Pandas and Noodles in Szechuan

After touring China for over three weeks, I must say that my husband and I were thoroughly impressed with the country.  We enjoyed so many places but one of the highlights was seeing the pandas up close at the Panda Research Breeding Centre at Chengdu, Szechuan.  You can see from the picture that they like a diet of bamboo.  The babies are only around 100 grams when born but look what the bamboo does for them!  

The people here are just as crazy for noodles.  There are many different kinds and they eat them even for breakfast.  The favourite mixture is putting noodles in a bowl, and then adding stir fried strips of egg, a few greens (like spinach), cooked ground pork, vegetable broth, and last, a small spoon of chilli from the hot pot (shown below).  The hot pot is made from chopped chillies, garlic, peppercorns and oil.  It is always presented in this region separately from other dishes.  Each person seasons their food with as much of the hot spice as desired.  It warms one up with tasty chilli zest.

© Judy Labi 2013

Barbecued Half Leg of Lamb

With inviting warmer temperatures here in London although it is only early May, I decided to delight the family with barbecued lamb tonight.

This is a super easy one.  Start with removing the outer layer of fat and skin from the half leg of lamb.  This is done with a sharp meat knife in a minute.  Next, cut straight through the meat to the bone and then along the bone to free it from the muscle.  Discard the bone.  Massage 2 tablespoons of honey and about the same amount of dark soy sauce into the meat.  Let rest.

Light the charcoals in the barbecue and wait until they are white before cooking.  When ready, place the prepared meat on the side of the barbecue (not over the very hot centre) and cover with the dome lid if your barbecue grill has one.  Turn over about every 5 minutes, replacing the dome lid each time.  Roast in this manner for 20 minutes for rare-medium and 30 minutes for well done.  Remove to serving platter for carving at the table.

Tonight I served this delicious honey barbecued lamb with rice, grilled portobello mushrooms, broccoli, green beans, and asparagus.  What a family treat!  Serves 4.

© Judy Labi 2013