Knowing what to do with lamb can be a problem – there are so many cuts and it always seems like a lot of trouble. This recipe is designed to demonstrate that cooking with lamb can be quick and easy. Lamb is particularly suited to the grill, the integral fat is burnt or drained off and produces smoke and flames for a char-grilled flavour. But firing up a barbecue takes time – so here I simply pan fry the meat allowing it to sear to inject a little char-flavour. The pilaf is a typically Mediterranean accompaniment with grilled meat – if you do not like dill use parsley instead.
Method
- Get the pilaf going. Chop the onion into a fine dice and fry for 5 minutes in a good glug of olive oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan with lid, stir regularly. Weigh the rice and then put into a measuring jug and make a note of the measure. Add the rice to the onions and continue to fry, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes. Boil the kettle and measure just over one and three-quarters of the volume of the rice. Add to the pan and bring to a boil. Add the peas or broad beans and bring back to a boil. Add the chopped herbs with a pinch of salt and stir. Put the heat to the lowest setting and put on the lid. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Prepare the lamb. Cut the meat into chunks 2cm – 3cm square. Remove any thick parts of fat, but don’t trim it all off. Put onto wooden skewers (you may need to cut the skewers so they fit in your pan). Don’t wedge the cubes of meat against each other too tightly, this interfere with even cooking – it’s better to use more skewers. Pat the meat dry with kitchen towels. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the dried herbs. Drizzle over olive oil.
- Prepare the yoghurt. Chop the mint and add to the yoghurt. Add a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix and set to one side. If a runnier consistency is preferred dilute with a little milk.
- Prepare the salad. Chop the leaves.
- Cook the lamb. Heat a ribbed grill pan, a cast iron pan or non-stick pan to medium high heat. When hot add the lamb. Avoid moving the skewers about, let the meat sear and brown on each side. A large lid may be necessary tin the event of any splattering. Put the meat onto a plate, squeeze over lemon and keep warm.
- Serve. Put the skewers on top of a mound of pilaf. Add the salad and serve with lemon and the yoghurt sauce. If you can stretch to a few extra ingredients the dish is improved with a Greek-style salad of tomatoes, cucumber and olives, and some pitta bread on the side.
Tips: To marinate or not? The marinade for this Greek style grill would be garlic, lemon and oil with seasoning and herbs. But I find the lemon can denature the meat, giving it a softer texture – one which is less satisfying to chew than non-marinated lamb. Using garlic in these small kebabs can overpower the delicate flavour of lamb. The flavour of herbs and the lemon is just as easy to add at the end of cooking. Finally, marinating meat inhibits browning when frying in a pan (due to the extra liquid absorbed in the meat). So this method does not use a marinade. However, it is best to season with salt five minutes before cooking – allowing time for the salt to dissolve and flavour the meat.
Wet meat juices and lemon. These liquids inhibit browning, and may even cause the meat to stew rather than brown. In a very hot pan they will also interact with the fat and cause splattering. To keep things easy I recommend patting off moisture from the meat and avoid adding lemon before cooking (see tip above).
Pilaf rice. There are many variations on this theme. Some go for plain fluffy rice with a crusty bottom, others fill-up with added ingredients. All fry the rice in fats before adding water. My method above is the way I have done my rice for years. It’s fail safe and quick and easy. ‘Easy cook’ rice ensure there will be individual grains and no stickiness. I don’t wash easy cook rice, however, rinse the rice if you like and try to remove as much moisture as possible before frying. Half an hour is just right for cooking rice like this. However, all rice benefits from standing after cooking for a while. A good trick is to put a tea towel around the lid while it is standing. Many recipes use butter instead of oil at the beginning and many say to add extra butter at the end.
Marjoram, thyme and mint are typical flavours of Greece, try to get these into the dish, it makes all the difference.