Strawberry Lamb Roast

I have a jar of Basics strawberry jam that has been sitting in the fridge for quite some time and have been looking for a way to get rid of it. A few weeks ago my friend actually suggested strawberry lamb. I recoiled in horror until she revealed that she has already tried it herself, putting roast lamb with jam and other condiments in sandwiches. The more I thought about it, and the more I researched on the Internet, the more it sounded like a nice idea. 

I have come across recipes involving the combination of mint, strawberries and pepper in various permutations, and while not personally keen on the idea, have heard people rave about it. Effectively, you combine that with the ingredients for a spritzer (see above), and use it as a lamb marinade. This sounded like a great adventure. I get to try new tastes, and I also get to muck around with alcohol-based marinades. Other than a chance for a decent meal, I don't have much to lose..

The lamb has to be prepared 24 hours in advance, to allow for time to marinade. Begin by slicing onions and lemons and adding to a bowl.

Add the lamb, and about two and a half tablespoons of strawberry jam. Season with Basics pepper, and Sainsbury's Mint, or Sainsbury's Basics Mint sauce.

Add a glass of Basics rose wine, and marinate for 24 hours. Place on aluminium foil and roast in oven for 2.5 hours at 180 degrees Celsius.

While the lamb is in the oven, reduce the leftover marinate by about half. Take the lamb out of the oven, cover with the reduction, and return it, leaving it there for the remaining time.

While the lamb tasted good, I think the strawberry marinade did not manage to permeate beyond the surface of the roast. In addition, the roast was very fatty; I can see why not everybody sees this as a good cut of meat. Still, it's very cheap - even cheaper if sourced from a local butcher - so if I can find an open roasting spit or something or other that would allow the fat to drip away that would be great. An open fire could even plausibly be fed by the melting fat to sustain itself.

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Rosé Wine	£2.85	750ml	+£variable	Many
Lemons	£0.87	4	+£0.63 for 5	More consistently sized lemons

Navarin of Lamb

My friends got me a copy of the official Economy Gastronomy book, which was fitting, given what I do here. One of the recipes that was found on the book that I have been meaning to try since watching the first episode of the programme was the Navarin of Lamb, basically a tomato-based lamb casserole, which appeared to be a very easy gastropub-style dish. As the only Sainsbury's Basics lamb items all had bones however, I was originally doing a Navarin of Beef, using the Basics Casserole Beef that I have featured previously, until I came along this little gem.

This was recently introduced to the Basics line, and is originally meant to be used for roasting. As a result, it is very well-marbled with fat, so that the lamb can remain moist and tender while in the oven. With this in mind, on hindsight, I should have taken the trouble to either render or trim the fat away from the lamb, so that the result would not have been so oily. Still, at £4.19 per kg it is possibly the cheapest boneless red meat by weight; £2.72 can easily serve three to four. By contrast, the neck of lamb that the recipe calls for costs £10.70 per kg at Sainsbury's, although in both cases one would probably get better prices at the local butcher.


The Navarin of Lamb requires bite-sized pieces, so prepare the lamb breast accordingly. I found the meat rather tough to cut, which is to be expected, coming from the front of the animal, hence being more suited for slow-cooking.

Once that is done, coat the pieces in flour, and fry in an oiled pan until golden. If possible, try to use the fat from the lamb to oil the pan for extra flavour. The flour would combine with the fat to form a roux, which will thicken the subsequent sauce that it is to form the base for.

Fry an entire chopped onion and a head of garlic, cut horizontally.

Once the onions have caramelised, add Basics white wine, and reduce by half.

It's only very recently that the Sainsbury's in my area introduced Basics White Wine to complement the Red Wine they already offer. Either that, or I've not been very attentive when searching for this. Unfortunately, like its red counterpart, it is found severely wanting. The main problem with this wine is that it lacks any flavour whatsoever, and drinking it one is reminded of very diluted turpentine.

The fruity flavours are certainly there. Just not there in adequate force. Still, for a cheap cooking wine where its flavour is not meant to be noticed it would do.

Add a can of tomatoes and the lamb, reduce by half again.


Finally, add chicken stock and season with Basics herb mix, reducing by half once more, leaving for an hour.

The finished product, not shown in this post, should be a thick, dark red sauce with lamb that quite literally melts in your mouth. Possibly one of the more successful posts of this blog. Consider also that neck of lamb at Sainsbury's costs more than the Basics lamb breast, and one will realise that we have actually managed to improve on the original recipe in terms of cost efficiency.

(with apologies and gratitude to Paul Merrett, for the original recipe. Show your thanks by visiting his gastropub someday.)

Description	Price per Unit	No. of servings	Trade-up Premium	Trade-up Benefits
Lamb Breast	£4.19/kg (typical 650g)	3-4	N/A	N/A; no equivalent
Spanish White Wine	£2.53	750ml	variable	Better wine. Recommended