Hannah's Kitchen

Local chef & patisserie queen Hannah Jones from Hannah's Buns stops by to share her weekly post with us. Sharing her tips, advice & her special recipes. For more of what Hannah has been up to visit her blog http://hannahsbuns.blogspot.com/ 

This week I travelled to Wash farm in Sible Heddingham. I’ve been to this farm many times with my children to pick strawberries, but today I was there to speak to one of the farmer’s Shirley Stevenson. Shirley and her husband Peter have been producing Pick your own (PYO) strawberries since the 1980’s and it is very popular. Today I was there to find out more about their autumn lamb. I decided to do my recipe using this particular meat.  Shirley was very kind and took me to see their Rams.   They were lovely and so friendly.  It was interesting speaking to Shirley she had three rams and each one would be able to impregnate fifty to sixty yew’s

Autumn lamb is different to spring lamb, it has a stronger taste and is great to use in curries and stews. However, because of its strong flavour you can use a lot of herbs and spices without it interfering with the flavour of the lamb.

The autumn lamb is hung for 7-10 days this is normal for lamb it’s not as tender as spring lamb so it does need to be cooked a bit longer.  You can buy the lamb at Wash Farm in portions or as whole.  If you buy a whole lamb it works out cheaper.  I really believe in buying local produce as much as possible especially when it comes to buying my meat. I care about how animals are treated and I believe their life should be as good as it can be before they are killed. I am supporting the campaign for buying British pork as I have seen what happens to the pigs in other countries.  Wash farm is a great place to take the children where they can see firsthand animals in their natural environment and they can pick their own strawberries in the summer.  Wash farm also sell gooseberries, cherries, blackcurrants and Asparagus.  They also have another farm in Shelford producing British pork.  Please have a look at their website for more details www.washfarm.co.uk   

Today I would like to share with you my easy lamb curry made using the lovely fresh autumn lamb from Wash Farm:

Serves 4-6 people

800g Lamb cut into small pieces

300ml plain yogurt

¾ tsp turmeric

1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger

1 Garlic clove (cut very small )

1 tsp Cumin powder

2 tsp coriander powder

A pinch of salt and pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large Onion (Chopped finely)

1-2 Green chillies

1tsp Garam Masala

A handful of fresh coriander.

First you need to marinate the lamb in the yoghurt, turmeric, ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander and salt.  Leave to marinate for as long as possible.

Heat the oil in a non stick saucepan and add the onion and chillies and brown them about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the meat and the marinade and cook over a low heat for about 3 minutes. Cover and cook over a low heat for about an hour, giving a stir now and again.  Add a little hot water from the kettle if it looks like it is getting dry.

Once tender, stir in garam masala adjust seasoning if need to.  Then stir in the coriander serve with rice or couscous.  

Hannah