A few weeks ago, we ordered a lamb from an organic farmer friend of ours and while we were scoffing cocktails in Athens, a very kind friend took delivery of it for us, weighed all the pieces, labelled them and put them in our fridge. Hanna, you rock ;-)
On March 16th, we had leg of lamb for dinner. Oh my. Tender, juicy yumminess doesn't even begin to describe how good it was. I followed a very simple Jamie Oliver recipe and in jig time, we were sitting down to aromatic heaven. I also made his mint sauce, which was a disaster, so best avoided if anyone is curious. Waaaay too much red wine vinegar. Thankfully I'm not a mint sauce fan, so only Mountain Man was disappointed and had to mop up the vinegary goo from his plate before continuing. But I digress.
On St. Patrick's Day we were both on a fast day, as part of the 5:2 Programme. (Hardly the stereotypical way to spend the day, but I do love to break the mould.) I was half starved by 3pm, so figured the only way I'd make it to breakfast today was if dinner was utterly delicious. I searched the worldwideweb for some lamb salad recipes, came up with nothing satisfactory so decided to mash a few of them together and hope for the best.
I sliced up some of the cooked lamb, marinaded it in lemon juice, a tiny amount of olive oil and some Za'atar, which I bought in San Francisco and had no idea how to use. Za'atar is actually thyme, but this was a mix of thyme, sesame seeds, summac and sea salt.
Once this was marinading I rinsed 1/4 cup of quinoa and simmered in 3/4 cup of water until cooked (when the little tails break free of the seed body, they're ready). This was then drained and spread out on a plate to cool.
The odd bits of veg lounging in my fridge were sliced up and pan friend with some garlic. I managed to dig out half a courgette, 1/3 of a leek and a red onion.
I poked the seeds out of 1/4 of a pomegranate and mixed them with half a head of romaine lettuce, the few mint leaves that were left after a cocktail night on Friday and a handful of toasted pine nuts. Then, the lamb was quickly pan fried, the veg was added for one more quick spin in the pan and the whole lot was mixed in a large salad bowl including a light dressing made with lemon juice, pomegranate molasses (first use! woop woop!) salt, pepper and olive oil.
A small pile of sparkling, colourful goodness landed on our plates and was gobbled down before we had time to blink. I tried very hard to savour every mouthful, but it was very difficult. I was half starved after all. We loved it so much I'm making it again tonight, but this time adding even more ingredients like sultanas, chia seeds and red pepper. Can't wait!
On March 16th, we had leg of lamb for dinner. Oh my. Tender, juicy yumminess doesn't even begin to describe how good it was. I followed a very simple Jamie Oliver recipe and in jig time, we were sitting down to aromatic heaven. I also made his mint sauce, which was a disaster, so best avoided if anyone is curious. Waaaay too much red wine vinegar. Thankfully I'm not a mint sauce fan, so only Mountain Man was disappointed and had to mop up the vinegary goo from his plate before continuing. But I digress.On St. Patrick's Day we were both on a fast day, as part of the 5:2 Programme. (Hardly the stereotypical way to spend the day, but I do love to break the mould.) I was half starved by 3pm, so figured the only way I'd make it to breakfast today was if dinner was utterly delicious. I searched the worldwideweb for some lamb salad recipes, came up with nothing satisfactory so decided to mash a few of them together and hope for the best.
I sliced up some of the cooked lamb, marinaded it in lemon juice, a tiny amount of olive oil and some Za'atar, which I bought in San Francisco and had no idea how to use. Za'atar is actually thyme, but this was a mix of thyme, sesame seeds, summac and sea salt.Once this was marinading I rinsed 1/4 cup of quinoa and simmered in 3/4 cup of water until cooked (when the little tails break free of the seed body, they're ready). This was then drained and spread out on a plate to cool.
The odd bits of veg lounging in my fridge were sliced up and pan friend with some garlic. I managed to dig out half a courgette, 1/3 of a leek and a red onion.
A small pile of sparkling, colourful goodness landed on our plates and was gobbled down before we had time to blink. I tried very hard to savour every mouthful, but it was very difficult. I was half starved after all. We loved it so much I'm making it again tonight, but this time adding even more ingredients like sultanas, chia seeds and red pepper. Can't wait!
Sounds and looks amazing! Keep up the good work :-)
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