Read Mumsnet users reviews on Love Lamb Week recipes

[EllieMumsnet]

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We’ve got together with Simply Beef & Lamb to find 100 MNers to take part in Love Lamb Week and test out 1 of 5 new lamb recipes. Each tester was sent either: garlic & mustard marinated lamb steaks, lamb caesar salad, lamb leg steaks with a paprika & herb rub, teriyaki lamb stir fry or a quick lamb wrap recipe to try with a loved one.

Here’s what Simply Beef & Lamb have to say: “We’d like to give parents the confidence to cook with lamb midweek, using lamb leg steaks as an easy introduction. They are versatile, relatively low price and can be cooked in less than 30 minutes.”

If you’ve taken part in this test, Simply Beef & Lamb would like you to post on this thread, answering the questions below:

• Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?
• How easy did you find the dish to cook?
• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?
• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?
• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

We’d also love to see some photos of the finished #lovelamb dishes and/or the cooking process, so please do share some on the thread if you can!

All those who give the required feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

We tested the Garlic and Mustard Lamb recipe. This recipe was very tasty and the lamb was succulent. I'm not normally a fan of mustard but the combination together worked really well. The recipe was easy to prepare and quick. I think it's a healthy midweek meal that can be cooked at ease after a busy day. Great value for money when compared with other dishes I would normally prepare although I would recommend going to a good quality butchers as Lamb can be quite expensive in the supermarkets. I will definitely be serving up this meal again and will be exploring using lamb leg steaks in other recipes as my normal lamb buy is shoulder of lamb slow roasted so a much longer process than this recipe but I could adapt that to the shoulder cut too. I will also be trying the other recipes above in the future too.

• Which lamb dish did you cook?

Garlic and mustard marinated lamb steaks. Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste? Yes, it was a lovely tasting meal. We all enjoyed it.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

Very quick and easy. I will certainly be making this as a dish again.

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

Yes, you could taste the goodness in it.

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

I think it would be worth spending the money to have this once a week. The lamb cost £4 for 2 lamb steaks.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Yes because my family really enjoyed them and they were quick and easy to cook.

• Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?

I cooked lamb steaks with a herb and paprika rub. My family enjoyed the dish although they said they would have preferred less herbs. I also had to double the amount of lamb for the adults too make a decent dinner portion.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

It was very quick and easy.

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

Yes because no oil was added.

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

The high cost of lamb doesn't make it good value so I'd see it as more of an occasional meal.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Yes as they are a nice change and taste good, but only occasionally because of the price.

• Which lamb dish did you cook? I cooked the Lamb teriyaki.

Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste? The dish was lovely and the kids loved it too which means I'll be making it more often.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook? It was very easy to cook and quick which is so important after work when I need to get the kids in bed after dinner.
• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal? Yes. For me to feed it to the kids again it would have to be.
• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value? Yes I do. The steaks fed the whole family.
• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why? Yes I would. The dish was quick to make and having lamb mid week was a welcome change.

Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?
We cooked the Paprika and Herb Lamb dish for our Anniversary meal x we really enjoyed this mea

• How easy did you find the dish to cook? This meal was the quickest and easiest meal to cook x..
• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal? Yes we dont eat wedges so we had it with pots and vegetables was lovely
• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value? It was good value we got cheapish lamb steaks and herbs and spices didmt cost that much to buy either
• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Yes i would buy the steaks again they were so lovely tender and had no bone

**- Which lamb dish did you cook?
Lamb ceaser salad

-Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?
Yes. When I first saw that thedressing contained anchovies, I wasn't overly excited and even considered not using these. Although I followed the recipe exact and glad I did as it was a pleasant suprise. The dressing was a nice blend of flavours and complimented the dish well.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

Very easy and quick too.

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

I would say it was. It was a nice light meal to easy but filling enough for dinner.

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

It was quite expensive for a midweek meal (I'm on maternity leave so am on a budget) although if were able to incorporate the left over ingredients into other meal this would be a better value - maybe suggestions with what I could do with left over ingredients would increase the value for money.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Yes, it was delicious and I wouldn't have thought to put them in a salad.

I followed the instructions to a tee although if I was to do this again I'd have plated everything up rather than tossing it in a bowl as I wasn't keen on the presentation. I usually make a chicken ceaser salad and layer it on the plates and serve.

The photo I attached Is the salad tossed in a bowl. The presentation like this was too messy looking for my liking but it actually tasted delicious. The bowls either side were extra Parmesan and extra dressing. I made this for me, my partner, our 3 year old son and partner Nan. There was plenty for all of us and all enjoyed.

Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?
We had the Lamb Caeser Salad. Me and DD1 both liked it. DH and DD2 were less enthusiastic.

How easy did you find the dish to cook?
DD1 cooked the dish. It was really straightforward.

Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?
Very healthy. The lamb was lovely and lean.

Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?
I find lamb really expensive, so not really good value.

Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?
I would, but DH really isn't keen on lamb, unless its a kebab.

Overall I loved the dish, but the lamb was just cooked, the recipe was really for the salad. Having said that, DH did say the lamb was better than he was expecting and DD1 wants to know when we will be having lamb again.

-Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste? ............ - Lamb Leg Steaks with a Herb and Paprika Rub, yes we did enjoy, the smoked paprika was a new ingredient I had to buy, the others I had in my spice rack - it was a revelation, the mixture of herbs and seasoning made out steaks simply delicious.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook? - .......... very easy, we eat lamb once a week at least as it is our favourite meat, and the meal took 20 minutes to cook, we had it with a jacket potato which was put in the oven beforehand (after 3 minutes in the microwave)
• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal? ........... Yes I do consider it healthy as the lamb is lean, my children eat it as it is a soft meat to chew and with the addition of vegetables and salad, it is a tasty balanced meal.
• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value? ...... Lamb can be expensive, but I bought the 3 for £10 at the supermarket , with the addition of cheap seasonal vegetables it is a good value midweek family meal.
• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? .......Definitely - and with the herb and paprika rub it is a firm family favourite.

1. I made the lamb Caesar salad. We liked it - it's unusual to have lamb in a salad but it tasted good.

1. Yes, it was fairly easy too cook. The dressing was more difficult to make than the lamb part.

1. Yes this was a healthy meal. I am trying to cut down on fat so I swapped the oil for Fry Light which helped.

1. The lamb leg steaks were cheaper than I thought they'd be - just under £4 for 2. So quite similar to chicken.

1. Yes, I will buy lamb leg steaks again. Not too expensive, easy to cook, tasty, and I want to try the other recipes now.

We had the lamb teriyaki stir fry. It was very tasty but the toddler didn't like the texture of the lamb.

It was relatively easy but to be honest mid week I'd probably just use a pre-done teriyaki sauce and I'd probably use chicken or fish because I know the little ones will eat it (didn't try the 10 month old with the lamb but she regularly eats flakes of fish.)

It was definitely a healthy meal, we paired it with brown rice.

It was pretty expensive to make, particularly as it required a lot of spices (thankfully we had most of them in the cupboard already).

I would definitely buy lamb again but probably not every week, maybe the week after payday as a treat or if it was on special offer. I might buy it more frequently as my children get older and start to like the texture of lamb; at the moment it is too expensive to buy with the big risk of them not eating it, but then again the more they try it the quicker they might start to like it.

If I was buying it just for adults I'd add some chillis to the recipe as we prefer our stir fries to be spicy.

We cooked the Teriyaki one. My husband enjoyed it but I didn't I'm afraid! I usually love lamb but I think the flavours brought out too much of the strong fragrant lamb taste. I thought the Teriyaki sauce was also a bit too runny.

Cooking was easy with premade sauce and veg so that was good!

Definitely healthy - loads of veg!

Don't think it's good value really. A meal for two costing 10 quid is a lot for midweek. I would much rather spend that kind of money at M&S or Waitrose for their dining for 2 meal deals. My husband eats big portions so there wasn't even any leftovers!

I probably won't rush to make the same meal again but might try the steaks again with one of the other recipes... Depending on the feedback!

Which lamb dish did you pick? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?

I cooked the teriyaki lamb stir fry. It was very tasty.

How easy did you find the dish to cook?

Very quick and easy, everything all in one wok - perfect. Minimal washing up too.

Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

Yes.

Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

No, I didn't unfortunately. It was over £5 for less than 350g of lamb, and although buying the marinade was more convenient than making it myself, I wouldn't ordinarily buy a ready-prepared sauce if on a budget. We make stir frys quite often, and this was definitely more expensive than our usual recipes.

Would you buy lamb leg steaks again?

I would, but perhaps as a treat occasionally in the same way I would buy beef steak. It is too expensive to be bought as a weekday meat.

- Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste? Tried the Teriyaki Lamb Stir Fry. Liked the taste of the teriyaki and the lamb, but not sure they complemented each other particularly well.
- How easy did you find the dish to cook? Very easy as it mainly used pre-prepared ingredients
- Do you consider it to be a healthy meal? The meat and vegetables were healthy, I'm not so sure about adding additional sugar to a pre-made sauce. If I was going to make this recipe again, I think I would just use the sauce with no additions.
- Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value? No, even ignoring the additional cost of the lamb, it cost significantly more than my normal stir fries due to the amount of pre-prepared ingredients (and I actually prefer my normal recipe).
- Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why? I would buy lamb leg steaks again, but probably from my local butcher rather than the supermarket as the meat is much nicer. I wouldn't buy lamb regularly due to the cost, but for special occasions I would consider lamb leg steaks - but I'd use a different recipe.

We had the lamb wraps which were very tasty. They were easy to prepare. I wouldn't say it was particularly healthy. We don't often eat lamb because of the price and I was surprised how expensive the stir fry strips were so not good value for money. We'll stick to the special offer joints as a rare treat.

Just to add - the recipe I was sent wasn't one of the ones linked above, it was this one: www.simplybeefandlamb.co.uk/recipes/teriyaki-lamb-stir-fry-easy

The teriyaki recipe linked in the first post looks significantly healthier and relies less on pre-prepared stuff - I wish I'd been sent that one to try instead

• Which lamb dish did you cook?

Teriyaki lamb stir-fry Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste? The teriyaki sauce was delicious. I found the lamb flavour too strong for me, felt it overpowered the dish. But, my husband loved it and gladly ate my lamb!

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

Very quick and easy. Everything just got thrown into one pan!

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

Yes, lots of veg. Not sure about adding extra sugar and the salt content of teriyaki sauce for my toddler though.

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

Yes, we had most of the ingredients already as we eat a lot of stir fry.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Yes definitely but would try with a different recipe.

Oh, FFS it wasn't even that one. It was a variant of that but basically the sauce and marinade was pre-made, just needed to add sugar, lime juice and five spice. I can't find the actual recipe online.

Just read SmilingButClueless post above. Same here! Would have far preferred the recipe linked above!

• Which lamb dish did you cook?

Lamb Teriyaki stir fry

Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?
I LOVED it personally but my husband who is a very fussy eater didn't like the marinade. This wasn't a problem however as I kept his portion and had it myself the next day

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

I buy quite a lot of premade sauces so making one from scratch was unusual for me. I like the fact it only involved a few simple ingredients though

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

Yes, excellent variety of meat, veg, rice and sauce which made it a flavour sensation

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

It cost me £4 to buy the lamb from a supermarket and I reckon I could have got a good cut of meat from the butchers for slightly cheaper but considering you only need a couple of ingredients to throw together to make the dish then this wasn't a real issue. Overall it's definitely an affordable meal

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Most definitely!! I've only ever tried lamb in a curry so this was something completely different and tasty for me. I love to try new dishes and lamb is such a nice change from chicken or beef

• Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?

Teriyaki Lamb Stir Fry. My husband was a bit underwhelmed by it, although he did enjoy it. I actually didn't like the teriyaki and lamb together, but like both separately.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

The dish was super easy and quick. I don't usually buy prepared veg, it was just a case of chucking it all in a pan.

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

It tasted healthy, however I don't think the recipe needed the additional sugar added to the sauce - I would definitely leave that out next time.

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

I just had to buy the lamb and veg, as I had the other ingredients in my cupboard, so yes I do think it was good value.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

I love lamb in general so would definitely buy the lamb leg steaks again, but I would try another recipe from the list.

- Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?

The quick lamb wraps, the taste was very good (but the children didn't like it) and the lamb was still a bit chewy as no matter what kind of lamb you get, it's a stretch to cook it in 7 mins.

- How easy did you find the dish to cook?
Very easy to cook, but really needed longer to tenderise the lamb

- Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?
Yes I thought it was very healthy

- Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?
No, I thought the cut of meat was very expensive and it would have been ok for 2 but unaffordable to have it for more than that very often.
- Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?
I would use lamb without a doubt but not leg steaks as they were pricey and took longer to cook than the recipe stated although my husband absolutely adored it and said he'd buy it just for himself.

• Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?

We had the lamb wraps they tasted ok.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

The dish is very easy to cook and doesn't take long at all.

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

If you swap the wraps with brown wraps, and the rice with brown rice and Greek yoghurt with low fat yoghurt I would say it would be a lot more healthier.

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

No sorry I don't the lamb is very expensive for what you get I wouldn't really spend £10 on a meal for 2 midweek I can feed my family of 4 for that and possibly have leftovers.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Yes they were a nice cut of meat but I would probably buy from my butchers rather than supermarket as at my local decent butcher was better value I went in to check to compare the prices.

I would like to add that overall it was a good meal but it is a very expensive meal to make so it's probably a treat for us but it was nice I have to say.

I will need to wait to add photos I dropped and smashed my phone and they are all on there sorry I'm sending it to Apple to get fixed.

• Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?

We had the garlic and mustard marinaded lamb. I really enjoyed the taste, I like mustard and garlic already so it's a marinade I would have made anyway. I used both dijon and wholegrain mustard as I like both, rather than just using one or the other.

Interesting using apple juice in the recipe, apple isn't something I would normally associate with lamb! But it was a nice addition.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

Very easy to marinade the night before - I don't do this often and should do it more!

We BBQ'd it on our grill so was a pretty simple dinner.

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

Pretty much, it's red meat which I would have every now and again rather than often. But it's homemade, and we served it with vegetables, so I would consider this healthy.

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

Yes, although the 2 steaks I bought were 150g total (the recipe stated 150g each). So it would quite a small portion, but for anyone looking to reduce their meat consumption like I am it was fine. We just added more vegetables.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Probably, on top of trying to reduce my meat consumption I'm also trying to buy more of a variety rather than sticking with just beef and chicken. I bought the steaks from a supermarket, but next time I want to see if our local butcher has them as I think their meat is superior.

We had the quick lamb wraps and yes, it did taste nice.

It was a very easy dish to cook, but I did buy microwave rice as I couldn't be gagged to cook 50g of rice.

It was a fairly healthy meal, though it needed a good whack of salad / vegetable on the side to make it a reasonable size and to supplement it.

I thought it was really quite expensive compared to what I usually cook and it isn't something I could justify regularly. We usually eat as a family so I would need twice the amount of meat easily.

I liked the leg steaks though I couldn't find any labelled as lean in Tesco. They were tender and easy to dice and cook. I would use them again if I was looking to do something expensive.

I did feel the rice and mushrooms were only in the recipe to bulk it out as the relative amount of meat for the cost would otherwise be very expensive.

Which lamb dish did you cook? Did you and your loved one enjoy the taste?

I cooked lamb leg steaks with herb and paprika rub. The seasoning was lovely and we all enjoyed it.

• How easy did you find the dish to cook?

It was really easy to cook.

• Do you consider it to be a healthy meal?

Yes

• Did you consider the dish to be good value? What made it good value?

I would struggle to justify £8 on lamb leg steaks for a family meal but would as a treat.

• Would you buy lamb leg steaks again? If so why?

Yes because everyone enjoyed the meal.