Lamb: Tasty, Easy, Fun

Melanie May attended the launch of #LambTastyEasyFun campaign this week with TV chef Stuart O’Keeffe here is how she got on….

Bord Bia invited me to the trendy Design Yard in Dublin for a special cooking demonstration by TV chef, Stuart O’Keeffe as part of their new #LambTastyEasyFun campaign. This pan-European campaign aims to highlight the versatility of lamb as a quality everyday meat. I have to admit, although I do love lamb, I never cook it at home, it just doesn’t seem as easy as chicken or mince beef even though I think it is much more flavourful. So, I was hoping that this demo would inspire me to cook lamb more often or at least give me some ideas to get the most out of cooking lamb.

So off I went to the event, with a full face of make-up on, it’s not just the lamb that’s tasty, have you seen Chef Stuart? Although, my efforts were in vain, as I ended up sitting beside the radiant and funny Roz Purcell who was on hand to promote the campaign – Bord Bia want to highlight the health and nutritional benefits of lamb too and Roz is the perfect person to do that. Daniel Davey, performance nutritionist and owner of @foodflicker was also there, another great endorsement of the use of lamb as a healthy everyday ingredient.

Right, enough of the celeb spotting – on to the food. Chef Stuart prepared three dishes for us that all seemed pretty easy and quick to make. No slow cooking involved at all. Great stuff. First up was pan-fried lamb with tomatoes and the most scrumptious pesto I have ever tasted. Stuart said to use a little oil in the pan, even if it is a non-stick pan, and it make sure the pan is really hot before you put add the meat, as this will sear the outside and create extra flavour. He also said that you could make pesto in a pestle and mortar if you don’t have a food processor! I am going to try this out for sure.

Next up was pan fried lamb cutlets with a fresh avocado salsa, Stuart’s top tip for this was to get your butcher to ‘French’ the lamb cutlets for you, let the butcher do all the hard work! The lamb cutlets were really tender and juicy, but meat on the bone always tends to retain moister that bit more. Delicious.

The final dish was one for those summer barbeque parties – lamb kebabs with a mint yoghurt dressing and aubergine caviar. The kebab skewers were quick and easy to do, I do love food on sticks, we need more of these! The mint yoghurt dressing was perfect with the lamb, a mouth-watering food combo but the aubergine caviar, well; let’s just say I won’t be trying that one at home. However, it did go down well with Roz and Daniel.

Stuart will be at this weekend’s Taste of Dublin where he will be cooking more lamb dishes. You can catch him at 12.30 p.m. on Saturday. The Bord Bia #LambTastyEasyFun campaign will run for the next 36 months and you can check out their recipes right here.