Introduction: Concertina Potatoes and Butterflied Lamb

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One of the Instructables that caught my eye over the last week was a very tasty looking dish entitled Quick and Easy Bacon Topped Hasselback Potatoes. I'd never heard of potatoes prepared and cooked in that way being called "hasselback" so as I was cooking the evening meal yesterday I decided to remix that Instructable with my version that has always been known as concertina potatoes :-)

Possibly the different name is because of the cooking method, the hasselback recipe baked the potatoes whilst I roast them.

Step 1: Ingredients

For the potatoes you will need the following:

  • Roasting potatoes - I've used King Edwards
  • Garlic cloves
  • Olive oil

And for the butterflied lamb you will need:

  • De-boned leg of lamb
  • Rosemary
  • Garlic cloves
  • Anchovies
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Onions
  • Olive oil

Not forgetting the gravy:

  • White wine
  • Cornflour

Whilst we are working with rosemary, I'm going to urge anybody who has a little bit of space outside to plant some rosemary for cooking purposes, either directly in the soil or a pot. It seems impossible to kill them and all year you can crop the herb for use in all manner of recipes.

Step 2: Butterflied Lamb

Although the inspiration for this Instructable was the potatoes, the order of cooking means that the meat is prepared and started to cook before you get to the potatoes so I've done it this order :-)

I started off with a preprepared leg from the local butcher shop. I chose my leg, they then de-boned it and tied it back up. They made it look so easy where as I've tried and it isn't :-)

You than stab the lamb all over with a sharp vegetable knife to create lots of pockets into which we are going to stuff tasty things. I like garlic, rosemary and anchovies so always choose these. Don't worry if people do not like anchovies, after cooking they melt away into the meat giving it a richer flavour and nobody is the wiser about them.

Cut two onions in half and place in a roasting tray with the lamb on top. Add approximately 150ml of red wine vinegar to the tray and cover with tin foil. Place the roasting tray in a 170 degree C oven for 50 minutes.

Now to prepare the potatoes . . .

Step 3: Concertina Potatoes

These potatoes are so simple and I tend to do them when I can't be bothered to peel the potatoes but want roasted.

So, you grab a potato and starting at one end or the other make multiple vertical cuts through three quarters of the potato. Don't worry about the very ends they can be just left. Once cut, you then take slices of garlic and interweave them between the potato slices, season with salt and pepper and a little olive oil on top.

Assuming you have do this quite quickly after putting the meat in the over, you can now get a glass of wine and wait until the meat timer pings.

Step 4: Lamb and Potatoes

Once the meat has been cooking for 50 minutes, take it out of the oven and remove the tin foil. Add the potatoes to the roasting pan and return to the oven for another 50 minutes.

What you have at the bottom of the pan when you add the potatoes is a lovely mix of red wine vinegar and juices from the lamb. Some of these will be absorbed into the potatoes whilst they cook making them extra yummy.

At the end of cooking, remove the meat and potatoes before adding a little white wine and seasoning. Place the pan on a hob and heat for a couple of minutes, mashing the onions and stick meat juices all together. Some cornflour to thicken and you also have yourself some lovely gravy.

Dinner is served . . .