Epic harissa lamb roast

Last weekend, Mark suggested he take me out for a Sunday lunch - my counter-suggestion was that he buys the ingredients for me to cook for him instead. This may seem odd, but I had been wanting to try the slow roast harissa lamb recipe for a couple of weeks, and this was the perfect opportunity (and how I lived to regret it). 


In hindsight, this dish is wonderful - it tastes just beautiful and is (if I say so myself) one of the tastiest dishes I have ever made. So let's get started on the recipe for Slow Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Harissa, Spiced Pilaf Rice and Yoghurt (yes it deserves all capital letters). To add a bit of colour, I also made a grilled courgette salad and fresh beetroot -but I'll go into that later.


1 large shoulder of lamb - the recipe suggests 2kg, I used c 1.6kg - this also means the times I used were slightly less than in the recipe, but I have kept the original times for writing up
1*90g jar of rose harissa (I used Belazu, available in Waitrose)
salt& freshly ground black pepper
2 heads of whole garlic, cut in half;plus 3 extra cloves (peeled and minced)
Olive oil
1 lemon, quartered, plus 1 extra for squeezing
1/2 cucumber, lightly peeled
125g Greek style yoghurt (I used reduced fat, which may seem counter-intuitive given the amount of fat and calories in this dish)
1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
3 large onions (I used red ones), peeled and finely sliced
vegetable oil
100g sultanas (for info,the recipe suggests chopped dried apricots as a substitute)
1 heaped dessert spoon ground cumin
1 heaped dessert spoon ground allspice
A large pinch of saffron threads (c12)
Caster sugar
400g basmati rice (I used brown basmati)
500ml cold water
1 bunch coriander, leaves picked off and chopped
100g flaked toasted almonds - I only really needed half that, it depends how much you like almonds in food


Right - about 4 hours before eating, I preheated the oven at 175 C. I rubbed the shoulder of lamb with half the jar of harissa - the recipe suggests seasoning the lamb with salt as well,which I did, but I found it a bit too salty,so I'd probably leave this out - and then arranged the garlic halves in the bottom of a roasting pan. I added  the lemon quarters, sprinkled the pan with a little olive oil and salt and then placed the roast on top of the garlic and lemon. 

   

                       
I roasted the lamb in the oven for about 25 minutes, then turned the oven down to 130 C and roasted for another 3 1/2 hours. I basted the lamb about every half hour and, when the lamb was cooked, I turned the oven off with the door of the oven cracked slightly open and (as at this point the rest of the food was ready) put a couple of plates in the oven to warm.

About an hour before serving, I started preparing the pilaf - I used a large, heavy bottomed saucepan and put it over a high heat before adding a glug of olive oil, the onions, garlic and raisins. I fried this (it's important to stir constantly, as otherwise it can burn) over a high heat until the onions began to soften, then added the ground cumin and allspice, the saffron, a large teaspoon of harissa and a pinch of sugar. Again, I stirred constantly (scraping the spices off the bottom as I went) for about 5 minutes, before stirring in the rice until fully coated with the mixture.

I then added the water and covered the pilaf with a lid until the water began to simmer, then turned the heat down to its lowest setting and left it for 15 minutes - the recipe points out that as much steam should be retained as possible, so I barely lifted the lid. I then turned the rice off and left it for half an hour, lid firmly down.

Just before serving, check the seasoning of the rice (mine needed a bit more lemon) and sprinkle over the toasted almonds. I should note that brown basmati does work - but clearly needs a little more time and water than regular basmati, as it was noticeably too al dente....

In the meantime, I also made the yoghurt sauce - I quartered the peeled cucumber, removed the seeds and then chopped into 3mm cubes which I put into a colander over the sink. I seasoned the cucumber with a little salt, rubbed it in and left it for 30 minutes. After this point, I mixed together the cucumber, yoghurt, mint and a squeeze of lemon juice. Simples.

So, that the lamb, the pilaf and the yoghurt sauce. While that was all going on, I also made two other things, which you can fit around the rice:


1. TONY's AMAZING BEETROOT DISH (for which there is no official name)


My father is responsible for re-introducing me to beetroot with this dish alone. It's so yummy, I could eat just this dish for dinner. A bunch of beetroot will serve 2-4 people. You will also need olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dried basil and a large tablespoon of creme fraiche (I used half fat).


First, slice the beetroot finely (use a mandolin if necessary - I've done both with and without, and both work fine - just don't mandolin your finger like I did), then heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Add the beetroot and make sure all slices are coated with olive oil. Fry for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure they don't burn, then add a large glug of balsamic vinegar, freshly ground pepper and a little dried basil. 

 

About 20 minutes later, add another glug of balsamic vinegar, a bit more dried basil and the creme fraiche, then stir for a couple of minutes.....and that's it! It looks a bit messy, but tastes wonderful. I wouldn't have beetroot any other way...

2. Bruce's grilled courgette salad


This is a simple but rather time consuming dish - you need to mandolin each of the courgettes and then individually griddle each of the courgette slices. So this should probably be done in advance, although without adding the dressing, otherwise the courgettes go soggy.


4 courgettes, topped and tailed, and mandolined into c 2mm slices
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 dessert spoon red wine vinegar
caster sugar
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced (I used two)
olive oil
1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped


Place the courgette slices into a colander, season with salt and leave for 1 hour, then dry on absorbent kitchen roll. Heat a griddle pan until very hot and then griddle each individual courgette slice until charred on both sides, then place the slices into a large mixing bowl.

Just before serving, add the vinegar, a pinch of caster sugar and the garlic -mix this with your hands - add pepper, a slug of olive oil and the chopped mint. Combine well and serve.

And now (drum-roll), the finsished product(s) - I loved this dish/combo, and have decided to engineer a dinner party just so that I can cook this again! Well worth the effort....