"There is a sheep in the garden" - this descriptive comment from daughter was not a surprise, as this one elusive sheep was often led astray by the call of the garden's green luxuriant grass. Leaving the company of the flock this independent thinking black faced suffock is often seen strutting around the property doing its own thing. With husband Jamie being overseas it wouldn't have surprised me if the whole lot were on the front lawn as there always seems to be animal or other "events" that want to test my perseverance and survival skills when home alone with the children. This fortnight included the death of a chook ... with the burial being an event in itself with the ground being so hard to dig up; the cat bringing in a dead rat and delivering it right in front of my mother who was staying the night to help out (sure it was a sign of thanks); the water tank needing changing from one tank to the other late at night which meant wiggling underneath the house to reset the pump which didn't go particularly smoothly. Each night I was comatosed in bed - which meant I didn't even realise there had been a fatal crash down the road in the middle of the night with road closures in place. So I had a little interlude from Julia (she would have understood)...
Easter weekend was upon us, and with "Sausages" as daughter Caroline now describes our free reign sheep, I was inspired to cook a nice roast lamb with a French twist from Julia.
I coated the lamb (brought from the super) with a mixture of mustard, soy sauce, garlic, rosemary from the garden, ginger and olive oil, which causes the lamb to become a beautiful brown as it roasts. Hardly a challenging French recipe, so I added the addition of a leek and potato soup as the entrée as a dish I had not made before. Julia introduces this recipe with...
"Leek and potato soup smells good, tastes good, and is simplicity itself to make".
Its hard to go past an introduction like that! OK it didn't make the challenging criteria but the soup went down nicely with some freshly baked rolls I whipped up (a true trusted recipe from back in the 80's).
Being in the spirit of Easter the meal was completed with a divine chocolate brownie - thanks Jill.
And "Sausages" remains safe for another month or two!
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| Jill with Easter Bunny (Caroline) |
Imke - preparing the potage paramentier
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| Michael - official carver |
