Queen Victoria

The other morning I was up at 5, which is a very unusual occurrence for me, I'm more of a night owl. I had to be in the city to photograph a busy kitchen mid prep. It was only a half day job so was finished by 10am, pretty early to be finished a days work (a girl can dream!). I thought I would head to the Queen Victoria Markets that are located in the City of Melbourne, before heading back to the studio to work on the shots. They have a abundant supply of fish mongers, butchers, deli's, veggie suppliers, basically everything a girl could want. I brought a beautiful rack of lamb for only $10, which I thought was pretty good. I also brought a mixture of veggies, 2 huge punnets of strawberries and a couple of bunches of rhubarb.

So for dinner I'm having a rack of lamb with a almond and parsley crust, served on potato mash with a side of roast tomatoes and lashings of gravy. Followed by rhubarb and strawberry crumble. What a feast!!! There is nothing like cooking with fresh ingredients that you have brought from a market rather than pre-packaged supermarket food.

Lamb with an Almond Crust

1/2 cup almonds

2 teaspoons mustard

1/4 cup of parsley

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

1 teaspoon Worcester sauce

Pre heat oven to 180°C

Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse until they form fine bread crumbs. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until combined. Press the mixture over a rack of lamb and place in the oven with some tree ripened baby tomatoes. Cook for 45 minutes or until the meat is cooked how you like it. 

Serve with mash potatoes and gravy 

This next recipe was inspired by a good friend Maree, she told me that this is one of her favourite flavour combos for a crumble that she makes all the time. I tend to stick to the old apple crumble so thought I would give strawberry and rhubarb ago.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

Filling

1 bunch of rhubarb 

1 large punnet of strawberries or two small ones

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Crumble

50g of butter

3/4 cup of flour

1/4 cup of sugar

Pre heat oven to 180°C

To make the filling, chop the rhubarb into bite size pieces, and place in a saucepan with 1/3 cup of water and the sugar. Simmer until the rhubarb is soft then add the strawberries in and remove from the heat. Spoon into ramekins

To make the crumble, place the butter and flour into a bowl and rub together until fine bread crumbles form. Stir through the sugar then sprinkle over the fruit. Place in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden.

Serve with vanilla ice cream