Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Red Pepper Coulis

I love rack of lamb, but you don't very often see the meat for sale in the stores, so when I see one I tend to buy it. Lamb is probably my favourite meat, so for me this was a real Saturday night treat. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 rack of lamb, ca 6 pieces, all visible fat removed

2 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried basil

2 tso dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried sage

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp white pepper

1 red pepper

rice and vegetables to serve

Place all the herbs in a spice grinder with the salt and pepper and whizz until a fine powder. Use to coat the lamb. Cook at 200°C for 10-20 minutes depending on how well you like your meat cooked.

For the coulis, grill the red pepper until it is starting to blister, then remove the skin under running cold water. Place in a liquidiser with enough water to make a runny sauce. Heat on the stove and serve with the lamb. 

Cut the lamb into chops and serve with rice, vegetables and the red pepper coulis. 

 

Kofta Challow

In a fit of international madness, I decided to embark on a mission to cook at least one meal from every country in the world. *Gulp*. I have of course covered a few countries already, but decided to start this project with Afghanistan – a cuisine I know next to nothing about. Googling, I found a recipe that I decided to adapt for the Slimming World plan. I fist came across using coriander seeds in meatballs back in the 1980s, when we travelled to within 40 miles of the Afghan border, in what what then Soviet Central Asia. 

 I always struggle to find extra lean minced lamb, so I usually mince my own – today I cheated and 'minced' the meat by pulsing cubed lamb (with all visible fat removed) in in the food processor. It was too hot today to spend much time in the kitchen.

I always cook my meatballs in the steamer rather than frying or baking them as it is so much less hassle – they remain anaemic, but if you are serving them in a sauce it really doesn't matter. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

250g extra lean minced lamb (see note above)

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic

1 egg

2 tsp coarsely ground coriander seeds

1 tsp bouillon powder

½ tsp ground black pepper

300ml passata

2 small onions, finely chopped

1 tsp bouillon powder

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1 cup basmati rice

1 tsp coarsely ground cumin seeds

5 whole cardamom, ground

salt

I made this the easy way, by placing all the ingredients for the meatballs in a food processor and pulsing it until the meat resembles mince and the onion in finely chopped. Form little meatballs with your hand and steam for 15 minutes until cooked through.

Cook rice in plenty of water with the spices.

Make the sauce by frying the onion in Fry Light until soft, then add all the other ingredients. Once the meatballs are cooked, add to the sauce and serve with the rice.

Lamb Shish Kebabs with Apple Slaw

As I always seem to have trouble finding extra lean minced lamb, I usually end up mincing my own. I have one of these old fashioned hand mincers, but it works a treat.

Zaatar is a middle eastern herb mix which includes sesame seeds. If you can't find zaatar, you can leave it out completely, and deduct one syn. I was unable to confirm the syn value for it, but have counted it as 1 syn for sesame seeds.

Serves 2

2 syns on Extra Easy

For the kebabs

300g extra lean minced lamb

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper

1-2 tsp zaatar

For the apple slaw

½ small white cabbage

1-2 carrots, depending on size

1 small onion

1 apple

4 tbsps extra light mayonnaise

4 tbsp fat free plain yogurt

For the Harissa swirled yogurt

1 tub of fat free natural yogurt

1-2 tsp harissa paste

Mix together all the ingredients for the kebabs except the zaatar, and form into little sausage shaped sticks. Roll in the zaatar to coat. Bake on a greased oven tray for 15-20 minutes until cooked through and nicely browned.

Meanwhile make the slaw by grating the carrots and apple; and finely slicing the cabbage and onion. Mix the mayonnaise and yogurt together and add water, a little at a time, until the runny consistency has been achieved. Stir into the slaw.

Swirl some harissa through the yogurt and serve with the kebabs. I usually make my own harissa paste – it is a lot of work and very fiddly, but so worth the effort, as the taste is far superior. 

Raan Lamb Steaks with Biryani Style Rice

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra easy

2 lamb steaks, all visible fat removed

For the marinade

1 small onion, chopped

3-4 garlic cloves

knob of root ginger, chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped

1 tub fat free natural yogurt

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground turmeric

¼ tsp paprika

For the Rice

150g Basmati rice

2 tsp bouillon powder or stock cube

6 shallots, thinly sliced

¼ tsp ground turmeric

5 cardamom pods

5 whole cloves

1 carrot, grated

1 courgette, grated

Liquidise all the marinade ingredients until a smooth paste, and cover the lamb steaks completely. Leave for at least two hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat the oven to 230°C . Remove the lamb steaks from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then turn, cover with the reserved marinade and bake for another 20 minutes until nicely browned and cooked through.

Heat a frying pan with some Fry Light and sauté the shallots on a very high heat, stirring constantly, until browned. Keep aside. Cook the rice in the bouillon powder or stock cube with the turmeric, cardamom and cloves, adding the grated carrot and courgette for the last few minutes. Stir in the shallots, place the rice on two plates and top with the lamb steaks.

I served with some spiced cauliflower, to ensure that I got plenty of superfree in. 

Lamb Shanks with Barley and Root Vegetables

This seems to have been cooking all day, and I struggled to find a pot large enough to house all the vegetables, but it was well worth it for the finished product.

Served 2

2½ Syns on Extra Easy

2 lamb shanks

a couple of handfuls of pearl barley

bouillon powder to make stock

2 medium sized potatoes, diced

2 carrots, thickly sliced

2 leeks, thickly sliced

1 parsnip, diced

1 onion, diced

4 tbsp Bisto gravy powder

Place shanks and barley in a large oven-proof pot and cover with stock. Bake at 160°C for 1.5 hours. Add the vegetables and return to the oven for a further 1.5 hours. Remove the juices form the pan, keeping the meat and vegetables hot, add the Bisto powder to the pan juices and heat to thicken, adding more water if necessary.

Serve the vegetables on a plate, topped with the lamb shanks. Serve the gravy separately, and mint sauce is desired. 

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Freekeh Salad with Sumac Lamb

Always one to try something new when I see it; when I discovered a box of Freekeh on the shelves of Bristol Sweetmart the other day, I couldn't resist buying it.

Freekeh is a roasted green wheat which is particularly popular in Palestine, the Arabian peninsula and Egypt. According to Wikipedia: "The wheat is harvested while the grains are yellow and the seeds are still soft; it is then piled and sun-dried. The piles are then carefully set on fire so only the straw and chaff burn and not the seeds. It is the high moisture content of the seeds that prevents them from burning. The now roasted wheat undergoes further thrashing and sun-drying to make the flavour, texture, and colour uniform. It is this thrashing or rubbing process of the grains that gives this food its name, farīk or “rubbed.” The seeds are now cracked into smaller pieces so they look like a green bulgur."

The initial plan was to make this as a vegetarian salad, but a surplus lamb shank changed that plan. Buying three of any piece of meat usually proves difficult as the store normally packages them in twos. Although shanks were available to buy singularly at the butcher counter, they were much smaller and looked inferior.

This recipe would work equally well with other cracked wheat such as bulgur, or even couscous or rice.

Freekeh Salad with Sumac Lamb, Figs and Feta

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra easy providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

150g cooked lamb

1 tsp sumac

100g freekeh

5-6 small fresh figs, quartered

100g feta cheese, cubed

½ red onion, thinly sliced

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Cut the cooked lamb in to small slivers and coat with the sumac. Leave in infuse for a while. Cook the freekeh in plenty of salted water for 30 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Mix together all the ingredients and serve.

This was a great salad to take for a car picnic today, although I did carry the feta cheese and parsley separately and mixed in just as I was serving. 

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Lamb and Apricot Tajine

A tajine is a Berber dish from North Africa which is named after the earthenware pot it is cooked in. Of course you don't have to own a tajine to cook this dish, any oven proof casserole will do. I always think a large part of the enjoyment of any meal is the visual aspect of it, so I go to great lengths to ensure the table settings look good and the food is presented nicely. I collect plates and other crockery, much to my husband's dismay, as he can never find anywhere to put them. Maybe we need a bigger house?

Lamb and Apricot Tajine with couscous, harissa yogurt and pomegranate salad

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy providing you use the apricots as your Healthy Extra B

300g diced, lean lamb

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp paprika

120g dried apricots, roughly chopped

boiling water

100g couscous

1 carrot

1 courgette

125ml stock

1 tsp mint sauce

1 tub 0% natural yogurt

1 tsp harissa paste

1 packet of pomegranate seeds

½ red onion, thinly sliced

small handful of coriander leaves, chopped

juice of ½ lime

6g toasted almond slivers (optional) – allow 1 syn if using

Sauté the onions and garlic in a little Fry Light until soft. Mix all the spices together and add the lamb, making sure the meat is well covered. Constantly stirring, add the lamb to the onions in the pan and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the chopped apricots and enough water to cover. Transfer to an oven-proof dish and bake at 150°C for 2.5 – 3 hours.

Grate the carrot and courgette and place in a pan with the couscous and mint sauce. The instructions on the couscous packet suggests 125ml water or stock, but I always find I need to use more. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring to ensure the couscous doesn't stick to the bottom (my husband always berates me for welding food to the pan – it makes the washing up doubly hard for him).

Lightly stir some harissa paste into the yogurt. I always use much more than a teaspoon, but it depends on your taste and the strength of the harissa – mine is home made and very hot!

Mix together all the ingredients for the pomegranate salad.

Top the lamb tajine with the toasted almonds and serve with the couscous, yogurt and pomegranate salad.

Bob apetit.

I find this is such lovely comfort food, perfect for a cold dark Saturday evening such as today. The seratonin in the chilli always lifts my spirits and I love the combination of flavours, colours and textures.


I bought the tajine in France and brought the mats back from Burkina Faso. The brown plate is from the Range and the red bowls from John Lewis. The gold plated wooden-handled cutlery was bought over the internet. 

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