Shop Smart!

I know that what follows is too late for the Easter holidays but, as we've two long weekends in May I decided to share – you might find it helpful.

Friends coming for supper on Sunday. I wanted to prep and cook as much as I could the day before and decided ahead of the game that I was cooking a hotpot, or rather my version of it. Normally for hotpot I'd use lamb shanks, slow cooked then strip them ready to use.

I don't normally buy meat from a supermarket – but I'm sure you've noticed that we've been bombarded with deals. So I decided to try an experiment and see what was on offer. I bought a half leg of lamb joint for £5.40 – weight 1.079kg - £5 per kilo – half price. I sealed the joint and then de-glazed the pan using 2 tsps of garlic paste and then added lamb stock. I slow cooked for 3 hours.

Here's the result :

As you can see the bone lifts away leaving a plateful of tender, moist meat – just like this :

I suppose the lesson is keep your eyes open. I didn't want a huge leg of lamb but some smart supermarket person decided to offer the half leg. A very loud message to all supermarkets out there – not everyone wants a huge big lump of meat nor, and more importantly, can they afford it! End of rant.

The lamb deal was so good and definitely cheaper than shanks – sadly they've become fashionable – like beef cheeks but that's another story.

I'll let you know how it goes!