Winter weekends are the best aren't they? Bright cold mornings that turn into dark gloomy afternoons, with howling winds and pelting rain. Why do I love them so much? Any excuse to get the crock pot out and let something stew for hours, getting thicker and juicer.

Before I get into our Sunday feast, on Saturday night the Bald Man and I went to a Pop Up restaurant in Takapuan run by the two very talent chefs from popupdining.com, Ben Barton and Andreas Eggman. The theme for the evening was bait fish! Some would run for the hills at the very sound of it, but what was on the menu was an intriguing and imaginative array of 8 dishes. The dishes included, squid, mackerel, yellow tail, smoked mullet, sardines (pilchard) and Kahawai sashimi. It was a phenomenal evening with super people, intense and intelligent tastes and a new found respect for the underdogs in the fish world. All enjoyed for $40 / head..... can't do better than that!

Popup Dining have a monthly event - the next one is a French evening on the 6th July - I would definitely check it out.

Some of our closest friends are moving to Fiji and so wave them off, on Sunday the gang got together and tucked into a hearty lamb cassolet dish with dauphinoise potatoes and lemony peas. One of the best butchers on the Shore has to be the Meat Centre on Archers Road. It is a Halal butchery who's prices are incredibly reasonable and the meat is excellent quality. 2 KG of lamb pieces and 2 Shanks for the top came to a whole $24.00 and gave us 12 portions.

To make the cassolet, the lamb was tossed in flour, seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper and some ground cumin. Onions, garlic, tomatoes, butter beans and flageolet beans were layered along the bottom of the crock pot. In a roasting pan I browned off some pancetta pieces and some lumps of honey roast ham and added them to the crock pot.  The lamb was browned in small batches to prevent steaming and the roasting pan deglazed with 1/2 bottle of chardonnay. It all went into the crock pot and left to cook for 8 hours on low.  I've found over the years that you can end up flooding the meat in a crock pot if it is cooked for too long with two much liquid. The meat then becomes gritty and has no texture left. By keeping it on low, once the meat was cooked through, I drained it and reduced the liquid to a thicker gravy.

In a warmed 32CM Terracotta dish, all the lamb and beans were spread across the bottom, with some chopped Italian parsley. In a food processor, I mixed together, 2 anchovies, 1 tablespoon of capers, 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil, the zest of one lemon, 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs ( I had leftover onion bread which was made into bread crumbs. I get some big chunks of bread around the side to soak up some juices and get crispy on top.) Cover the lamb with the bread crumbs with the shanks in the middle. Bake for 20-30 mins until the top is really crispy. The gravy by then had reduced to a thick creamy consistency. Add some chopped rosemary and thyme to add freshness and depth. To cut the richness of the dish I added a splash of lemon juice to the peas which balanced all the flavours beautifully.

Our feast was finished with a lemon tart made by one of the gents, using eggs from his new chickens and lemons from their tree. Totally delicious! All in all a feast for happy tummies and to ward off miserable afternoons.

All in all a relaxing and gastronomic weekend!