One of my favourite things is getting together with friends and family. I love food where you can chuck it into the centre of the table and everyone can help themselves – a real feast. I’m not a huge fan of a traditional Sunday roast and in summer, I don’t do it at all. The recipe for this month, which can be done on your barbecue or in an oven like I have, is a great alternative.
We’ve got lamb leg, marinaded with ras el hanout and mustard. It’s quite simple but with simple, Moroccan inspired flavours which is a bit of a shift as I don’t do a great deal of this type of dish in the kitchen at work. There are aubergines marinaded in a preserve lemon and cumin seeds and then it's got pomegranate and sour cream dressing and a salsa verde. There is a lovely bit of freshness from the courgette pickle, too. I love that there are a lot of spices, giving this dish lots of interest.
This is a great time of year to use lamb, too. People associate it with Easter but I prefer how the lamb flavour develops and edges towards the hogget stage. With a lamb leg, it’s a really nice cut of mean, not too expensive and you get plenty of bang for your buck when it comes to flavour.
It works well with a salsa verde, just a nice big punchy herb salsa. Again, at this time of year, people got herbs in the garden and with this a load of herbs can be chucked in and blended with a bit of mustard, capers and lemon. It’s a fresh, clean herbaceous sauce.
The courgette pickle is a recipe that close to my heart that was one of the first recipes I used as a chef back when I was working at Chicory in Lytham, my first job. It was always on the menu, one of the chef's signatures, but it's always been floating around. It’s also quite a nice way to use any extra courgettes you’ve grown and is a little bit different.
Ras el hanout roast leg of lamb, cumin and lemon aubergines, salsa verde and courgette pickle
For the spiced lamb
1kg lamb leg joint
3 tbsp rase l hanout spice
3 tbsp mustard powder
Splash of rapeseed oil
Maldon Sea Salt
For the aubergines
1 aubergine, cut into quarters
1 tsp cumin seeds
Zest of 1 lemon
A good splash of rapeseed oil
Salt
1 pomegranate
A few sprigs of mint and parsley
For the salsa verde
50g parsley
50g basil
50g chervil
50g mint
Tbsp capers
Zest of 1 lemon
Glug of rapeseed oil
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt
For the courgette pickle
3 courgettes, sliced finely
1 shallot, sliced finely
1tspn mustard seeds
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
100ml white wine vinegar
400ml water
50g sugar
Salt
Method
For the spiced lamb
Rub the Lamb with the rapeseed oil, mix the ras el hanout, mustard powder and salt together and rub into the lamb. Allow to marinate for 24 hours.
A few hours before cooking, remove from the fridge to allow to come to room temperature.
Roast in the oven at 200 degrees for 50 minutes, then allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.
For the aubergines
Marinate the aubergines overnight with all the ingredients, grill for 10 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Dress with creme fraiche, pomegranate seeds, mint and parsley salsa verde
For the salsa verde
Blend all the ingredients together, adding in rapeseed oil to bring to a pesto consistency. You can use any herbs you like in this recipe, these are just my preferred ones.
For the courgette pickle
Add all the ingredients to a pan, apart from the courgettes, and bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and add in the courgettes and lightly cook for one minute to soften the courgettes, turn off the heat.
Cover with clingfilm and allow to sit for 24 hours.
