A Mother's Moment in March

Having recently spotted the first daffodils of the season, it’s a reminder to many that one of the most celebrated days of the year is approaching - Mother’s Day.

One of the only days in which our beloved mothers relax whilst we, the children, take over their daily chores and pamper them with delicious meals, starting with breakfast in bed served with a bunch of fresh daffodils.

As a child, it was an opportunity to show off a ‘creative side’ with homemade cards and edible gifts. I would like to thank my Mother here, for keeping up the pretence that my artistic skills were so good; I could have potentially become the next Van Gogh. Having recently discovered some of these cards though, I’ve realised to my dismay, that you aren’t just an excellent Mother, but a talented actress also.

Now an adult, Mother’s Day has become more of a test on whether I‘ve accomplished the art of domestic competence, if my Mother has succeeded in teaching me the skills of cleaning, cooking and ironing. Unfortunately in this case, cooking has been the only triumph and the one I am going to place emphasis on here.

For this special day, I’ve decided on a traditional dish with a little twist – my own take on roast lamb.

First of all, I would like to dedicate this article to all the mothers in Greece. My reason being in relation to an enlightening fact Jamie Oliver recently unearthed in his book on Great Britain involving the origin of roast lamb and mint sauce. He revealed that this famous dish was in fact created by the Greeks’ and the English loved it so much, we decided to “borrow” it and stick our flag next to it.

Roast Shoulder of Lamb

Serves 6

Ingredients

2kg shoulder of organic lamb, boned (try to buy from a local butcher, who will prepare for stuffing)

For the stuffing:

Bunches of thyme, mint, oregano, chopped

2 sprigs of rosemary

3 garlic cloves, crushed (wild garlic is in season)

6 slices of pancetta, chopped

100g pinenuts

150g kalamaki olives, chopped

50g breadcrumbs

250g feta cheese, crumbled

500ml red wine

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

String

v  Mix the thyme, mint, oregano, garlic, pancetta, pinenuts, olives, breadcrumbs, feta together with a good glug of olive oil and season

v  Untie the meat, lie fat side down and spoon the stuffing all over

v  Bring the sides together, overlapping slightly. Using the string, tie the meat securely see the following link for guidelines - http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/howto/JF98_IStiemeat.pdf

v  Tuck the rosemary under the string; lightly coat the meat with olive oil and season

v  Place in roasting tin and in the oven on 200’C for 30 minutes, then turn down to 180’C, cooking for 30 minutes per 450g – baste with red wine in the last 15 minutes. Allow the meat to rest 15 minutes before serving.

v  Serve with potatoes roasted with rosemary and garlic, Yorkshire pudding, (a must have with all roasts), seasonal greens, drizzled with gravy made up of those lovely meat juices.

For mothers reading this, you will be happy to know when researching for this article, I discovered Mothering Sunday’s also known as ‘Refreshment Sunday’, relaxing the rules of lent for one day. So why not indulge with extra roast potatoes followed by a generous helping of sticky toffee pudding served to you by your children?!