Being the ‘time poor’ society that we are these days, the baked dinner is often put on the back burner or saved for weekends.  Not so with this little gem of a roast dinner.  It was super speedy and I managed to find these gorgeous little ‘mini’ roasts on special so it kept it nice and budget friendly.  Guess what else?  Low carb my friends…….that’s right, low carb!  I thought my kids would whinge that there were no baked spuds but nope, they wolfed this baby down with glorious moans of delight.  The only down side?  No bone for the dog……

Prep time:  25  Minutes            Cooking time:  30  Minutes                $$   Medium Budget

Serves 4

2 x 450gm Mini lamb roasts

Sea salt and cracked pepper

Olive oil, for drizzling

12 baby carrots

1 tbs of honey

For the Peas:

500gm of baby peas

1 clove of garlic, sliced

1/4 cup of chicken stock

20gm of butter

1 sprig of mint, leaves removed and stalks discarded, finely chopped

1 tbs of cream

Sea salt and pepper

For the Jus:

1 cup of red wine

1/2 cup of beef stock

2 tbs of wholegrain mustard

1 tbs of quince paste

Sea salt and pepper

Pre heat the oven to 200°C.

Place the red wine in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for approximately 10 minutes or until reduced by half.  Once reduced add the stock, seeded mustard and quince paste and season with a little salt and pepper.  Use a whisk to dissolve the paste, bring back to the boil and then just leave it bubbling away on a very low heat.  Keep an eye on it though as you don’t want it to disappear.

Place the peas in a saucepan with the chicken stock, garlic and half of the butter.  Bring the peas to the boil with a lid on and steam the peas for about 4-5 minutes or until warmed through.  Add the mint leaves and use a hand blender or food processor to roughly mash the peas, leaving some whole.  You don’t want it to be a puree so don’t over blend.  Stir in the cream, remaining butter and season with salt and pepper.  I made these ahead and just reheated on the stove while the lamb was resting.

Place the carrots in a single layer in a lined baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil and the honey.  Season with salt and pepper and give the tray a wobble to coat them.  Place them in the oven while you prepare the lamb.

Heat a large oven proof frypan (if you don’t have one, place a baking tray in the oven).  Drizzle a little olive oil over the lamb roasts and season generously with salt and pepper.  When your pan is nice and hot, sear the lamb for approximately one to two minutes on each side until golden.  Place the pan in the oven (or transfer to the baking tray) for approximately 22 minutes for perfect medium.  Remove the lamb from the oven, cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

To serve, divide the peas between four serving plates and top with the carrots.  Slice the lamb into 1.5cm pieces and lay on top of the carrots and then drizzle over the mustard jus.  The perfect quickie bake!