Bwyd Ni, Heno...

Two gratuitous food posts on the trot I'm afraid: tonight's repast of rolled breast of lamb marinated in garlic, lemon juice and olive oil; stuffed with dates, rosemary, flat-leaf parsley, cardamom and bay leaves; rolled and slow-roasted for a couple of hours and then zapped on high for half an hour. We just ate it with mash: the meat was finger-food and as fatty and garlicky as you can imagine. Interestingly, the stuffing contributed little: the overriding tastes being lamb and garlic. Room for future experiment, methinks. As a very cheap [used to be free in times past] cut of meat with oodles of flavour, I would recommend it to diehard lamb fiends, but not to anyone who's a bit picky about their food: dainty it ain't, and it requires a bit of dextrous chewing to get the best of it.

My go-to for satisfying anyone with a taste for sheep, however, will always be shoulder: far superior to leg of lamb in every way. Make it hogget or mutton, and you've got some serious flavour ahead of you: it's just the getting-hold-of these older meats that's the issue, now that local butchers are so few and far between and that their clientele are generally much less discerning or adventurous in their tastes or aspirations. Which is great pity, as there's much to be gained from such 'poor' produce, taste-wise, and which to be honest is a doddle to cook well, to boot. I'll leave tonight's observation at that, as my back, though temporarily OK - painkillers, good food and alcohol are great partners in pain mitigation, is still a threat on tomorrow's horizon, so I'll take my leave and say nos da for the time being. Hwyl!