This dinner party main is
great for a work night, if you only have an hour or 2 before you have to serve.
You can do a lot of the work in the two evenings coming up to it and feel like
you’ve got the meat in the bag.
Isot, otherwise known as Urfa Biber, is a Turkish spice made from drying out dark purple chillis in the sun, giving them a raisiney flavour. you can get it in specialist spice shops and it is a bit different but if you can't be bothered, normal dried chili will do
Pulled pommegrante and isot spiced lamb
Hot honey glazed carrots and parsnip with
chili, fennel seeds, basil, and sesame yoghurt
Spiced mixed rice with apricot and pine nuts
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| yes, I have posted this recipe before but it is scrumptious with the lamb! |
The Lamb (serves 4-5)
1.3kg bone-in lamb
shoulder joint
4 shallots rough diced
1l carton pomegranate juice
2 tablespoons clear honey
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (you can do an
extra tablespoon of honey instead if you don't have any)
For the marinade
1 table spoon ras el hanout
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp of pepper and 1 of salt
1 tablespoon isot
1 tablespoon tomato purée
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
To Garnish
1/2 a pomegranate
The Rice (serves
4-5)
200g of brown basmati mixed in a 3:1 ratio
with red rice (Waitrose 'love life' do a mixed version which I used)
3 shallots, finely diced
8 dried apricots, finely diced
1 tablespoon of oil (or fat from the lamb)
1 tablespoon of tad el hanoit
1/2 tsp salt
400ml chicken stock (using a good quality stock
cube is fine)
To Garnish
2
tablespoons of pine nuts
The leaves of a small bunch of flat leafed parsley
The Carrots and
Parsnips (serves 4-5)
700 kg of baby carrots
2 parsnips
1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
1 tablespoon of dried chilli flakes
½ tsp salt
Oil for cooking
1 tablespoon of sesame oil and 1
tablespoon of honey for frying, later
1 1/2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
½ a pot of yoghurt
A tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
A tablespoon of honey
Salt to taste
A handful of basil
Method
2 days in advance:
Combine your marinade ingredients and massage them into the lamb, cover and refrigerate the next day.
1 day in advance:
Remove the lamb from the fridge 1 hour before
cooking. Preheat oven to 150C/130C fan/ gas 3.
Put your shallots in your baking dish - I used a porcelain
one since it tends not to burn things as easily. Place your lamb on top of the
onions and pour in the pomegranate juice (if it doesn't all fit in your pan
without being dangerously deep then just enjoy a glass yourself)
Cover tightly with foil and cook for 4 hours.
Allow to cool and then
strain your cooking liquid into a bowl and place the onions back in the dish
with the lamb. Allow both to cool, and refrigerate overnight, tightly covered
with foil/cling film.
On the day, 2 hours
before serving:
Now there should be a thick layer of solidified
fat above your cooking liquid. Remove this and save for cooking - I roasted my
carrots in it instead of oil, and used it to cook the onions for my rice.
Heat the liquid in a saucepan and add the honey
and molasses - let it reduce on a high heat until it is syrupy - this means it
has to reduce a lot and could take up to 30 minutes. When done, pour the
liquid back in with your lamb.
Preheat the oven to 220C / 200fan
Meanwhile, prepare
your carrots by peeling and halving them lengthways. Peel and dice your
parsnip into pieces around 1cm x 1cm x 0.5cm. This takes a while with the little, fiddly carrots.
Heat up the oil (or a tablespoon of your lamb fat)
in a baking dish in the preheated oven.
After 3-5 minute place the parsnips and carrots in
it with the salt, chilli and fennel seeds. Mix them around so they all get a
covering.
Remember to check on your
sauce.
Roast
for 30 minutes so they are cooked (test the parsnip) but the carrots are still crunchy.
While
they are in the oven toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan until slightly
bronze (only takes a minute or two and very easy to burn so don’t leave the hob
while doing it).
Next
mix the yoghurt dressing and add salt to taste.
Once
the vegetables have had their 30 minutes stir around with a drizzle of sesame
oil and a tablespoon of honey.
Serve
when needed at room temperature. Toss with the sesame seeds and serve with the
plucked basil leaves scattered around the root vegetables and spoons of the yoghurt
dressing placed around it.
1 hour 20 minutes before serving:
Turn the oven down to 160C / 140Cfan.
Now wash your rice by
placing it in a large bowl full of cold water. Rub the grains together with
your hands until the water becomes cloudy then strain. Repeat this process two more times
then leave to drain in a sieve for 10 minutes.
1 hour 10 minutes before serving: Put the lamb,
tightly covered with foil in the oven
Dice your shallot and
apricots.
Fry your diced shallots in
oil / lamb fat for 3-4 minutes until soft, add the apricots, spice and
seasoning and stir for a minute. Pour in the rice and the stock and bring to
the boil.
Once bubbling, turn the heat
down and cover tightly with foil and a lid and cook on a low heat for 25
minutes, do not open the lid!
While the rice is cooking
toast your pine nuts in a pan with a drop of oil, stirring the whole time until
they are gently bronzed. Put aside when done and take the leaves off the
parsley, discarding the stalks.
De-seed your ½ pomegranate.
Once the 25 minutes is up
leave it to rest, lid on for 10-30 minutes.
To serve transfer it into a
bowl and mix in the pine nuts, place the parsley on top.
10 minutes before serving: Take the lamb out of the
oven and shred / carve all the meat of the bone and mix in with the sauce.
Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and serve
I followed this up with a fruit tart which will be posted soon…
