It’s election day in Queensland where we live and for the first time in a long time, there’s a real choice between the parties. The conservatives (LNP) want to lease state-owned assets for 99 years and use the money to pay down debt and pay for infrastructure in roads, bridges and schools. The more liberal labor party (ALP) lost the last election for wanting to sell state assets so they are promising not to do that. The Greens (GRN) want to protect the reef and would like a 2-year test on daylight savings to maximise solar power during peak time and the Palmer United (PUP) wants to sort everything out but we haven’t learned just how yet. The polls predict that the current premier (like a governor), according to most of the polls, is set to lose his seat so everything is up in the air.
As I’m writing this post, it’s 30 minutes until the polls close and everyone I know will be watching the returns. It is expected that the LNP will retain government but with a greatly reduced margin. When I arrived at the polling booths I was met by supporters of all four parties who handed their ‘how to vote’ cards. I took them all and went inside with my ID. The ballot had 4 names and I only had to choose one, but I could number them one through four if I wished. That was it, all done. It took about a minute. Voting in Australia is compulsory and there’s a fine of more than $100 if you decide not to vote. Being able to vote is a wonderful thing and I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t vote when they can. It’s the best way to get good government.
Because I plan to be watching the election returns AND the Australian Open AND the Asian World Cup of soccer all at the same time tonight, I needed an easy recipe for dinner and a roast mini lamb rump couldn’t be easier, paired with some roasted potatoes, roast pumpkin and a bit of steamed broccoli.
We have John’s dad with us because he needed to vote too so we’ll all have lamb for dinner. Instead of one lamb rump, I’ll cook two so Rob can have his fill of real people food. The nursing home, if you remember, has either roast meat in gravy or quiche.
I made some shortbread earlier because he’s used to eating at 5:30pm and that’s too early for us. 7pm is dinner around here and no amount of fiddling seems to change that.
- 1 lamb rump, approximately 250 grams (about ½ pound)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves (1½ teaspoons freshly chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves (1 teaspoon freshly chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F
- Take the lamb out about 15 minutes before roasting to come to room temperature.
- Pat the lamb rump dry and stab slits in the meat and push a slice of garlic in each slit.
- Rub the lamb with the olive oil and sprinkle the herbs, salt and pepper over the meat.
- Place in a roasting pan about the size of the meat and pop it into the oven for 20 minutes for medium. (If your lamb rump is larger, you'll need to cook it longer. Medium should be between 65-70C/149-158F)
- Let the meat rest for 10-20 minutes covered with foil.
- Cut across the grain for tenderness (something I often get wrong) and serve with mint sauce or mint jelly.