Treehousekitchen – Lamb with lemon, sage, and mascarpone sauce and roast veges

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Mel of Treehousekitchen where we caught up after 4 months of not meeting up. And with Mel, its always about good conversation, deep and meaningfuls, “snort-inducing” laughter, and plenty of moo-ing noises, and great food. She’s a food blogger, after all! I’m so proud of this woman and for what she’s achieved heading into this field.

Ever wondered how people who cook and blog about it come up with their recipes? Well, this is how Mel does it.

So we were strolling down a freezing street in Wellington on Saturday afternoon and she chirped, “Hm. I think I’m going to cook lamb for you tonight. With lemon, sage, and mascarpone.”

Just like that. Seemingly off the top of her head.

I gaped. Mascarpone?

“Yeah.”

As in tiramisu mascarpone?

“What else?”

What else indeed. When someone starts using normal dessert ingredients in a main meat dish, you know that they know what they’re doing. Or at least hope they know what they’re doing. Aye, Mel? +)

Took a quick snapshot at Mel’s food basket. Especially when she seemingly pulled that recipe out like a magician’s rabbit.

Turns out that its not that spontaneous after all. She’s read it before, done a similar thing but thought it would be cool to do it again for me while I’m down here.

And here, the dilemma begins. What kind of cut? Here, Mel’s tossing up between what looks like a leg chop and some packets of lamb steaks. I’m apparently supposed to decide because I did a two year stint as a butchery assistant. To be perfectly honest, I learnt more about cleaning rather than cuts of meat although I can fillet a chicken breast beautifully, make cordon bleu and tell you in a quiet voice about how commercial supermarkets pack their meat. Some good. Some pretty bad.

Ingredients are thrown into the basket and it fills up quickly. Herbs, kiwifruit (for breakfast the next day, apparently), mascarpone (that I still was in shock over) lemons, oranges, carrots, and broccoli.

For those of you who wonder about the workshop of the mad scientist (or shall I say, Sociologist?) that is Treehousekitchen, here’s the scoop. A gas stove. Everyone knows that you can control heat soooo much better with a open flame.

And probably what is less expected is the entire cupboard full of boxed/dried/powdered/crushed herbs.

I did offer to get her a fresh herb garden but she swears that her thumbs are blue or purple or whatever colour is non-conducive to planting and caring for herbs.

And the whole ensemble.

When in doubt, zest. When unable to zest because you don’t have a small grater, use a big ass chef knife and make your own zest. Only here, folks, in Treehousekitchen.

 A twist to your average roast veges. Well, I’ve never done it this way, anyway. Zest the orange. Dice veges. Drench veges in orange juice + zest. Spread on oven tray.

I so love the macro shot function on my camera.

When the Sociologist saw this picture, she said that this was probably as close as New Zealanders get to carnivore heaven or meat pR0n.

Sage leaves. A crucial ingredient.

Lemons, to add tartness or as the foodies say it, “acid”, to the dish.

And the ingredient that still puzzles me. Really? You’ve GOT to be kidding me.

So here, we start sizzling the butter with a splash of olive oil.

And when its all melted, the lamb steaks go in, one by one, hitting the pan and sizzling deliciously. Mmm.

 
Lemons, slightly crushed garlic, sage leaves.

 
Then the mascarpone.
 
Let marinate and turn when the steaks are nicely brown.

Check on veges. Sprinkle muscadova sugar over veges if you feel worried about the taste.

Et voila! Done.

Easy as pie.

For dessert, Mel, melted dark chocolate and the Meerkat, Mel, and I ate it up with French vanilla ice cream. Soooo good.

But sometimes, funnily enough, its not about the incredible food that people cook for you. Its about the company that goes with it. And that’s something that I always enjoy with Mel around.

Anytime I want a great meal, I can always go to an upmarket restaurant. Anytime I want an amazing meal, I know that I can head to Treehousekitchen, where the food is always sprinkled with lots of laughter, doused in heaps of hearing and listening and finished off with a cup of reflection and kindness.

Thanks, Mel, for having me. You’re one of a kind.