I ventured into the shop of my local purveyor of quality meats a while back to procure my good person a quantity bacon for the impending bacon week celebrations, when I noticed the butcher was taking the bellies off some lambs.
“Nice lamb Graeme”, he said to me.
“Looks very nice Scotty”, I replied. “How much for one of those bellies?”
“You can have one for three bucks”, he said.
“Well chuck one in the bag then my good man”, was the only response I deemed appropriate.
“Do you want a big one?” he asked.
“Sure”, I said. “Silly not to.”
We have pretty crazy conversations, that butcher and I.
So the end result, if it isn’t clear to you by now, is that I went home with a bounty of bacon and a lamb’s belly. Tonight the time has come to cook said lambs belly so… well, I guess that is what I shall be doing tonight.
A lamb’s belly is a thrifty assed piece of meat… although it doesn’t really have a lot of meat to it. It shall be known as a flap of flavour and I shall roll it’s sapid shroud over a stuffing of cous cous and cook it with cannellini beans and vegetables. It shall also be know as just plain awesome, I am sure. Anyhow, this cook-up will quite literally leave the “ten dollar dinner” consumerist propaganda mongers at Coles for dead. Those kids aint got nudda on me!
ROLLED LAMBS BELLY TO FEED A FAMILY FOR UNDER TEN BUCKS
1 lamb belly flap. This one weighed maybe 600g once the bones were out
½ cup cous cous
½ brown onion, diced and sautéed for a minute to soften
Seasoning
1 handful parsley, mint and thyme, chopped
PLUS
1 brown onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
1 capsicum, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
3 cups cooked cannellini beans
Chilli mint sauce to serve (recipe follows)
• Mix the cous cous, sautéed onion and herbs together. Season
• Spread mix over belly (the lamb’s, not yours), roll and tie that sucker up like it was a sex slave on Friday night
• Whack it in the oven at 180C for 1.5 hours
• Put the vegetables and bay leaves in after the 45 minute mark and the cannellini beans can go in with ten minutes to go
• Slice, season and eat
CHILLI MINT SAUCE
½ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup castor sugar
1 large (think Hagred from Harry Potter) handful picked mint
1 long green chilli, chopped finely
A pinch of salt
• Warm the vinegar, sugar and chilli together to dissolve the sugar and soften the chilli a little. Set aside to cool
• Once cool add mint leaves and blitz with a stick wizz or in a blender. If you don’t have a stick wizz or blender chop the mint really finely before adding
• Season and serve
We silently ate the shit out of this… the kids had seconds… my back pocket still had enough money in it to purchase a wee little tipple… we all smiled. Winning.
foodisthebestshitever 
23 responses to “The Silence of the Boys Eating the Lambs… Well, the lamb’s belly anyhow”
Love your bean mix and the chilli mint sauce. Is lamb’s belly the same cut as pork belly? Why ask, I’ll be in Pennsylvania where I’ll be lucky to get unadulterated beef, pork and chicken 😦
That sounds like a sad place to be my friend. It is the same cut where I get it from, just a lot smaller… damn tasty though. Good luck in your quest for some decent meat. Smiley face
Fab. Especially enjoy your Harry Potter measurement system.
Thank you my friend. The measuring system is legit. Smiley face
Niiiiiice.
I’ve never had Lamb Belly so this is good intel right here.
Thrifty lamby goodness!
I don’t know if it’ll be easy for me to find lamb belly, but hot damn that sounds so stinking good that if I ever come across it (or pork belly) I’ll have to try this out. :O
It’s certainly worth your time and effort if you can find one.
Just reading your blog name made me feel like a whiskey. It’s way to early for that over here… I think I have a problem. Smiley face
Never too early for a whiskey. 😉 It’s just the right time to imbibe whatever the heck you feel like. 😀
True that. And imbibe… Nice word – doesn’t get used enough!
Look at you eh? mr. belly roller….nice and thrifty too. Maybe Coles should have you on their payroll?
Yeah. Coles should defo give me a pile of cash so I can get some more damn heaters in my house. It’s effing cold at the moment. My hands are just barely working, which puts them a few paces in front of my brain!
oh I remember those days. rattly drafty windows and no insulation. Everyone gathered around the heater, laundry hung with care in the living room. Happy winter in Aus. We are finally getting some heat here! and by heat I mean 28C LOL
Argh. Damn you!!
Delicious. The Vendee, where we live, is a land of beans. They are prepared and goose fat and served with gigot…..good stuff, I shit you not:)
That’s my cup of tea right there my friend! Smiley face
Loving it! Lamb belly is great! Also chopped and breaded and deep fried… Mmmmm
Mmmm, deep fried lamb belly. That sounds like something that needs to make a journey to my belly soon!! Smiley face
You gotta do it! Not nice cold by the way!
I did it! It was so effing good. Had it with tartare, lemon and bitter leaves. There was none left to go cold! Great advice. Just great!!
Now that would be a delicious dish! Glad you did it!
So am I my friend
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