| Ah Bisto! (March
2010)

I
admit it, I'm a huge gravy fan! Actually, I come from a
long line of gravy fans. My dad is known to eat anything
as long as it is swimming in gravy (or custard in the
case of dessert). On one occasion, at a formal dinner,
so the story goes, in the absence of gravy my dad tipped
his glass of wine on his dinner.
Whilst I'm in the mood
for confessing I have to admit that I'm quite happy to
make gravy using an OXO cube. I was brought up on a
combination of OXO and Bisto gravy. In fact, when I was
a child I was a Bisto Kid. This, as I remember, entitled
me (and my brother) to a quarterly activity magazine as
well as gifts such as T-shirts and a badge. I remember
the Bisto Kids logo well, the cartoon children with
their eyes closes, noses in the air, sniffing in the
waffs of delicious gravy smells. Ahh... Bisto!
Shall I go on with my
gravy confessions? Despite being an upstanding member of
the community, with excellent table manners I have been
known on occasion to dip my finger into the remaining
gravy at the end of a meal and lick it until my plate is
clean.
So you can imagine that
it was quite a leap when on Sunday I thought I might
serve the rack of lamb with Shrewsbury sauce rather than
gravy. As much as I love my homemade gravy it does have
a tendency to make the meal taste the same as ever other
gravy meal. I'm not complaining about that but I thought
trying a different sauce might give the meal more of a
restaurant feel. I was also keen to make the sauce as it
required redcurrant jelly - of which I have a few jars
left. I did, of course, still have to make some OXO
gravy for the girls to pour all over their Yorkshire
puddings.
Rack of Lamb with
Shrewsbury Sauce (serves 2)
| 1 rack of lamb |
| 1 sprig of
rosemary |
| 1 clove of
garlic |
| 2 teaspoon
mustard powder |
| Oil for frying |
| 1 teaspoon
plain flour |
| 200ml fresh
chicken stock |
| 3
tablespoons port |
| 2 tablespoons
redcurrant jelly |
| 2 teaspoons
lemon juice |
Preheat oven to 220°C,
gas 7. Season the rack of lamb with salt and freshly
ground black pepper. Finely chop the rosemary and
garlic. Mix the mustard powder with just enough water to
make a thick paste then stir in the rosemary and garlic.
Heat the oil in a frying pan then brown the rack on all
sides. Place on a rack in a roasting tin and smear the
mustard over the underside of the lamb.
Turn the lamb fat side
up and roast in the oven for 30-35 minutes then remove
from the oven and wrap loosely in foil for 10 minutes to
rest. In the meantime, heat the flour in the residue oil
in the frying pan then gradually stir in the stock.
Leave it to simmer and reduce for a few minutes then add
the port and redcurrant jelly. Simmer again until the
sauce has reduced. Stir in the lemon juice. Cut the lamb
into cutlets then pour over the Shrewsbury sauce. Serve
with roast potatoes and vegetables. |