Leg of Lamb Garden Rotisserie

WILL THESE BATTERIES EVER DIE?

Now this isn't the first time I've used my rotisserie since I reported over 3 years ago that the original batteries had delivered 13 meals with 45 hours of motor use. The damn things are STILL going. I've lost count, all I know is that yesterday I was convinced that it was the end. Four hours of rotation with a 3 kilo pay load wasn't enough to take them out. They've been in there since May 2009 (see original post here).

The occasion was a dinner party for ten. The date was set months ago, a sign of how difficult it was to get us all together at the same time. After much deliberation over the main food event, I decided on lamb leg, lean and tender and pretty hard to get wrong. The night before I prepared a marinade of olive oil, garlic, salt and herbs and dropped it off to my local butcher together with the steel spit on Saturday morning. I collected it later in the day, the butterflied legs all nicely rubbed with the marinade and neatly rolled and tied around the spit.

The lamb was kicked off with a hot start, and then cooked away gently for about four hours with occasional sprinklings of charcoal to keep the embers going.

I served it with a warm tomato and mint salsa, roasted sweet potatoes and butternut squash, char-grilled vegetables and grilled asparagus wrapped in prosciutto.

The gas barbie all prepped up for the side dishes

A classic prawn cocktail was served with grilled ciabatta as a starter, and a home made pavlova for dessert. It was a great night with good friends and finished off around the fire pit in the garden.

2015 New Year Chilli

2014 was a poor year for this little blog.. not a single post. Shame on you firefoodie. Bizarrely however, the sites visitor numbers remain on the up and up thanks to lots of interest from readers Oz and the US. Strange really, as this content is all coming from a market town in Oxfordshire, UK. So, I have resolved that 2015 is the year to return. There, I've said it, so no going back now. I have some ideas about rearranging the 100 or so posts into a more accessible resource.

Yesterday (New Years Day) was spent preserving some 3,000 or so green chillies, so plenty of time to reflect, contemplate and formulate plans. So on reflection, 2014 was not a year without fire and food, quite the opposite. I got a new Weber (finally!) from my lovely wife as an anniversary present last Christmas and a fabulous gas barbeque for my last birthday. Our brazier got plenty of attention also.

The last two Christmases have featured turkey roasted in the outdoor Weber, and plenty of summer meals were cooked over the brazier. The photo below was snapped with my Blackberry this Christmas, a lovely 7kg bird, and we are still getting through the leftovers.

So back to the chilli, the labels above are on there way to me from my reprographics supplier as I write, so a lovely stash of little gifts will be created. The only problem is that there are only 30 jars, so back to the market for more chillies it seems.

If any comes your way, just scroll down to the post below for plenty of information and ideas about its use. The only thing to add, is that I had hidden a jar from my family and we opened it last week after two years and it was if it had been prepared yesterday.

Happy New Year!