Lamb n’ Taters

June 4, 2008

Living alone in the apartment for almost a month, I have been doing what I think other single men have been doing for themselves and wishing women would do that for them every night, when they get up in the morning, or even when their parents are around…cooking!  You actually thought it’s about sex or wanking didn’t you?  You know, pounding the meat?  Spanking the monkey?  Playing with the dolphin?  You hound dog you…

Bored people tend to try new stuff and cooking is way cheaper than buying and building a new tamiya RC car kit (which I always wanted to buy since high school).  Food is relatively cheaper here and you can find a variety of ingredients in local groceries so it’s a good place to start learning how to cook!  You can still find almost all the vegies (like ampalaya) and weird animal parts (like “tuwalya” for kare-kare) we Filipinos love to eat at Springvale and Clarinda markets and you can also find all the seasonings we normally use in the Philippines like Mamasita mixes, Silver Swan toyo, Patis, at Filipino shops also at Springvale.  I thought I’d miss Lucky Me! Pansit Canton, we ate that once for breakfast at Kuya Anjelo’s house…OOOH YEAH

My first attempt was cooking one of the most basic meals I can think of, breaded fried chicken.  Easy right?  Wrong!  You know why?  Because I am an idiot.   And also because the chicken legs I bought were humongous and it’s hard to deep fry the whole thing.  But I have eventually mastered the art of frying and will post that later on once I feel like cooking chicken again.  I also had a few tries on some other meals but I didn’t realize back then that I could blog about it so I’d just treat them as test runs.  Without further ado, here’s my recipe for the best lamb chops and mashed potatoes in the entire state of Victoria. 

LAMB CHOP 

First you need, of course, lamb and for the marinade you will need soy sauce, bbq sauce, minced garlic (I just like using the bottled ones for the extra garlic juices!) and black ground pepper. 

 

You can’t go wrong with the marinade.  Put whatever amount of each of the ingredient to suit your liking.  I like mine garlic-y and sweet so more of bbq sauce and minced garlic on my marinade.  Also I let the meat marinaded for a day before cooking, or at the very least let it stay swimming on the sauce for 30 mins.

 

MASHED POTATOES 

First, get about 5 decent sized potatoes and peel the living day lights out of them.

Remove those black spots in the peeled potato heads, reason being they look yucky then cut the potatoes in cubes because it’ll be easier to mash them this way later on.

Boil enough water to submerge the potato cubes, maybe 2 to 3 cups, I don’t know, just this once decide for yourself will you?!  Thank you.

Put the potatoes in the boiling water then panic because you also need to peel 6 cloves garlic to boil them with the potatoes. 

Turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 mins.  Go take a poop or something.  I will. 

After your appointment with the throne, drain the potatoes and garlic then put in a mixing bowl.  Wait, did you wash your hands first?  You’re disgusting.

For the flavour you would need half a cup of low-fat milk (you wuss, I use full cream!) ¼ cup of grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons butter (yeah, go fat free sissy boy), ½ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. 

Put all of this together with the potatoes and garlic on the mixing bowl and guess what to do next? 

Yeah, leave it there so it’ll mash itself (If it did, run to your nearest priest, your house is haunted). 

Recipe guide says it serves 4-6.  I ate half for dinner and bought some to work the following day for lunch.  I think I could do it for less than 4-6 HOURS in one sitting. 

Leave the mashed potatoes aside and put your non-stick pan on medium heat.  After a few minutes when it is nice and hot (don’t touch it to test, dodo) cook the lamb about 5 minutes on each side.

Serve with wine, coke, you can have Milo for all I care and enjoy!