I love lamb.  It's not as popular here in America as it is in the UK, for some reason, but that hasn't stopped me subjecting most people I've met to a lamby dinner.  This dish has gone down particularly well, several times.  If you don't want to deal with a whole leg of lamb, you could buy some large cubes of lamb, preferably leg meat, make kebabs instead and call them 'brochettes' to sound fancy.

The dish uses a vaguely Moroccan spice blend, which goes so well with lamb.  It’s definitely party food - buy a whole leg and then invite as many people as you think it will feed, plus a couple more.  Thanks go to Patrick, Marketa, Megan, Kevin, Lindsay, Andrew and Carole, among others, for being such active lamb-fest participants.

When visiting Libby, Tim, Ollie and Abi in Seattle a few months ago we had this in a Bolivian restaurant and found ourselves ordering more and more.  I recreated the recipe, and the home-made huminta was a hit with all of the original dining party, especially the littlest members. 

‘Huminta’ may mean something different to most South Americans, but here is the Copacabana Restaurant version.  For a hot, savoury, sweet, buttery side dish, you can’t go too wrong with this.

This recipe's for Abi (aged 1 year and 10 months), who was an enthusiastic guinea-pig during recipe testing.  Her dad calls them 'fairy cakes on acid'. You'll have to try them to see if you agree.