Leftovers for brunch.

Sliced lamb breast, fried eggs with vegetable and mashed potato cakes.

Cheap, tough and fatty, lamb breast may not appear at first glance to be the most desirable joints of meat but after a long slow bake in the oven it is transformed into one of the most tender delicious lamb dishes of which I know. I purchased this British rolled lamb breast from Sainsbury’s where it is sold cheaply under their Basics range for a bargain price of £5.39/kg. The cheap price is most likely due to the general adversity nowadays to anything that requires long cooking times or is high in fat. I enjoy taking advantage of this as fat holds no fear for me.

My cooking directions come straight from the BBC Food Recipes and their Breast of lamb baked with onions by Simon Hopkinson. Although I usually only use the basic ingredients and do not make a proper dish with the onions, it still tastes good. The key is a long cooking time at a low temperature and keeping the meat wrapped to hold the moisture in.

Baked lamb breast for dinner:

Ingredients

• Rolled lamb breast.
• Onions.
• Salt.
• Black pepper.
• Salt.

• Mushrooms.
• Leek.
• Kale.
• Frozen peas.
• Dried wakame seaweed.
• Potatoes.

First set the oven to 150 C. While it is warming chop the onions and place half in a casserole dish with a lid. Sear the lamb breast all around in a hot pan, then place on the chopped onions, season with salt and black pepper and cover with the remaining onions. Wrap some baking paper over the top of the meat and scrunch it down the sides to trap the moisture in. Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the oven at 150 C for about 3 to 4 hours.

When cooked I took the meat out and placed it back in the oven to keep warm. By this stage the dish is filled with a thick layer of fat from the meat and this I drained off to save for later use as cooking fat. The onions with some of the lamb fat I put in a saucepan over a medium hot ring with a chopped leak, mushrooms, kale, wakame seaweed, and black pepper and let them steam in their own juices till cooked, stirring occasionally. Frozen peas I added at the end and heated them through before serving. At the same time I boiled some potatoes and mashed them with a little more of the lamb fat.

The mashed potato and vegetables were were served with slices on the rolled lamb breast that, being so tender, literally falls apart as you cut it. The meat will makes enough for about four servings.

Lamb breast dinner

Leftovers for brunch:

The leftover vegetables and potatoes from the dinner last night I mixed together and pressed into little cakes and fried them in a little of the lamb fat. I also fried a couple of eggs at the same time and then just heated slices of the remaining lamb breast through until it regained its tenderness. Altogether this made a very satisfying mid morning meal.

I also now have a cup full of delicious lamb fat for use in cooking for the rest of the week.