This dish might just send you straight to heaven. That's what husband sometimes says when I have made him particularly good food: "You're going straight to heaven!" And he usually blows a kiss across the table to emphasize the statement. Or marginally less romantically but equally emphatically slaps my bum as we are clearing the table. It means that I am practically an angel for looking after him so well and will go straight to heaven. After I'm dead in ripe old age hand in hand with him obviously, not now, that would defeat the object of looking after husband. But you know straight without trick questions asked at the pearly gates, purgatory or jury deliberation.

Whether concerned about your eternal whereabouts or just looking for a tasty meal I can recommend this one. My BBQ season started a bit late this year, so I have a lot of catching up to do. I have also been struggling for new ideas, so this grilled aromatic Moroccan lamb leg recipe couldn't have come at a better time. It's something that a work mate had done to a great success and recommended, so I decided to try.


The original Delicious magazine recipe doesn't ask for marinating the leg with the rub, but I thought a few hours in the fridge wouldn't hurt, so I prepped the leg in the morning. I followed the recipe pretty religiously, slightly careful with the fennel seeds, because of my sometimes generous measures and the easily overpowering quality of the spice. I toasted the different seeds and husband was getting really excited bouncing around the kitchen saying it smelled like her aunts cooking in Dubai (which I do realize is not in Morocco). He was also chuffed with the size of the leg at over 2kg for the four of us. I made several incisions to the leg and rubbed the spice paste on and into the leg. I left it in the fridge for about 4 hours.





Husband went out with the kids to buy a suit for the younger one. He's finishing secondary school this year, so needs a suit. Good luck with that, the kid's about 9 foot tall.

I'm pretty used to tall people, we're not exactly petite in my family, but these guys are ridiculous. Both kids are now taller than husband, who is 6"4.
I was always worried that my smallish charcoal barbecue wouldn't work for large pieces of meat, because obviously it's impossible to keep the heat going for that long, but my friend pointed out that you can always finish the cooking in the oven. I would have thought a smart girl like me would have figured that out by herself, but clearly not.

I grilled the leg for about and hour and a half standing in the lovely lamb and coal fume cloud for much of the time with a white wine spritzer and continued to slowcook it in the oven until it was supersoft. Matter of preference, some like theirs more pink, we love ours soft enough to eat with a spoon.

When I was transfering it from the charcoal grill to oven, the leg look pretty fantastic, and probably would have been lovely and pink.

To go with the leg I made moroccan spiced rice with vegetables and chickpeas. The kids pointed out they were fully aware that I was deviously trying to sneak some veg into them, but it was a damn good meal and only a tiny chunk of lamb was left in the end.

Leftovers. Or not.

Here is the recipe from the Delicious website

1 tbsp coriander seeds
½ tbsp cumin seeds
½ tbsp fennel seeds
5 fat garlic cloves, crushed
Thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
2 tbsp dried thyme
2 tsp flaked sea salt
1½ tsp ground black pepper
1 medium lamb shoulder (about 1.8-2.2kg), bone-in, any excess fat removed, scored with a sharp knife at 1cm intervals

For this dish, you’ll need enough lit charcoal to keep burning steadily for at least 2 hours.

Toast the seeds in a small, dry frying pan, swirling them often over a medium heat (on the barbecue grill or the hob), until fragrant. Tip into a pestle and mortar or spice grinder and work to a medium-fine powder. Add the garlic, grated ginger and any ginger juice, the orange zest, thyme and seasoning, then work to a paste.

Smear the paste generously over the lamb, making sure any of the rub that falls on the work surface makes its way back onto the lamb.

Grill the lamb on the hot barbecue for 3 minutes on each side until well coloured but not burnt. If flames flare up from the dripping fat, gently move the lamb away from them. Transfer the lamb to a baking tray lined with a double layer of foil. Pour in a glass of water and loosely scrunch another double layer of foil over the top of the lamb. Put the tray on the barbecue grill, then shut the lid, making sure the air vents are two-thirds closed on the top and bottom (to keep the temperature between 180-200°C). Cook the lamb for 2 hours. Check it every half hour – if it appears to be burning or the juices in the tray seem to be boiling away, add more water.

About 15 minutes before the lamb is ready, remove the covering foil and shut the lid again. When cooked, rest the lamb on a platter, covered with foil, for 15 minutes or so. Serve the lamb with the juices poured over.

You know how Facebook tells you what happened on the day a year or more ago. "How long is this football nonsense going to last this time?", my younger self was wondering at the start of the 2010 Worldcup this week. A relevant question once more with the Euro 2016 getting started.

The answer to the question would have been: "With that guy? Forever."

It became quite clear early on in our relationship that football was husband's great love, so I can only blame myself. I remember the 2006 Worldcup where Portugal beat England on penalties at the quarter finals. We watched the game with husband, then boyfriend, in a Battersea sports bar and as the game ended many men were in tears including husband. "It's ok, it's only football", he was consoling himself between heaving sobs and teary hiccups with me patting him awkwardly on the shoulder thinking "Really?". OK, maybe he wasn't heaving or hiccuping, but there were tears.

Every year when the Premier League is done I breathe a quiet sigh of relief forgetting that there is still Champions League, Europa league, FA cup, Worldcup, Euro etc and if nothing else is going on they will considerately put together the odd friendly. And this year we will also get some Olympic football.

Yippee.
But I don't really actually mind too much. Buy me a drink and I'm happy in a pub whatever's on the screen. Unless it's cricket or Mariah Carey.

And at home I usually keep husband company half-following the game half-reading a book, writing the blog, checking my emails, checking out recipes or playing candy crush, or all of the above.

Sometimes husband gets all needy though and wants me to prioritise football over my other sofabound activities. Like yesterday when he was watching the commentary before the much anticipated and riveting Albania-Switzerland game while I was surreptiously leafing through a little book of Buddhist wisdom on the other sofa.

Here is the scene:

(Husband is watching and talking back to the pundits, I am flicking through my book and pretending to follow the program making quite believable sounds that someone following a foodball program might make, I think.)

Husband: That's why they get angry!
Me: Mmm. Yes.
Husband (eyes narrowed): What did I just say?
Me (smug): That's why they get angry!
Husband (not fooled): Who?
Me (slightly less confident): Erm... Switzerland.
Husband: No. Fans.
Me: Yes, fans. That's what I meant.
Husband: What makes them angry?
Me: Albania... No?... Thierry Henry?
Husband: No.

Jeez. Inquisition.

It was something about a pair of brothers, one playing for Albania, one for Switzerland. And fans having a problem with players with dual nationality playing for the other country. Glad to know this now. Much more important than my pursuit of Awakening the Heart according to the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn.

But actually according to Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who gives the Dalai Lama a run for his money, although of course monks don't run for money, the first element of True Love (I'm not very far into the book yet, because of football) is called maitri, loving kindness. This means the willingness and most importantly ability to bring joy and happiness to the other person. This requires profound understanding of the other person, because in order to bring someone joy and happiness you must understand their deepest troubles, aspirations and suffering.

In husband's case, football. The source of much of his suffering is the England football team.

Thich Nhat Hanh also reminds that Buddhism teaches that love is above all about being there, being present. So feeling gently admonished by the minute monk, I put away the book and focused on husband asking some further questions about the general state of football in Albania and Switzerland, to which husband gave animated answers and listed each of the main players in the two national teams and in which European clubs they played.

It could be worse. He could be into cricket.

So here's a great little BBQ recipe that goes down well with the football watching menfolk. Serve with the starch of your choice and some veg if your man is agreeable. If not, give him reprieve from  the rabbit food for once, woman.

Barbecued maple, mustard and soy chicken drumsticks

10 chicken drumsticks
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 heaped tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Mix all the marinade ingredients. Cut a couple of slashes into the drimsticks to allow the marinade to get into the meat. Place the drumsticks in a bowl and pour marinade on top. Mix well massaging the marinade into the chicken. Leave to marinade in the fridge for a couple of hours.

You can cook these in the oven (200C for about 30-40 min), but my favourite way is on a charcoal barbecue. Prepare your barbecue, place the chicken on the grill, slightly away from the hottest heat, so that they cook nicely without burning on the outside. Keep turning every few minutes until they are cooked through.