Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Terrific grilled lamb salad



Last weekend was really summery - the first truly warm spring days here. We cleaned the apartment, cuddled with the cats, got a lot of shopping done, and relaxed with a wonderful dinner on the balcony. This grilled lamb salad really hit the spot. I love lamb, and I'm always excited to use it in new combinations. This one isn't earth-shattering by any means, but it's very flavorful, well-balanced and in general a must-try.

The recipe comes from an issue of Donna Hay's magazine, that I picked up in the US last summer. A great magazine by the way, I really wish it was available here. As it is, I only have that one issue, and I would love more. Many more. Oh well.

Grilled Lamb Salad
Serves 2

350 g of lamb fillets
2 teaspoons of olive oil
ground cumin
sea salt
coarse black pepper
1/2 cucumber, halved and sliced
handful of ripe cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 shallots, sliced into thin rounds

Yougurt dressing
100 ml thick greek or turkish yogurt
handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
squeeze of lemon
1 tbsp or more of water

Start by mixing the oil with the cumin, salt and pepper. Brush this onto the fillets of lamb, and grill them - outdoor if you have the equipment and the weather, or in a regular indoors grill pan. (That's what I did, and it was great.) Don't overcook them - just grill for a few minutes on each side. Meanwhile, get the veggies ready and arrange on plates. Chop the mint for the dressing, and mix together the yogurt with water and lemon, and the mint. Add more water if you think it needs it.

Slice the lamb, arrange over the veggies, and drizzle with dressing. Done! This is also great with a garlicky tzatziki, or my own little version, "raitziki". I happened to have some in the frige, and it blended very well with the other flavors. This is something we'll eat often during the summer, I'm sure.


Can't resist putting up a picture of it in its nude state, too. Mmm.

6 comments:

Federley said...

Att jag inte hittat denna tidigare! Ska genast bli en trogen läsare!

Niki said...

Donna Hay magazines might be more easily available to you in Sweden ordered from the UK. She's actually Australian, did you know? (I didn't until recently. I always assumed she was British or American).
I just found a couple on eBay too. Let me know if you have trouble, and I might be able to send some to you. :-)

Anne said...

Federley - åh, välkommen :) Jag läser ju faktiskt *din* blogg varje dag, så det är inte mer än rätt att du hittat hit.

Niki - I did know she was Australian! I have some of her cookbooks, too - and I'm really a big fan of her fresh cooking. The Ebay tip is awesome, I'll definitely check that out. If you have some issues, are there any you particularly recommend that I try to get my hands on? :) I have the Summer one from last year, with the ice cream bars on the front. (And isn't that an AWESOME picture..)

Nic said...

That salad looks and sounds fantastic, Anne. I love Donna Hay's recipes (but don't love the import prices on her magazine). Definately tempting me to cook lamb, though I find it difficult to get good cuts here.

Jorge Guitián said...

Hi, Anne:

Thanks for you comment in my blog. It's always great to hear from another gourmet bloggers. Please, feel free to contact me asking for translations of the recipes in my site or any other suggestions.

I visit your site a few times a week and it is always a good place to find new ideas (I've added your site to my blog in a recent post about gourmet sites).

Anonymous said...

I've cooked this a couple of times, I enjoy the simplicity. I've been using lamb backstraps sliced thin..

Keep up the good work :)