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James Street South Cookery School: Lamb steak with white bean champ and frozen Eton mess

Lamb steak with a white bean champ – quick and delicious
Lamb steak with a white bean champ – quick and delicious Lamb steak with a white bean champ – quick and delicious

THIS week’s recipes are two great dishes that you can easily make for a family dinner on a Sunday and that always go down well. Once you cook the lamb steak and beans, and realise how easy it is, they will be a recurring theme over the coming months.

Treating ourselves with a dessert, never mind making one, is something we tend to leave for the weekend. Like most families, we tend to have quick and easy puds during the week, like yoghurt, but this is a dessert which my kids love to both make and eat. Once you try this one, again, it is so easily repeated that you'll do so again and again.

With Valentine’s Day next week, why not treat your significant other, and yourself, to a masterclass in cookery at one of our many classes to choose from and enjoy together? Learn how to bake bread, roll sushi, cook the perfect steak or make a curry from scratch from our expert tutors. Check out cookinbelfast.co.uk

LAMB STEAK WITH WHITE BEAN CHAMP

(Serves 4)

4 x 400g lamb steaks

olive oil

salt and pepper

For the white bean champ:

75g butter

3 cloves garlic, grated

2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped

1 lemon, juiced

800g butter beans (tinned is fine – drain away any water)

To serve:

Chopped spring onions

Start by heating a griddle pan (a frying pan will work just as well). Massage the steak with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot (make sure your extraction fan is on to its highest setting) cook for a couple of minutes on each side, leaving the meat to rest once cooked.

To make the mash, melt the butter in a saucepan, add in the grated garlic and rosemary and let it infuse in the heat. Add the lemon juice when the butter starts to bubble; then add the beans and cook until the beans are hot. Mash the beans with a hand blender or potato masher and mix with a little drizzle of olive oil.

To serve, place the lamb on a plate and add the bean mash. Serve with finely cut spring onions.

FROZEN ETON MESS

(Serves 6-8)

800g strawberries, hulled and cleaned

icing sugar for dusting

800ml double cream

1 large meringue

50g white or dark chocolate to serve, grated

Start by cleaning the strawberries and cutting them into quarters, – you will need to keep a quarter of the strawberries to the side. This is an unseasonal time to be buying strawberries but if, like me, you do buy them at the supermarket and don’t use them all, this is a great recipe to use them up.

Dust half the strawberries in icing sugar and place in a pan on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until the fruit begins to soften and break down. Remove from heat. You want to create a smooth coulis with the strawberries so blend the mixture and then pass through a sieve, removing the seeds. Leave to the side in a bowl to cool. Keep half of the coulis to the side as you will use this when serving – you can place it in the fridge.

Start to whip the cream in a separate bowl until it begins to thicken – you do not want the cream to be stiff so stop once it is becoming too thick. Break the meringue into small bite size pieces and add to the cream.

Lightly fold half of the cooled coulis into the cream and meringue, trying to create a ripple ice-cream effect, and fold in the remaining halved strawberries. Lightly oil a pudding bowl and line with cling film – this will help when you are serving the dish. Place all the mixture into the pudding bowl and cover with cling film. Place in the freezer, ideally overnight.

When ready to serve, run a hot tap over the side of the pudding bowl to loosen and turn over on to a plate. Drizzle with the remaining coulis and dust with grated chocolate.