No-one Ever Leaves Here Hungry

In the past couple of years, since we exchanged our interior design business for the space that now contains our B & B, I have had a little more time to indulge in one of the great loves of my life, (after my Beloved and our collection of five kids and ten grandchildren, that is!). I love to cook, and my Beloved likes to eat, so we are a marriage made in Heaven indeed! After years of fielding calls from the family for my recipe for lemon tart, or an SOS about how to cook rhubarb (or pavlova, or couscous etc) I decided it was time for a permanent solution. With the help of my Significant Other I have put together a compilation of old family recipes, tried and true dishes of indiscriminate origin, adaptions from my favourite chefs and the results of 50 odd years of experimentation.Many of the recipes are used daily for our bed and breakfast guests, some of whom ask to share a meal with us during their stay.
Most of our guests are from far off countries so it is nice to be able to offer them a New Zealand dinner experience. As we know from our own experience when travelling overseas the thing they tell us they miss the most is a home-cooked meal. It is a great chance to showcase our country and let them see what living in a New Zealand household is like.  We found an app that we downloaded (called Jam Jar), painstakingly tested and photographed the results of our labours and the result is a little home-

Mother's original Christmas Cake recipe

grown recipe book called 'No-one Ever Leaves Here Hungry'. Some of the 68 recipes were my mothers, like the pavlova, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding and a delicious lemon cheesecake.

The lemon tart filling was originally from a recipe from Delia Smith's book: 'Delia's Summer Collection', and others have Nadia Lim, Jo Seagar and Alexa Johnston to thank as I am inclined to mix and match bits of several recipes and come up with what suits me, (or what I happen to have in the pantry at the time).We gave all the kids a copy of the book and keep a copy of it in the B & B. I am always thrilled when our guests ask to purchase one. (We have several still to sell at $24 (NZ) each.
The recipe I am going to share with you today is from the book and is made with lamb fillets (or tenderloins). It is served with a mint dressing.

LAMB FILLETS WITH WARM ROASTED VEGETABLE SALAD AND MINT DRESSING:

3 lamb fillets
1 teaspoon sumac
2 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper

Put the lamb fillets in a plastic bag and coat with the flour and seasonings. Brown quickly all over then put into an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for a few minutes till done to your liking. They should still be pink in the middle.

ROASTED VEGETABLE SALAD:

3 cups of mixed root vegetables, eg pumpkin, beetroot, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato etc
1 eggplant
1 courgette
a handful of broccoli or cauliflower florets
4 cloves peeled garlic
rocket leaves or basil to serve
1/4 cup good olive oil for the dressing
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard

Cut the vegetables into 2 cm chunks. Roast with the garlic cloves in a little olive oil. They may take different times to cook so watch them carefully and remove from the oven as they are cooked. Blend the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the lemon juice and the mustard together and toss through the cooked vegetables. Scatter over the rocket leaves. Slice the lamb diagonally and arrange on the salad. Top with the mint dressing.

MINT DRESSING:

1/4 cup of sour cream or Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped mint
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together and allow to stand for half an hour before serving