Celebration dinner!

It was Fede's (my boyfriends) birthday last week, and so I made a special supper. I have included the recipes here, although there were some problems. Lamb in argentina is more like mutton and the butcher got out a whole animal from the deep freeze to cut up for me but it still wasn't as juicy as in the UK! It tasted quite gamey which was actually really lovely. Also my starter should really be with scallops but there were none at the fishmongers on the day so I used pink salmon, which is more of a delicacy here than in the UK (where it is cheap and so easy mmm). For the pudding I couldn't find any glaced cherries, so I left them out but it was still delicious and lasted for half the week!

STARTER: Scallops with minty mushy peas

Ingredients:
6 fresh scallops
3 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 bag of frozen peas
1 large clove garlic
100ml cream
Bunch of mint leaves (fresh) finely chopped

Method:
1. First the prepare the peas by boiling them in already boiling water with some salt and the garlic clove for 5 minutes (or less). They should be firm but cooked.
2. Drain the peas and remove the skin from the garlic. Mash the peas and garlic with some more seasoning until semi-solid and add cream while doing so bit by bit. Taste
3. Coat the scallops in the cumin, salt and pepper and a little bit of olive oil
4. Heat the griddle or frying pan until it is very hot and add the scallops. They only need 2 minutes on each side when very hot.
5. Serve with the mushy peas for a simple yet delicious starter!

Roast lamb cutlets with chocolate and malbec sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo of lamb chops. These can be quite fatty as it gives more flavour.
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
2 large garlic cloves
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Salt and Pepper

For the sauce:
50 grams dark chocolate (60%), broken into bitesize pieces
1 cup (about 200 ml) red wine. I used malbec since this is supposedly the best Argentine grape, and is cheap and delicious
50 grams butter
Salt

Method:
1. Marinate the lamb (overnight or for a few hours) by mixing the cumin, oil, plenty of salt and pepper and slightly crushed garlic cloves and leaving in a plastic bag or tupperware container in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C and roast the lamb for 1 hour 30 minutes. This depends on the quality of lamb. Mine was very fatty so I roasted it at about 180C for about 2 hours and basted it in the juices every 30 minutes or so. It should turn out slightly crispy but not too chewy.
3. Make the sauce when the lamb is almost cooked. Melt the butter over a low heat, adding the pieces of chocolate until they are melted. Then add the wine little by little mixing continously until a smooth consistency. Add salt and pepper (not too much). If it tastes a little tangy ensure that you keep cooking it until most of the alcohol has evaporated off.
4. Serve over the lamb chops. I also roasted some sweet potatoes and normal potatoes in the tin with the lamb.

Cherry chocolate cake
This recipe was intended to be made as cupcakes. However, since I could not find the cases I made it in a tin and increased the quantity and it turned out great! I also couldn't find glazed cherries but it was fine.

Ingredients:
125 grams butter
100 grams dark chocolate in bite size pieces
300 grams cherry jam
150 grams caster sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
150 grams self-raising flour
Icing:
100 grams dark chocolate in shards
100ml double cream
glazed cherries (optional)

Method:
1. Grease a 20 cm diameter cake tin and preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Melt the butter and the chocolate together by melting the butter and adding the chocolate when almost melted, bit by bit. When all is melted and mixed take of the heat.
3. Add the jam, sugar and eggs and when mixed well add the flour.
4. Pour into the tin and bake for about 25 minutes. Leave to cool
5. For the icing, heat the cream in a pan and add the chocolate pieces until all have melted. Bring to the boil and remove from heat.
6. As the icing is cooling whisk until thick. I personally do not have an electric mixer so put it in the freezer for 5 minutes after whisking and then in the fridge which speeds up the thickening process.
7. Remove the cake from the tin and cover in icing. Dot over the cherries and keep cool until you serve!