Barbequed lamb with Cabernet Sauvignon

At last. AT LAST! Summer, finally. After weeks and weeks of grey skies, downpours and floods we finally get to Summer. And that means barbeque.

There's nothing finer on the barbeque than lamb, and to make sure the first one of the season set the right standard I asked Al from Wine Chateau to suggest the right wine,

"It has to be Cabernet Sauvignon", said Al. "There's some great wines around, but Chile in particular is producing some fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon right now. Try the Los Vascos, produced by Rothschild".

Barbequeing lamb doesn't require much of a recipe really. Get a barbeque hot, put some lamb on it (we used chops) and cook. Lamb always seems to respond really well to the heat and smoke of the barbeque, taking on a lovely red tinge in places, and the fat crisps up nicely and becomes very,very tasty.

Lamb is also very versatile, you can go so many different directions with it. We stuck to the Med, pairing it with some roasted and stuffed peppers, spiced spinach and chickpeas and hummus.

Al's recommendation of Cabernet Sauvignon is spot on. The wine at first is very fruity with a taste of lots of red berries and cherries. But after some time to breathe the tannins develop to deliver a dry finish. It's a great match with the lamb, which is quite a sweet meat. The sweet fruit of the wine matches nicely. There's also a hint of smoke and spice which complements the char-grill from the barbeque.

What a perfect start to Summer. The grey skies seem a long time ago, and the future seems rich with the promise of more great food and wine.

Jamie Oliver's slow roast shoulder of lamb with root mash and two sauces

This was our Christmas Eve meal. And what a meal. It's one of those recipes that, like the Brisket Chili, you will cook again and again.

I was cooking for 5 on Christmas Eve and our butcher suggested a whole shoulder would be required. At £10 this seemed like good value and an affordable way to feed a few people. It was certainly a lot more affordable than using a leg of lamb - less than half price in fact.

The original recipe calls for rosemary and garlic to be added to the lamb for roasting, but I didn't bother. I simply browned it in the roasting pan then covered it tightly with tin foil and put it in a very hot oven. As soon as it goes into the oven the heat gets turned down low, to about 170, lower if you've got a hot oven.

After an hour or so you can start to smell the lamb cooking, which certainly doesn't hurt the appetite!

With about half an hour to go I prepared 2 large carrots, 1 large celeriac and a few potatoes. They all went into big pot of cold water and then went on to boil. A few recipes I've read suggest cooking root veg from cold to ensure proper cooking throughout. Whether it is important or not, the veg always end up very tender.

Once cooked, the veg is drained and allowed to steam for a few minutes to help reduce any excess moisture. Then it's mashed with as much butter as you like, ideally quite a bit, and some salt and pepper. You can go for a smooth, uniform texture if you want, or leave it chunky which I think is more visually appealing.

When the lamb is ready, after about 4 hours, take it out of the oven and rest it on a clean chopping board covered with tin foil and a tea towel or two. Use the roasting pan juices to make a great gravy. You can either do this the English way and add some browning and thickening agents. Or go French/Italian and just reduce the juices slightly for a sauce that is thinner but just as tasty.

To go with the lamb I made a couple of sauces. Well, one sauce and one dry seasoning. I made a simple fresh mint sauce using a little water, some sugar, lots of fresh, chopped mint and some white wine vinegar.

I also made some Dukkah, an Egyptian dish of various seeds (cumin, coriander, sesame) and almonds which are roasted then crushed and spiced with paprika. The result is a wonderfully nutty, crunchy and spicy tasting seasoning which works with just about everything. It's great with oily/fatty foods like lamb and fish such as mackerel and herring. It also works very nicely with bread dipped in oil.

If success is clean plates, then this was a success. There was nothing left. The meat could be 'carved' with a spoon and just about fell off the bones and was devoured by everyone. The root mash was a similar hit, and everyone seemed to enjoy the dukkah as well.

What can I say? Give it a go. You won't be disappointed.

Lamb meatballs with Romesco sauce

We had a trip to Ilkley. There's a few good reasons why you might go to Ilkley, for us it was meat and cold water.

The cold water in question was the Ilkley Lido. Its about 15 minutes walk out of the town centre, near the rugby club and offers a heated indoor pool as well as an unheated outdoor pool. After getting a lot of enjoyment out of the Lido at Portishead when we lived in Bristol we were keen to go to Ilkley's pool.

It is a very picturesque setting, with Ilkley Moor just a short way up the hill, and the water is very cold. Well, cold anyway. But for the perverse this is all part of the fun.

For the meat we went to Lishman's. Makers of the Yorkshire sausage and an award winning banger - the Champion. Its one of those butchers where you just want to buy a bit of everything. We bought some sausages, we just had to, some pig cheeks and the lamb mince for this dish which I had been wanting to do for a while.

It was extraordinarily good meat. I could almost smell the field that the lamb had been gamboling about in.

Using a pound of mince for two people I seasoned it with salt, pepper and paprika in the absence of pimento - although I don't know if there's a lot of difference. I made the seasoned mince into 10 meatballs and fried them slowly in some olive oil. Once they were nice and brown I added the romesco sauce and just heated it through for a few minutes, and served them with rice.

Romesco is a Spanish, or to be more precise Catalan, sauce of tomatoes, peppers and almonds. I googled for a recipe and found this one.

It was a lovely dish. Rich, slightly spicy and a little sweet with a nice toasted nutty flavour from the almonds which went really nicely with the browned meatballs. Definitely one for the repertoire.