Cooking Easy Food

1 x 2kg leg of lamb (trim off excess fat only)

(mix the following in a blender until like a paste)
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 garlic cloves
75grammes pancetta
(season with salt and plenty of pepper)

Pre-heat oven 230° (450°F/Gas 8).

Make sharp knife incisions about ½ inch deep all over the lamb. Rub the rosemary paste over the surface of the lamb and press into the incisions.

1 large onion - cut into 4 thick slices
½ cup olive oil
1½ cups (dry) white wine

When substituting meat or fish remember to look at the recipe and the ingredient that you need to replace. Look at the texture and density e.g. replacing beef with chicken would be inappropriate because beef is a much thicker denser meat which requires different cooking. Think about what you want to do with that particular ingredient and pick a similar substitute - if in doubt ask your butchers or fishmongers. Believe me, they are only too happy to help you to substitute and they know their produce - very well actually!

Food preparation

Meat and fish should always be rinsed in clean water and dried. (As a butcher, my father stressed the need for washing meat in salt water as half sides of beef, pork and lamb were dragged off lorries onto the pavement and across the shop floor where it was chopped and hung in the back of the shop). Think about what happens to your meat and fish and who handles it. Don't forget that red food colouring that some butchers and supermarkets put on meat - gently wash it out under cold water.

When you cook yourself, you know what's going into your food and you also know that it's been made hygienically and that you chose the fresh ingredients yourself. Be a bit of a connoisseur when buying meat, fish and vegetables get to know the smell of fresh food - meat should only smell mildly of meat - if it is strong smelling, sweaty or has a perfume-type smell - don't use it. Meat should also be a slightly brownish colour and if you see bright red meat, it has food colour added to it.