‘This is not the lamb you buy from Woolies,’ my aunt said as she wrapped the leg for its journey back to Cape Town, ‘it’s a mature Karoo skaap and it’s flavourful but you have to slow-roast it in a medium oven otherwise it’ll be tough.’ Which was the plan on Saturday night as the Morkels from Scarborough had arrived and having them here was cause for celebration. Except we’re such old friends we decided to have an afternoon nap before hitting the kitchen. And when Susan woke me at about 6 we were actually, technically, already running late…
I minced four anchovies, a good couple of garlic cloves and a handful of rosemary, added a bit of olive oil and seasoning and gave the leg of mutton a good rub. Popped her in the oven and went for a walk. All rather chilled…
Back home again I cut a few sweet potatoes into long fingers, zested an orange and scattered the peel, plus squeezed the O juice over. Few blobs of butter, some olive oil and into the oven. Out came the blue pot with the leg of mutton. And clearly she had not spent enough time in the oven. So what do you do? Change of plan, open another bottle of wine and start video blogging, say I!
Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2AveAB2FA
Yes, I have conquered the technoschmechno and am now on Youtube. You might have to cut and paste this link though. Some of my Expresso reviews can also be viewed on Youtube under kitchenvixenSA.
We had a lot of fun. I wear a lot more clothes than other kitchen vixens out there but to me the name is more about a gung-ho, lost-the-recipe and make a plan type of attitude than trying to be a sink slut or a vacuum-packed vamp… not that I’m saying I’ll NEVER have work done but for now, after this little snippet of video self-confrontation, I appreciate the Expresso make-up ladies even more…
This sheep played hard to get. We had to treat her with the respect that an old Karoo lady deserves. With time, she yielded and released the type of flavour that only a couple of years of grazing on karoobossies can achieve. We ate a bit later but with a bottle of Springfield Methode Ancienne Cab and a few delicious sweet potato fingers to help pass the time, it was a sublime wait. In retrospect the meat was so flavourful, I really didn’t need to do the whole anchovy rub thing. Best save that for a shop-bought leg of lamb that needs boosting.
Karoo mutton with citrus sweet potato fingers, courgettes and roma tomatoes
But surely one of the BEST reasons to do a leg of lamb (or bobotie for that matter) is the next-day sandwich. I can’t get hungry soon enough to have a lamb, tomato and chutney sandwich. One of life’s lovely little pleasures.
Precious thing
Another great reason to do a leg of lamb is that Milly could get stuck into something a little more crunchy than her usual pellets.
Milly
Happy days all round.
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