Food, Friends & Fun!

Having recently moved in with my girlfriend it seemed like the perfect opportunity to entertain and have some friends over for food, beers and randomness.

One of my friends doesn’t eat dairy or gluten and my girlfriend generally avoids it so it was a good opportunity to try and cook some more paleo inspired food and offer healthier options in general.

omnomnom! nibbles :)

That said I still served cheese for myself and other friends along with an array of meat, fruit, olives and hommus for starters, which all went down extremely well.

main is served!

Two of my friends had recently been a road trip south of the border (NSW not Mexico!) and brought back a fantastic range of different beers from multiple breweries so we worked our way through those along with some other Aussie, American and Belgian beers.

Rather than drink single beers each I was simply pouring two beers across 3-4 people which worked out really well and let us all try different styles without getting completely written off although we did get somewhat inebriated by the end of it :)

After some good conversation and humour I finished cooking the main course which was a herb crusted lamb shoulder, coconut masala kipflers, creamed coconut kale and honeyed baby carrots.

Whilst not strictly paleo you could substitute the kipflers for sweet potato and it would still work, and you could just leave the honey carrots out although raw honey is accepted in paleo some of the time.

Beers we drank

We finished off the evening with a raw dessert “snicker’s cake” that my girlfriend created, it was delicious and rather pretty served as little love hearts! The cacao topping matched perfectly with a stout that my friends brought with them from NSW.

Dessert!

After a few more beers and some you-tubing of baby animal videos the night came to a close. Our first time entertaining together as a couple had gone really well and we were able to just put the dishwasher on and relax for the rest of the night.

Recipes:

Garlic & Herb Crusted Lamb Shoulder

• Lamb shoulder (boned, flat 1-1.5kg)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 lemons
• Fresh Thyme, Rosemary & Mint
• Coconut Oil

Chop up the garlic and herbs as small as you can manage (use a blender if you are want more of a paste) and then combine in a bowl with coconut oil and lemon juice then cover the lamb in this mixture and place in the fridge to marinate for 3-4 hours (you can cook immediately).

Before cooking pre-heat the oven to 160c and remove the lamb from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature for about 20-30mins. Put the lamb in a baking tray or dish with about 1cm of water, cover with foil and place in the oven.

After about 2.5-3hours of cooking take the foil off and let the lamb brown up on top for about another hour depending on the size of the lamb. The end result should be moist lamb that you can pull apart either by hand or with a couple of forks.

I served mine with herb oil which is simply coconut oil, olive oil, lemon juice and chopped mint and thyme.

Coconut Masala Kipfler’s 

• Kipfler potatoes w/skin on and cooked through and smashed(2pp)
• ¼ cup Desiccated Coconut
• 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala
• ¼ cup Coconut Cream
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

I cook the potatoes with the roast until tender, remove them and crush them slightly (you can just boil them until tender). Heat up a fry pan to a medium-high temperature, add coconut oil and potatoes and fry until the golden brown at which point you add the coconut and cook until it has a small amount of colour then add the masala and seasoning. After stirring through the Masala lower the heat slightly and add the coconut cream and cook for a few mins. They are ready to serve at this point. 

Creamed Coconut Kale (Serves 4-6 per bunch) 

• Kale
• ½ cup Coconut Cream
• Flaked Almonds
• 1 Garlic Clove (finely chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons of water

After chopping the garlic, cut the Kale into small pieces making sure that the thicker stem part is quite small as it will not cook down much. Add the garlic and almonds to a frypan (medium heat) and cook until both have some colour then add the Kale to the pan along with a little bit of water to help semi-steam the kale. Once wilted sufficiently add the coconut cream and simmer for a few mins until the kale is tender.

Honeyed Baby Carrots (Serves: 4-6 depending on size of carrots)

• Kale
• ½ cup Coconut Cream
• Flaked Almonds
• 1 Garlic Clove (finely chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons of water

After removing the carrot tops and cleaning the carrots simply microwave them in a tiny amount of water for 1-2 mins (1000w) until tender. Drain the carrots and pat dry with paper towel and then add to a frypan (over medium heat) with a small amount of coconut oil and cook until they have some colour/crispybits and then add the honey and seasoning, stir the carrots then turn the heat off.
 

Note: The above 3 dishes can all be cooked in the same pan. Just use a good non-stick pan and wipe it out with paper towel after each dish. 

Note #2: Carrot tops are actually pretty delicious (and high in potassium) used as a green, just wash them thoroughly and add into a stir fry or an omelette.