Feeding the Workers

The least I could do for my five kind friends who gave up their sunny San Francisco Sunday afternoons to come and help me candies and sweets for the charity bake sales I have been organising at work to raise money for the AEF/BCEF, was to provide them with a tasty brunch. All of us are big lamb lovers, and as I had a de-boned leg in the freezer and my new Jamie's Dinners cook book to try out, I decided to make them the Naked Chef's Moroccan lamb recipe.



This is a really simple and tasty meal to make with loads of flavour. The lamb is marinated in a mixture of yoghurt (I used Greek Total ) with garlic, chickpeas, mint and cilantro and then roasted, on the oven shelf over a pan of cumin-dredged veggies. I used squash, turnips and onions (forgetting to purchase the carrots also included in Jamie's recipe, oops). Thanks to a tip on Jamie's forums , I learnt that cooking the lunch this way might lead to a hot and smoky kitchen, hardly optimum conditions for a candy-making exercise. Luckily our landlord was kind enough to leave us a huge gas grill on our deck. It even has a spit. Today was the day to learn how to use it.
I left the lamb turning on the grill, with the vegetables in a roasting tray underneath, the lid closed. After an hour, brunch was ready, without filling the house with fumes. I served it up, outside in the sun, with grilled pitta and the remainder of the marinade (as Jamie suggests), which makes a tasty sauce.



I could hardly expect my guests to spend all afternoon creating sugary goodies without something to satisfy their own sweet teeth. I fell back on a reliable recipe from The French Laundry cookbook which never lets me down, "Sally Schmitt's Cranberry & Apple Kuchen". It's easy to make and tastes delicious, especially warm from the oven. The sharp cranberries and apples make a piquant contrast to the mildly nutmeg and cinnamon-spiced white cake.

Feeding the Workers