Diana's Lamb

Diana Henry is a food writer I truly admire, her food always has a wee bit of an edge to it, be it from spicing or a slight unusual twist to the method, she is a great inspiration to me in my Culinary Adventures.   Last week I received a copy of her latest book Cook Simple. This book concentrates on food that can be cooked with very little effort involved at all, by no means are all her recipes quick to cook but they are ones that will sit happily marinading/roasting etc while you get on with your day.  

My first recipe to cook from this delightful book was, Harrisa Lamb with Chickpea Puree, I also served some roasted sweet potatoes with it.

Harissa is a spicy paste made from chillies, garlic, coriander, cumin and olive oil.  It originates from Tunisia but is used widely throughout North Africa and the Middle East.  The flavourings are often adapted depending on the region it is made.  I used an Israeli product.  

I was rather wary of cooking lamb, especially chops, as my Dad neither likes an overly lamby flavour or fatty meats, which lamb of course can be.  I was lucky the chump chops I managed to source at my local butchers were incredibly lean, just a little marbling of fat and a nice creamy rim near the bone, perfect.  As for the flavour, the marinade (and griddling) sorted that for me, lending a smokey but spicy taste.  The meat was wonderfully tender and sweet, perfect.

I love chickpeas, there’s something about the slightly grainy texture and  earthy taste that does it for me.  Diana recommends using a tin of chickpeas but I used dried instead, soaking overnight, then cooking as per the packet instructions on the day of the meal.  I really do think they’re far superior in flavour to the tinned variety, although, they are good in a food emergency  I didn’t follow the recipe in the book for the chickpeas, I just added some sauteed onion to them, about 50ml extra virgin olive oil, a good handful of mint and chives and some lovely wild garlic (about a good handful) sent to me by the amazing Violets, before blitzing all in the food processor until relatively smooth, how smooth you want it is of course up to you.  

I also made a harrisa sauce to go with the lamb, simply a couple of teaspoons (or less if you don’t like it so spicy) to 150ml of sour cream.  It really brought out the flavours of the lamb and provided a lovely creamy edge to the meal.  I suppose a food technologist would describe that in terms of mouthfeel but alas that isn’t me and anyway, I’d prefer to think about the flavour.

All in all a great success, lamb will be on our plates again and soon I hope