Lamb Roast

We've been a bit boring but often just good quality simple foods are just as satisfying as complicated meals.

I bought a leg of lamb for $15 from our favourite butcher and on Sunday night we roasted it and served it with vegies, then last night my husband fried up the left overs for souvlaki. Two meals out of one leg of lamb. Good value, tasty and healthy.

Meal of the 8th of January:

Roast Lamb with beans and corn.

For best results with meat, take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking it.

We used a 1.3 kilo leg for this recipe.

1. Wash and pat the lamb dry then rub with oil, salt and pepper.

2. Make holes all over the lamb and stuff with chopped garlic and rosemary sprigs.

3. Add a little water to the bottom of the roasting tray (provided your using a roasting rack... you don't want the lamb swimming in water! )

4. Cover with foil and roast at 175 degrees celcius for around 1.15 minutes, then take the foil off and roast at a higher temperature for around 30 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for around 30 minutes.

6. Blanche the beans and steam the corn and serve with slices of lamb!

Meal for Monday the 9th of January:

Lamb Souvlaki with homemade tzatziki.

It's best to let the tzatziki marinate for at least a couple of hours so make this first.

1. Very finely chop up a couple of cloves of garlic (or you can crush them if you prefer). Add this to a 1/2 cup of Greek style yoghurt. I prefer the Jalna brand. Then peel a small lebanese cucumber and chop finely. Mix together, cover and leave in the fridge.

2. Slice tomatoes, lettuce and red or salad onion. Take the tzatziki out of the fridge.

3. Slice small pieces of lamb and cook over a medium high heat with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice until starting to brown. Don't over cook or it will just become dry.

4. Let the meat sit while you lightly fry the flat bread. We usually use Gerry's pittas but last night we tried a wholegrain wrap I got at Aldi. It tasted really good surprisingly.

5. Place the meat in the middle of the bread, add tzatziki, tomato, lettuce and onion. Roll up and enjoy.

The verdict: The girls loved the bread and always enjoy food when it's rolled up in something. They loved it although A wasn't so into the meat. She ate a little but preferred the bread and vegies. The lamb roast was also enjoyed but once again, both preferred the vegies, especially the beans which is surprising because they normally don't eat beans. I think they like the crunchiness when they're blanched rather than steamed.

Of course, this is one of my husband's favourite meals so no surprises he ate loads! He was initially disappointed by the lack of Gerry's pittas but conceded that the wholegrain ones were pretty tasty too.

Happy Eating!