This lamb with tomato & mint salad recipe is perfect now that the hot weather is here. It’s low in fat, super tasty and is great fresh when the lamb is hot or the next day when the lamb is cold. It’s quick and simple too – perfect for a midweek post-work dinner in the backyard or out on the balcony.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes / Cooking Time: 10 minutes / Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 lamb backstraps, about 200g each.
- 1 tbsp (15g) sumac
- 1 tsp (5g) cumin seeds
- 1 tsp (5g) coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp (15g) pine nuts
- 1 tbsp (15ml) olive oil
- 1 red pepper, sliced into approx 1cm x 1cm cubes
- 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 50g feta cheese
- 2 tbsp (30g) flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp (30ml) verjuice
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp (5ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
Method
- Place the olive oil, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and sumac into a fry pan. Cook for 2 minutes, moving around constantly so the ingredients don’t stick to the pan.
- Remove from the heat and transfer the contents into a mortar.
- Throw the pine nuts into the mortar and crush into a paste.
- Rub the paste evenly over the lamb.
- Put the fry pan back onto the heat and put the lamb inside. Cook for between 2-3 minutes per side so it’s as rare or well done as you like.
- Leave the lamb aside for a few minutes to rest.
- While the lamb is resting, place the other ingredients into a bowl and mix them up into a salad.
- Slice the lamb into pieces – Lauren and I like each piece to be quite thick.
- Put the salad evenly onto each plate and place the lamb on top.
- Drizzle with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and serve.
Notes
If you’re making this for a party or BBQ, you can cut the lamb into smaller portions and mix everything together in one big bowl.
Lamb cutlets also work quite well with this salad. You don’t want something too fatty in this case – low fat, lean cuts work best..