Sweet leftover lamb and mashed potatoes

Leftover recipes are pretty fun and can sometimes turn into something tasty. I guess it’s probably because you’re mixing ingredients that you wouldn’t mix otherwise. Plus it’s better than reheating the same thing over and over, so you have nothing to lose, right?

For those of you who still have some leftover lamb from Easter, this is a quick and easy recipe (although calling it “recipe” is a bit too much) that I cooked a few days ago.

It all started when I got a sudden craving for mashed potatoes. I remembered I had some sweet potatoes left, after making lime glazed sweet potatoes as a side dish for a bigger plate (I’ll post it soon). I mixed one sweet potato with two regular ones into this really delicious mash and served that with some sweet and nutty lamb pieces.

Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients

  • 1 sweet potato and 2 regular ones
  • 1 bowl of leftover lamb, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tbs fish sauce
  • 1 tbs brown sugar
  • some fresh dill, finely chopped

How I Did It?

Basic mashed potatoes

I’m pretty sure everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes. My method isn’t special in any way, but here goes: throw some cubed potatoes into boiling water, until they’re easy to crush with a fork, drain water, add a cube of butter and some milk, add salt to taste and start mashing. Serve while it’s hot.

Sweet bits of lamb

First of all, a word of advice: use a non stick frying pan, because it’s so much easier to clean. I just bought one from IKEA recently and I’m telling you: cooking using the right “hardware” is so much easier!

Drizzle a bit of vegetable oil into the heated pan and add the lamb bits. Once they start to change color, add the brown sugar and stir until they look caramelized. Add the soy sauce and fish sauce and keep stirring. Just a few seconds before you turn off the heat, add the fresh dill and stir some more, making sure all the bits are covered.

All this should only take a minute or two, otherwise you risk burning it, cause the sugar melts really fast! It’s a good idea to leave it for another minute or two with a lid on, until you take care of the mashed potatoes.

Add some crunch

I sprinkled some bits of pistachio and almonds that I pulsed with the hand pulser thingie (or whatever that’s called). I had some pistachio from the night before (soccer game night), but you can use whatever you have lying around: pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, whatever. Or not! :)