Visiting isn’t over yet

Whilst most people now seem to be heading back to work after the holidays, I am lucky enough that I don't go back until 9^th January. Unfortunately I have lots and lots of work to catch up on, and now that the little man is in nursery again, I need to get going. However, that does mean that I need to think of feeding myself at lunch time and today was another opportunity to use up some food and leftovers from the fridge. The recipe below fed me but the quantities could easily be increased, for example, if my son had been at home with me I would have used 2 eggs rather than one. It does show how easy and quick a frittata type meal can be created from the most random of ingredients.

Potato and ham frittata

2 left over baked potatoes (one was really small!)

½ green pepper

3 slices ham

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons finely grated cheese (I used parmesan)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 knob butter

Seasoning

1. Slice the potatoes reasonably thinly, add these to a frying pan over a medium heat containing the oil and butter (it is important to include the butter to help the potatoes go nice and crispy).
   
2. Whilst the potatoes start to brown, thinly slice the green pepper and add this to the frying pan. Then slice and add the ham.
   
3. In a separate bowl beat the egg lightly, then mix in the grated cheese, milk and seasoning (I used black pepper only as both the cheese and ham will have salt in them.) Add this to the frying pan.
   
4. Let the mix start to set, when it is starting to look set around the edges, put it under the grill on in a hot oven for 5 minutes to finish cooking the egg.
   

Also my father-in-law is coming to stay for the night so he can leave early to go to a conference nearby. It means that I need to cook a meal for us, and because it isn't just my husband, son and I, it does need a little more thought and consideration. It also means that my son will have to eat earlier by himself and then the adults will eat once he has gone to bed. So rather than cooking two meals I wanted to cook something that I could give to my son earlier and then have it as a main meal later. We had slow roasted one of the lamb joints on Sunday and so I had lots of tender yummy lamb left to use. I normally make a shepherd's pie which is a recipe I will write up another day but fancied something different this time. Having looked at lots of different ideas and books I decided to cook a lamb ragu. This is a dish that is normally made with beef but I thought the full flavour of the lamb would be a good alternative plus I am aiming for another freezer meal out of the leftovers from this meal!

Lamb Ragu

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic

1 onion

4 carrots

500g cooked lamb (I didn't weigh our leftovers and you could always make this with minced lamb, just make sure that the meat is cooked through.)

Lamb stock cube

1 glass red wine

500g passatta

2 tbsp tomato paste

250ml water

Herbs (I used dried thyme and a couple of bay leaves)

Salt and pepper

Soft goat's cheese (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 160/170°C
   
2. Finely dice the onion and carrot (I used a mini food processor for ease and speed), put this into a medium/large casserole dish with the olive oil and finely chopped garlic. Over a low/medium heat start to sweat the vegetables.
   
3. Whilst the vegetables soften, dice up the meat and add this to the casserole dish. Once this has cooked through a little crumble the stock cube in. Then add the red wine, turn the heat up a little and let the alcohol cook through.
   
4. Add everything else except the goat's cheese, give it a good stir and then make sure it is bubbling before putting it in the oven.
   
5. Leave to cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours (or longer if you can). We served ours with frilly tagliatelle and crumbled over some of the goats cheese on our plates.