer was part of the starter but I had also promised to cook crackling so I had to figure a way to marry the flavours to a starter.
I cooked the pork crackling and did a sour apple sauce to go with the crackling and it worked really well.
The crackling provided texture and I wanted firmer apple to go with the reindeer and made sweet chilli apple to go with that. The apple worked well and made the crackling and the reindeer come together.
For maincourse I wanted to cook something I thought no one would have eaten over Christmas and opted or slow cooked shoulder of lamb, one of my favourites. The meat is so beautiful, it gets so tender it melts in your mouth.
Slow roast shoulder of lamb, serves 6 people. Oven 120C, 4-5 hours cooking
- 1 whole shoulder of lamb
- grated lemon zest for 1 lemon
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed (it might sound like a lot but there is a lot of meat to flavour)
- rosemary, chopped
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Make cuts in the shoulder of lamb to allow for the spice mix to penetrate. Mix all the ingredients except the oil and mix with mortar and pestle, add the oil and rub it in to the lamb. Then cook in the oven until ready.
I love slow cooked food, it fills the house with the most wonderful smell.
I did a curried parsnip and carrot mash as the veg on the side.
As I had Irish guests I also needed to have potatoes and did some roast potatoes! Yes, I did tell them 🙂
The spices for the lamb had infused and it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Roast lamb 
Shredded roast lamb 
I opted against a dessert and went for cheese instead and served an international selection
Vit Caprin, a Swedish hard goats cheese from SkärvĂĄngens Bymejeri a small dairy in a small mountain village. The cheese is distinctly goast cheese but still very mild and I would believe perfect for anyone who is not in to too much of the “goats” flavour.
Vit Getost comes from Åsbergets Mejeri, not far from where Vit Caprin is being made. Vit getost is a goats Camembert and just delicious.
There is always room for the Danish Blue Castello, milky, buttery with a salty tang.
The delicious Spanish Manchego cheese represented hard cheese
I am lucky and our butcher stocks Waterloo, a mild, semi soft Guernsey milk cheese, mild but never boring.
La Buche is a delicious soft goats cheese, very mild but with a distinct flavour and a delicious rind
The cheese was eaten with Finncrisp, sourdough thin crisp breads, Asian pear and grapes, served with a generous helping of home made liqueurs.
After a lot of food, a few bottles of wine and the liqueurs we all went to bed for a good nights sleep and a lazy morning, just the way it should be!
Food Eat Love 