Stuffed Leg of Lamb

The finished meal - Stuffed leg of lamb with peas and baked potatoes.

It was the Rednecks time to cook and the missus suggested that we have roast leg of lamb - suddenly I had a ‘Jamie Oliver Moment’. Why not de-bone and stuff the leg for a change? Sounded like a good idea at the time and as I had not made stuffing before, a quick browse through the New Zealanders cooking Bible ‘The Edmonds Cook Book’ was undertaken to confirm the ingredients required.

As we were out of breadcrumbs Mrs. Redneck quickly made a white loaf in the bread maker which, after cooling, was chopped up in the food processor to make the necessary crumbs.

I thought I could de-bone the lamb leaving a neat cavity in which to place the stuffing mixture – ha ha very funny. When you look at a lamb leg it appears that the bone is fairly straight – it goes in one end and out the other. Boy how wrong can I be. The unseen section of bone has all sorts of knobbly bits attached making it almost impossible for an amateur butcher to neatly carve out so I decided to split the whole thing down the middle, hack out the bone, stuff, then tie the whole thing back together with string. When you think of it, the knobbly bits would be required to hold the lambs leg muscles in place otherwise they would be walking around the paddocks with their thighs around their ankles – a bit like kids walking around school with the socks down!

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Homemade Kon Loh Char Siew Meen ~ Bbq Pork Noodle with spinach

This is our favourite noodle meal which we have at least once a week. The char siew (bbq pork) is premade and frozen. All that is required is make the noodle which is easy if you have a pasta machine with a sharp cutter. The fresh noodle is very silky smooth.

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 tsp oil
1 tsp yuen chan dark sauce (see pic)
1 tsp soy sauce

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Fried Curry Flounder

The flounder is lightly seasoned with salt and curry powder and fried with a little oil. Simple way of cooking fish. The flounder requires little cooking time as it is a slim fish.


Ingredients

Seasoning
2 flounders
3 tsp Baba fish curry powder
1 tsp salt

cornflour for dusting
3 Tbsp oil

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Peking Roast Duck

My Peking Duck straight out of the oven ready for Mrs. Redneck and her chopper!

Chinese roast duck (or Peking duck) is one of my all-time favourite Chinese dishes and has become a regular item on the Redneck’s menu for the last 8 years or so. At least once a month, we would purchase duck as a take-away from our local Chinese Restaurant until one day, shock, horror, we discovered that the place had closed down and was replaced by a Laundromat. The thought of travelling long distances in the evening just to get a take-away did not appeal so we decided to cook our own. Fortunately at about the same time reasonable priced frozen duck became available in local stores (they were as hard to find as ducks teeth prior to this).

The recipe I use is a bit of a “work in progress” as it is constantly being refined and improved, when I am happy with it I will post the recipe. We in fact have two recipes, mine and Mrs. Rednecks and the “jury is out” as to which is the best. My version has crispier skin which is vital for a good Peking duck while hers is easier to prepare, but as previously mentioned some more trials are required as the missus wants me to marinate the thing overnight to provide a better flavour and I want to cook longer for a crispier skin. Both recipes use an airbed pump and a ball-inflating needle to force air between the ducks skin and fat which helps the crisping process – a bit messy but worth it. The cooking time and oven temperature is critical as the duck burns easily due to the sweet marinade. My very first effort was rather dark (read black!) – The skin was nice and crispy though!

Half of the duck chopped-up by the missus ready for serving (the rest goes to the freezer).

ETA : Recipe available here

Lemon Chicken

This lemon chicken is refreshing with a lovely tangy flavour. The lemon sauce is lemony without being overly sweet.


Ingredients
6 pcs drumstick

Marinade
1 Tbsp chinese cooking wine
1½ Tbsp light soya sauce
1 egg yolk (optional)

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Hot n Sour Ribs

This hot n sour spare ribs have to be our favourite pork dish. The pork ribs are marinated and deep fried and delicious eaten with or without the sauce.

The sauce can be poured onto the ribs or used for dipping. I have used a different type of chilli sauce and it came out hot and spicy.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken, another favourite roast where the oven does all the cooking. I have tried it with chicken pieces and whole chicken and they are both turned out to equally good.


Ingredients
1½ kg chicken

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