Mangetout Beans For Eating With Ham Or Roast Lamb Food

"MANGETOUT BEANS" FOR EATING WITH HAM OR ROAST LAMB

Steps:

• Warm the olive oil in a large pan. Peel and finely chop the onion and add it to the oil. Cut the bacon into bite-sized chunks and stir it into the softening onion. The bacon fat should turn pale gold; the onion should soften without color.
• Put the fava bean pods into the pan and pour in the water. Bring to a boil, then decrease to a light simmer, and simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes, until the pods have lost their bright color and are meltingly tender.
• Coarsely chop the fresh mint and stir it into the beans. Serve with a thick wedge of lemon to squeeze over, and torn hunks of crusty bread to mop up some of the golden olive oil dressing.

SLOW ROAST RAS EL HANOUT LAMB & COUSCOUS

Steps:

• Using a pestle and mortar or a mini chopper, mash or chop the garlic with a generous pinch of salt, then add the lemon juice, ras el hanout spice mix and olive oil, then pound or chop to a rough paste. Use a small knife to make small incisions all over the lamb. Sit the lamb in a large, shallow casserole dish or deep roasting tin, then rub the paste all over the lamb and into the cuts. Leave at room temperature for 1 hr, or better still cover and chill overnight.
• When ready to cook, heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Scatter the onion wedges around the lamb, then cover the dish with a lid or tightly with foil and roast for 3 hrs. Remove from the oven and uncover. Stir the onions and baste the lamb in the juices, then turn the oven up to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and continue to roast the lamb, uncovered, for 25-30 mins until browned.
• Lift the lamb and onions onto a board to rest and put the kettle on. Stir the couscous and raisins into the lamb dish so they're coated in the roasting juices. Pour over enough boiling water from the kettle to just cover the couscous, then cover the dish and leave for 5 mins. Uncover and fluff the couscous up with a wooden spoon, then stir through the chickpeas, chopped herbs and preserved lemon or lemon juice, and season to taste. Bring the lamb, onions and the couscous to the table to serve.

BRETON BRAISED LAMB & HARICOT BEANS

Steps:

• Put the beans in a saucepan and cover with water. Add the quartered onion, the halved carrot and halved celery, the bay leaves, parsley stalks and peppercorns. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30-40 mins until the beans are soft. Drain well and reserve the cooking liquid, discarding the onion, carrot and celery.
• While the beans are cooking, heat half the olive oil in a heavy-based flameproof casserole. Brown the lamb in batches over a high heat. As each batch is cooked, remove it and set aside on a plate. Reduce the heat, add the chopped onion to the pan with the diced celery and carrot and cook until well coloured. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of mins.
• Return the lamb to the pan and add all the remaining ingredients, except the beans. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to very low and cover, then cook for 2 hrs. Add the beans 45 mins before the end of cooking time. Stir the lamb round every so often. If the lamb looks dry, add some of the bean cooking liquid.
• Remove the lid for the last 30 mins of cooking time, and season. This helps the cooking liquid to reduce. You should end up with a thick stew of tender lamb and soft beans. Scatter over the parsley and serve.

GREEN BEANS AND MANGETOUT WITH HAZELNUTS AND ORANGE

Steps:

• Bring plenty of water to the boil in a large saucepan (you need a lot of space for the veggies, to preserve the colour). Blanch the beans in the water for 4 minutes, the drain them in a colander and run them under tap water until cold. Leave to drain and dry. It is really important to make sure that they get completely cold so that they don't continue to cook - no-one wants overcooked green beans! Repeat this with the mangetout, but only cook for 1 minute (see above note).
• Mix the garlic and chives with the oils, zest and a tbsp or so of orange juice, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the green beans and mangetout, and scatter the hazelnuts over the top.

RACK OF LAMB WITH WARM SALAD OF MIXED BEANS & SLOW-ROAST TOMATOES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. For the tomatoes heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan (if you don't have an ovenproof pan, use a standard frying pan then transfer to a roasting tray before putting in the oven) and fry cut-side down. Add the thyme and garlic and cook for 3 mins until coloured. Turn over the tomatoes, drizzle with vinegar, then roast in the oven for 20 mins until soft and caramelised. Leave to rest.
• While the tomatoes are roasting, cook the lamb. Season the meat generously and heat the oil and butter in another ovenproof frying pan. Place the lamb, fat-side down, in the pan and scatter round the garlic and thyme. Brown the lamb really well, then turn over.
• Baste the lamb with the pan juices, then transfer to the oven for 10 mins for lamb that is pink. If you prefer it more well done, give it 5 mins more. Leave the lamb somewhere warm to rest.
• While the lamb is cooking, prepare the bean salad. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the broad beans for a few mins. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon straight into a bowl of ice water, then slip them from their skins into a bowl. Boil the fine beans for 2 mins, then add the mangetout and cook both for 1 min longer. Drain, plunge into iced water (this keeps their bright green colour), leave for 1 min to cool down, then drain again.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan, quickly cook the shallots for 1 min until starting to soften and colour, then add the fine beans and mangetout. Cook for about 1 min to heat through, then toss in the almonds and finally toss through the broad beans.
• Scatter the basil over the tomatoes, saving a few of the very small leaves for garnishing. Make the dressing by simply whisking the oil and vinegar together. Carve the lamb into cutlets on a board with a very sharp knife (see tip, below). You are now ready to plate up.
• Place the salad to one side of each plate. Line up three tomato halves down the other side of the plate. Lay three chops on top of the salad, slightly overlapping, with the bones pointing in the same direction. Drizzle the dressing around the plate and scatter the small basil leaves over the tomatoes.