Minty lamb marinade for lamb

SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2011

All serious plans of gardening evaporated (again) today when the heavens opened (again) and we were flooded (again)!  I did manage to take a bit of a wander through the currant garden, but the pumpkin plants (carefully grown from seed) and the brassica seedlings and lettuce plants will have to wait another couple of days.  Walking on the soil when it is as wet as it was today is not only dangerous, in the gumboot stuck sense, but is also not good for the soil.  Standing on muddy soil compacts it and takes all the air out of it.  Bill did rotary hoe the area where the pigs had been and the large garden designated for brassicas this year before it rained.  It may be wet, but the soil temperature is excellent for seed germination – the weeds are spectacular.  Most common vegetables germinate at soil temperatures of around 16 to 24^◦C.  I haven’t measured it (not quite sure how I would do that) but given the germination rates of the beans, the salad greens, the radishes and the silver beet it must be about right. 

The herbs I transplanted into our washing machine gardens have done extremely well.  We have a row of the bowls from some discarded washing machines, planted up with herbs.  Early in the season these gave good protection to early salad greens, and I’m hoping that in the middle of the summer they will insulate the plants against the worst of the heat.  They drain well, so I need to remember to water them.  Today was not that day as we had torrential rain for about 20 minutes.  Localised showers indeed – not half a kilometre away.  Any container will do for planting herbs if garden space is short.  An amazing amount can be grown in buckets.  If you are planting mint, it is a good idea to plant it inside another container in which ever garden you are planting it in.  Our mint bush is now a year old, and I may need to replace it soon.  It keeps threatening to flower, so I have to keep picking the buds off. 

Mint does cry “lamb” and I’ll make no secret of it, we grow our own meat for the table.  We believe in giving animals a good life and a good death.  They are spoiled rotten while they live with us, and then those that are destined for the freezer are treated with the utmost respect when the home-kill man calls.  There is nothing quite like home raised and killed meat.  The animal has no fear of impending doom and so there is no adrenalin in the meat.  This makes a huge difference to both the taste and the quality.

Buying meat from a butcher is the next best thing to growing it yourself, and there are still a number of very knowledgeable ones around.   Try this marinade on loin chops or lamb steaks, either cooked on the BBQ or cooked inside more conventionally.

Marinade for lamb

1/2 cup gin

2T honey

Good handful of mint leaves

2 t freshly ground black pepper

2 t ground ginger or you can replace this with a thumb of fresh ginger finely chopped

1/4 - 1 t cayenne pepper

2 t salt

Place all the ingredients in a blender and whizz for 30 seconds.  Pour over the lamb arranged in a shallow dish for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, (after first checking there are no cats in the kitchen).  Then cook as you wish on BBQ, grill or frypan.