So here we are once again and this week we’re doing two recipes for the challenge- Parma Wrapped Lamb with Savoy Cabbage AND Tracy Salad.

Both seem pretty straightforward, although I have to be honest, the lamb is starting to scare me a bit… it’s basically sautéed cabbage and cream with spinach shoved between two lamb backstraps and then wrapped in prosciutto.  Maybe it’s not that it’s scaring me, maybe I’m just remembering that cabbage is not my favourite food, oh well!  Let’s just dive in and hope for the best!

SO for this recipe, I need onion, bacon lardons, butter, garlic, savoy cabbage, thyme, cream, spinach, lamb, olive oil and Parma ham.  First problem, what is a bacon lardon???  I probably should have done some research BEFORE I went to the grocery store, but as normal, I didn’t and wrote down bacon, which I bought.  Also, I should start trying to remember quantities as the recipe needs 400ml of double cream, not the 300ml that I bought….. We’ll worry about that later.  First, let’s ask Uncle Google what a lardon of bacon is…

Lardon is a small strip or cube of pork fat (usually subcutaneous fat) used in a wide variety of cuisines to flavor savory foods and salads. In French cuisine, lardons are also used for larding, by threading them with a needle into meats that are to be braised or roasted. Lardons are not normally smoked, and they are made from pork that has been cured with salt.

 

Well, not quite what I was expecting but hopefully we can make it work!!

First things first, onion in the freezer.  Then I get to work chopping the lardon and rind off the bacon.

I chop the onion and then throw it in a pan with the lardons and 1 tbs of butter…..yoinks…. frying bacon fat and butter???  Well, there goes the diet this week! That cooks for about 6 minutes before it starts to look a bit burny, it’s supposed to cook for 10 before I throw in 5 cloves of finely chopped garlic….yup, 5 cloves….  Maybe there’s a Vampire problem in Ireland.

Anyway, that cooks then I throw in ¾ of a head of savoy cabbage chopped or sliced or cut really, it’s supposed to be a full head but I don’t like cabbage, plus 300ml of double cream and about 100ml of milk, although I guess with the diminished cabbage, it probably would have been enough cream, oh well!  Then that cooks with 2tbs of fresh thyme for ten minutes.  I covered it with tin foil because I don’t have a top for my skillet.  I know I’m on the right track when The Runner walks through the kitchen twice and tells me it smells good!

I put water on to boil to blanch 16 spinach leaves and then I wait….the cabbage as it turns out could use an extra few minutes of cooking which isn’t a bad thing.  I put a pan on the stove to heat up so I can sear the two lamb backstraps I bought in time for them to cool.  I also realise at this point that I haven’t READ the Tracy salad recipe yet, so fingers crossed it won’t take too long to read and prepare.  It’s 6:15, and I’ve promised to have dinner on the table for 7:30, I’m not under the pump…..yet….unless the Tracy Salad is my undoing.

I’ve also grown multiple hands as I dash back and forth between the blanching spinach, searing lamb and reducing sauce.  Luckily nothing has gone awry….yet!

So I slice 3 chorizo and put them into the oven for 20 minutes to dry roast at 180 degrees.

 

At this point, I decide to put together the lamb first so it’s all ready for the oven… it’s surprisingly easy to do; it’s just laying out the prosciutto, covering that with spinach, then lamb and 3 tablespoons of cabbage mix and then roll it up!!!

The potatoes are easy as well, and really the Tracy Salad is super straight forward to make.  Toss the potatoes with olive oil and balsamic, then chuck in some rocket, semi sun dried tomatoes and cubed feta.  Too Easy!

 

We had Scribbles and Cut over dinner to enjoy it with us- and both Cut and The Runner had second helpings of everything!

Luckily, this time The Runner has leftovers for his lunch tomorrow—always a bonus!  I have to say, I really like this cookbook- other than a few fancy terms, like lardon, it was really easy to make and pretty straightforward instructions.  Whilst I’m not personally a cabbage girl, it was actually really tasty.  I’ve made things out of this book before and I definitely will again!

We’re taking next week off for the cooking event of the year, Thanksgiving- I’ll be writing more about that later.  For our next culinary adventure in two weeks’ time, The Runner picked Bill’s Everyday Asian by Bill Granger.   PS- I LOVE Bill Granger and I have all of his books so I’m excited for the next challenge—especially since I’ve never cooked anything out of this book!