Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Blue bells and spring lamb

The blue bells are flowering at the bottom of our garden. When they bloom each spring, they remind me of my mother as the original bulbs came from her garden. Every year there are a few more flowers as the bulbs have naturalised and increased over the past 18 years. 
 
Mum was a great gardener. When we were kids we'd often hear the old Holden or later, the yellow Gemini, arrive home but she would not appear in the house. She'd stop to pull out a weed and get lost in the peace and tranquility of her garden. Seeing the blue bells blossom each year is a lovely memory of her and of the beauty she created in her life and in her garden.
 
And that leads me to spring lamb. I wasn't sure why spring and lamb were associated so I did a bit of research including speaking to my sheep/lamb guru brother-in-law. Spring lamb is usually milk-fed, three to five months old, born in late autumn or early winter. Before lamb became available all year round, spring was the traditional time that lamb came on the market.  While times have changed, today lamb lovers still look to eat lots of lamb in spring.

Bruce recently made a very nice roast lamb with chermoula and rosemary and garlic, which came from The Sun-Herald. Here are the instructions:


Sit the lamb in a baking tray with a splatter of olive oil. The lamb should be approximately 1.2kg and de-boned.  Insert the rosemary and garlic into slits in the lamb and rub chermoula over lamb. Add sliced Jap pumpkin to the tray and cook for 1hour at 200 C then 20 mins at 220deg.  Before serving, sprinkle fetta over the lamb and pumpkin.  Serve with baked potatoes, onion and zucchini.  Delicious!

No comments:

Post a Comment