Cruisy Curry

What do you do when you don’t know what to do? You are hungry, famished after a day at work and couldn’t be bothered thinking of anything brilliant to cook, let alone head to the grocery store for some food!

That is where cruisy curry comes in, it is very much a “what’s in the fridge” kind of dish. The most time consuming part is a bit of chopping but that could be quite cathartic after a long day.

I like to use lamb, potatoes and what ever vegetables are around but there is nothing stopping you from swapping lamb and potatoes for chicken and lentils, beans or even cabbage.

Just what a lazy night ordered

What you will need:

A lot to chop!

4 potatoes peeled and diced
500g lamb
1 red onion
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 cups vegetables (I used brocolini, peas, corn and carrots)
1 cube beef stock
1 1/2 cups boiling water
Spice mix: 3 tsp curry powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp Ginger, 1/2 tsp chili powder
Olive oil

Optional:2 slices of lavish bread or any flat bread
Butter

What to do:

1. Add 4 tbsp olive oil into frypan and turn on high heat
2. Add meat, potatoes, onion and garlic.
3. Brown on medium/high.
4. Stir in spice mix and cook for 1 minutes stirring constantly.
5. Add vegetables and cook for another 2 minutes before adding stock.
   
   

   Spiced up

6. Continue to cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
7. Put your oven on 180c.
8. About 5 minutes before the curry is done, spread butter across both sides of lavish bread and cut into points. Place in oven for 5 minutes and they should get fairly crispy.
9. Once done, serve curry with bread points.

Sunday Roast: I love gravy

I’m being a bit greedy here. I wanted to share my favourite gravy recipe (well, method) but thought it might be weird just to post that! Gravy is amazing, only made more amazing by some great roasted meat and vegetables. So calling on my old school Sunday Roast skills, I offer you this guide.

Sunday is my favourite time to cook. Relaxing, satisfying and, hopefully, you will have some killer leftovers to get your through Mondayitis.

I have separated this meal into three sections for mixing and matching with other dishes but if you want the full Sunday Roast deal, I would recommend reading through everything before jumping in as they are related for the purpose of this recipe. I have a bad habit of starting cooking as I start reading and it has caught me out more than once.

Before we go any further, these portions are to feed four. And no, I do not live in a house of four. I just like leftovers.

The Meat

You will need:

Minimum 1 kilo piece of lamb. I like to use a boneless roll but anything would work.
4 dessert spoons of flour
2 tsp rosemary (dried or fresh is fine, also try sage or thyme)
pinch salt

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 140C
2. Remove any packaging and wash the meat under cold water.
3. Pat dry with paper towel.
4. In a small bowl, combine flour with salt and rosemary.
5. Coat the lamb thoroughly with the flour mix and place in your baking dish (I find glass or ceramic work best but this would still work if you use a tin).
6. Fill the bottom of the dish with water with half a centimeter of water.
7. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for 30 minutes.
8. At 30 minutes, remove the aluminium foil and spoon the water/juices over the lamb.
9. Pop your meat back in the oven checking are re-juicing at 30 minute intervals. Go for 30 minutes per 500g (after the initial 30 minutes).
10. After an hour of uncovered cooking, pierce the skin. If the juices run clear, you are done!
11. Spoon out all the juice into a small bowl and cover the dish with foil to rest.

What are you doing with those juices? Check out The Gravy!

The Veggies

You will need:

4 medium potatoes
1 full garlic bulb
1 medium sweet potato (if you can only get the massive ones, use about half)
1 red onion
2 tsp dijon mustard
olive oil to coat

If you are partial to it, you could include beetroot, turnips or pumpkin.

What to do:

1. Peel everything!
2. Slice the potatoes to your desired size. Smaller will cook faster and be crunchier, larger will be softer. I like to cut on diagonals so there are multiple edges to crisp up, however big of small the pieces are.
3. Place these in a baking tray with your garlic cloves and lighting slosh over some olive oil. The amount is best done by sight but if you aren’t confident, try a just 1 or 2 tablespoons at first then add more if needed.
4. Stir around so all potatoes are covered.
5. Chop up the sweet potatoes and red onion, these are best in bigger chunks as both cook relatively quickly.
6. Put these in a bowl with the mustard and some oil to coat (again, go for about 1 or 2 tablespoons then add more after if needed).
7. Stir around then place these either in the same dish or a separate one. Whatever gives you room for each vegetable mix to easily be one layer.
8. Lightly salt both and put in the oven after the lamb has been in for 30 minutes (when you remove the foil). Leave to cook as the lamb does, checking for sticking as you juice the meat.

If you aren’t a fan of whole garlic gloves in with your veggies, try cutting the top 1/2 centimeter off the whole bulb and pouring a little oil over. This will roast nicely along with your veggies and provide delicious little pods to eat, spread on bread or add to gravy.

When you remove the meat, turn the oven up to 200C and let them cook further (read – get their crispy on). Just watch the onions and garlic don’t burn.

Before

After

The Gravy

Easily the best part of a roast for me. My Mum taught me this method so I must give her kudos for a gravy I am always praised for.

You will need:

2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp gravox
Lamb juices
Boiling water – minimum 2 cups

What to do:

1. In a frypan, combine the flour and gravox and cook very lightly on medium heat. Once you get a slightly cooked sm ell, add the lamb juices. The more the merrier here so don’t be shy.
2. This will all come together to a very odd looking paste – this is normal!!
   

   From lumpy horror to liquid delight

3. Slowly add the boiled water bit by bit and stir into the paste. I like to use a whisk as it helps avoid lumps. Add a little salt as you cook to bring it together.
4. As you add the water you will notice the gravy get runnier then thicker again as you stir in the paste. Depending on how you like your gravy will depend on when to take it off the heat. When you have the desired amount and consistency, pour into a serving glass.

Lastly, pile yourself up a big plate and enjoy your efforts!