Greek Lamb & Feta Spiral

Weather still horribly unsettled in London. The weekend was lovely and warm - now its muggy and raining. So with my mind hoping for more sun - I give you a recipe that is Greek in style - its not really a Greek dish.. But it has all the flavours with juicy lamb, aubergine and feta and is lovely with lemon potatoes and a tzatziki sauce.

You could make this with lamb mince, but the texture of the chopped lamb is a lovely change.

Ingredients:

2 lamb rump steaks, chopped finely
1 aubergine, chopped finely
1 onion, chopped finely
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt & pepper (to taste)
8 sheets filo pastry
60g feta cheese
oil for brushing

Method:

Fry the lamb, onion and aubergine together in the oil in a large pan on a medium heat for about 15 minutes, until the meat cooked through. Add the garlic and oregano and season to taste. Cook for a further 5 minutes and then turn off the heat. Leave to cool a little.
 
Set the oven to 180 C. Take one rectangular sheet of filo and brush lightly with some oil, top with another piece, brush with oil and add the third sheet on top. Take half of the lamb mix and put it along the long side the pastry, ready to make a long sausage shape. Crumble half the feta cheese over the lamb.

Now roll the pastry over and keep rolling until you get to the end to make a sausage. Working quickly, take an end of the sausage and roll it into itself to make a spiral shape. Seal the end with a little oil and brush with some more oil. Put onto a baking sheet and repeat with the other half of the ingredients. Cook the spirals for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with tzatziki and roasted lemon potatoes.

For the potatoes:

2 medium potatoes,  peeled & cut into chunks
juice of 1 lemon
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock (cube is fine)

Put the potato chunks into a dish in one layer. Add the garlic, lemon juice and oil. Stir though well. The garlic will fall into the liquid - but that's good because it stops it burning.

Cook at 170 C for 30 minutes and then add the stock. Cook for another 20 minutes and serve hot! Enjoy! The sun will be back soon..

Chicken Faggots

I rarely hear that people actually eat faggots these day; years ago they were so popular. It could be the fact that the branded ones in England are called 'Brains Faggots' and possibly people thought they actually contain brains (they don't). Or because offal is considered not a good part of the animal. Either way I just put liver in mine.

I normally make these with pork belly, pork shoulder and pigs liver (recipe here), but the other day I decided to try and lower the fat content and make them with chicken. They were delicious!

Ingredients:

350g chicken sausages
1 chicken breast
120g chicken livers
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp. thyme
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
salt & pepper
8 rashers streaky bacon

Method:

Set the oven to 170 C. Remove the casings of the sausages and put the meat into a bowl. Put the onion, chicken breast and liver into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add to the bowl with the sausage meat. Add the seasoning, breadcrumbs and mix well. Put in the fridge to firm up. (If the mixture too loose, add some more breadcrumbs).

Take a bacon rasher onto a chopping board and use the back of a knife to stretch it to lengthen it, then cut in half. Do the same with the rest of the bacon.

Roll about a golf ball size of the meat in your hands and wrap a piece of bacon around it. Put into a baking sheet. Continue until all mixture used up and cook for 35-40 minutes.

Serve with chicken gravy and vegetables. Delicious!