Sunday Rules

The French have apparently just discovered long lazy Sunday lunches spanning into the night, but not too late into the night, before Monday morning blues take over. They are calling it Drunch [drunken lunch?] This is according to the latest Sunday Times Magazine.

Get with the programme I say. The British have been doing long Sunday lunches from before time began. A good Sunday session can start with a late breakfast [bloody Mary anyone] or a late boozy lunch. When you actually start lunch depends on how long you are slow cooking your food and you can drink till it is bedtime if you so wish!  It’s fun to get your friends and family together, analyse the weekend shennanigans and eat slowly for hours. It makes the start of the working week that much more bearable. To be honest as far as I am concerned, all the rules go out the window on the day of rest. Why limit yourself? Why not Brunch, Drunch then a midnight snack? or how about Breakfast in bed and then supper at any of the thousands of gastropubs we have these days?

This weekend my Sunday involved a small breakfast at home with the papers, followed by a 2^nd breakfast [!!] at a funky cafe featuring baked eggs and delicious barista made coffees. What a treat! This meant that lunch was not needed and indeed postponed to an early supper...sigh!  so many meal opportunities on a lazy sunday! Instead of going slow roasting, this time I opted for a speedy Sunday Supper.

 

Rack of Lamb with Harissa, Couscous Salad, and Asparagus with a parsley & yogurt dip:

Ingredients:

Rack of Lamb: Marinated with garlic, rosemary and harissa paste [You can buy this paste from supermarkets in a jar and store it in the fridge. It's a Moroccan chili paste with bags of flavour]

 

Couscous Salad:

Couscous – half a small pack in a deep bowl

Tomatoes – finely sliced

Red Onion – ¼ finely sliced

Pitted Black Greek olives – handful, sliced

Olive oil

Lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon

Basil [handful chopped up]

Salt and Pepper [to taste]

Asparagus

Dip:

Yogurt [plain]

Parsley

1 clove of garlic crushed

Salt and Pepper

Olive oil

 

Method:

1.       Marinade the lamb with rosemary, crushed garlic and harissa paste and set aside

2.       Make the tomato salsa and set aside

3.       Prepare the asparagus i.e wash and snap off the woody ends

4.       Crush the garlic, chop the parsley, mix with yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice and season to taste

5.       When you are ready to eat grill the rack for 10 minutes and boil the kettle

6.       Pour boiling water over the couscous – about 2cm of water above the level of the couscous. 

        Then cover with cling film and ignore for 10 minutes.

7.       Take the rack out and slice into chops

8.       Heat a table spoon of oil in a frying pan and fry the chops 2.5 minutes on each side then set aside to rest. Deglaze the pan with water and reduce to a thick sauce and drizzle this over the chops.

9.       Add the salsa to the couscous and season with salt. Mix well. Drizzle with olive oil.

10.     Char grill the asparagus [this is better than frying or boiling and dry grilling brings out the flavours and makes it more intense] then drizzle with olive oil when it's off the heat and serve with the yogurt dip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a few components to this meal but as long as you’ve got everything prepared, then the actual cooking does not take long. In fact it was eaten pretty quickly too! Leaving plenty of Sunday left for lounging around in pyjamas, listening to some tunes and reading a good book!