February 2, 2009

Lamb cutlets


I was talking with one of the mum's at school the other day and we were discussing the best places to shop for food. Because we are new to the area I was trying to scope out where the best places are and how to get there etc. I hit the jack pot! I was told to forget buying meat at the grocery store, forget the main road, I needed to find one of the Chinese butchers in Eastwood and all would be OK. 

The last time I shopped at this village I ended up carrying 8 bags of grocery's up 4 flights of stairs due to the lift in the car park being broken (which I have now found out hasn't worked in months!) so my memory of the place wasn't positive- did I forget to mention I had two grumpy, hot kids with me?. Anyhow I decided to give it another shot, minus one kid. Getting there was easy, parking there however was a bloody nightmare, after 15 minutes of driving around and around I snatched a spot in the uncovered part of the undercover car park (due to it being a blistering hot day, I had to do what I had to do!)
 I noticed the butcher shop the minute Alex & I arrived on the block. There was a lot of noise, hand waving and women jostling to get a position in line, not to mention the young guy running past us with a whole pig carcass (head removed) on his shoulder. Alex was stunned and asked me
 a) what was that?
 and
 b) Where was the pigs head?
So you all know what the conversation for the rest of the day was about.
 
 Anyway back to the store- We have a look in the front window and there were the best looking cuts of meat I have seen in a very long time. I only wish I had the camera with me to show you what I am talking about. The pink/red of the meat was so bright and fresh you could of taken a bite then and there. As soon as I saw the lamb cutlets I knew I had to have them- beautifully bright red with the white fat encasing it, you just knew they were going to taste fabulous no matter how you cooked them!
For the cooking I had to pass that on to Nic (he complains I take all the 'good ingredients' and all I leave him are the end of week dregs in the fridge- it might be true!)
He marinated them in crushed garlic, cilantro (coriander), olive oil and pepper to compliment the sweetness the meat had to offer.
Due to the fact we are still waiting on our furniture to arrive, Nic served the cutlets with plain rice and quickly boiled snow peas coated in fish sauce to compliment the marinade. I of course opted for chili sauce on the side while the boys ate them a-la-naturale. When all you have are three saucepans, to work with it is a very tasty meal!
The meal was so good, the cutlets cooked medium rare were truly 'sweet'. I am now a fan of my semi local butcher and look forward to seeing what other cuts of meats I can master.
    

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! I would never think of doing that with lamb cutlets and I have them all the time & usually only char grill them...I am definitely trying these out this week.

Anonymous said...

It is a great change Tarsh, marinade also works well with pork and chicken. Let me know how you get on!