Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Celeriac Mash and Beetroot Puree

Place your shoulder of lamb skin side up and drizzle with oilive oil and season. Massage in the oil, salt and pepper.
Turn over and repeat. Squeeze over some lemon juice and place crushed garlic, rosemary spigs and bay leaves onto your joint. Roll, tie off and place in the fridge to marinate.
Pre heat an oven at 220°C.
Place a quartered onion (skin on), chopped carrot, celery and any other vegatable odds and ends into a roasting dish and place the lamb on top.
Pour in a cup or so of water and roast in the oven for 30 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 160 °C and continue to roast for - rare – 20 minutes per kg, medium – 30 minutes per kg, well done – 40 minutes per kg.
If the water starts to dry out top up with more.
While the lamb is roasting prepare the puree, mash and veg.
For the Beetroot puree place a roughly chopped beetroot in a blender with  a clove of garlic, thyme leaves and a chopped onion - season with salt and pepper and blend until the consistency of risotto.
Place in a sauce pan on a very low heat and cook for 30 or so mins (you may need a splash of water at the begining to stop it burning).
The Celeriac mash is very easy - same as mashed potatoes - or you can use a mix of celeriac and potatoes.
When the lamb is cooked remove from the oven and cover with foil to keep warm and allow to rest for 20 mins or so.
Place the roasting tin with all the veg, water and meat juices on a the hob on a low/med heat and add a glass of wine and a dash of worcester sauce if you wish. Deglaze the pan and then strain the gravy into a sauce pan and reduce to correct consistency.
Carve the lamb and serve.

Jerusalem Artichoke Salad

Have a bowl with some lemon juice standing by and then peel and slice your (raw) chokes as finely as possible, placing in the lemon juice to stop them discolouring.
Season with salt and pepper and place on a plate.
Add walnut oil to the lemon juice mix together and dress the sliced chokes.
Sprikle with chopped parsley and serve.

Root Soup

Dice carrots, onion and cellery and sweat in a mix of butter and oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Add water and bring to the boil and then simmer.
Peel and dice your root veg - I used parsnip, artichokes and celeriac, but any will work.
Add some chopped parsley and simmer til all veg is cooked and blitz in a blender til smooth.
I also ad a little bit of fresh chilli to give it some warmth. 

Avacado Prawns with Marie Rose Sauce

Peel and slice an avacado and arrange on a bed of leaves, season with salt and pepper.
Slice some cucumber and arrange on the leaves with the cooked prawns on top.
For the marie rose sauce mix a couple of dollops of mayo, a tea spoon of tomato ketchup, a squeeze of lemon juice, a dash of whisky and a pich of paprika or cayenne pepper together and spoon over the prawns.

Lamb steak with Parsnip Crisps and Chard.

Season the lamb and marinate overnight in olive oil, garlic, thyme, bay and lemon juice.
Peel the parsnip and with a potato peeler or mandolin cut into thin strips - place in an oven proof dish roll in oilve oil season and sprinkle with chopped thyme or parsley place into a hot (180 -200 degrees) oven. Gently turn a few times while they cook (they take around 10-12 mins depending on thickness and go from cooked to burnt very quickly so keep an eye on them!).
Griddle the lamb in a hot pan and leave to rest.
Cut the stems from the chard and place in steamer. Place the leaves on top and steam until cooked. Squeeze any excess water from the leaves and dress in butter/oil and a dash of lemon juice.

Mediterranean Salad

Nice easy and quick this one and can be prepared well in advance.
Slice your veg of choice I used courgettes, aubergine, red pepper, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and baby artichokes.
Slice up all the veg (except the chokes) and brush with oilve oil and season. Cook in batches on a hot griddle and place in a covered bowl, they will keep warm and continue to cook in the steam. Only the aubergines have to be cooked throughly as all the others are just as nice partialy cooked.
Remove the tough outer leaves from the chokes and peel the stalks. Chop off the tough tops and place in a pan of salted water with lemon added to stop them discolouring. Bring to the boil and simmer gently until cooked. Drain and dress with a dash more lemon and oilve oil and leave to cool.
When cooled cut the chokes into halves or quarters and griddle.
Dress all the veg with olive oil and a dash of good vinegar, season with salt and pepper and add chopped fresh parsley and some dried oregano and serve.
Asparagus (griddled or steamed) and fennel would also work very well.

Beef and Mushrooms Braised in Guiness with Roasted Roots.

Dust the diced beef with plain flour and colour in a casserole, remove the coloured meat and set aside.
Finely chop some carrots, onions and celery and soften in oil/butter in the same casserole. Return the cooked beef and add some guiness enough to just cover the meat and veg.
Cover and transfer to a med / low oven and cook as long as slow as you can  - the longer and slower you do this the better it will be esp with cheaper more fatty cuts of beef.
About an hour before serving remove from the oven and add chopped mushrooms.

For the roasted roots i used some home grown salsify and artichokes with some bought potatoes and carrots, but you can use any - parsnips also go well, but the shop had sold out!
I par boiled the potatoes in salted water for 5 mins or so, while they were boiling i chopped a few carrots in half and cleaned and chopped the chokes (the trick is to get them all to a size that they will be ready at the same time so carrots and chokes larger than the potatoes). Put in a roasting tin with oil and chopped rosemary and put in the oven.
About half an hour before they are ready peel the salsify and par boil for a few mins in salted water with some lemon juice added to stop it browning.
Let it dry for a min or two before adding to the roasting tin.
When all the veg is cooked serve.