CREW DINNER: Lamb torpedoes
Lamb torpedoes on a piadina with mint yogurt, pine nuts and salad
This is super simple and, such an easy supper that I love because even though there's a flat bread in the mix this is a light meal. There's a very small amount of meat involved which is not just a healthy thing. My inspiration comes from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's well celebrated book 'Jerusalem'.
I moulded my torpedoes from around 100g's of Lamb from my butcher; first thing I did was let the meat come to room temperature I left it marinading in Maldon Sea Salt, mixed spice, cinnamon, black pepper, chilli flakes, finely chopped flat leafed parsley and onion and a pinch of sumac.
If you like Turkish/Persian/Maltese food, you'll probably use these herbs and spices in not just curries and chillies but all sorts of vegetables, grains and on meat. There's something about a dusty, exotic spice that gets me in over-drive.
Preheat your oven to 200 °C. Bring a small pan to the boil, add brown rice with a pinch of Maldon Sea Salt.
Take your meat, mould the torpedoes in your hand, keep shape consistency to ensure all of them are cooked for the same amount of time. I started cooking my ones in a frying pan that had a residue of mint, veg, chilli, pesto and olive oil from the night before so I just thought I'd save on washing up and add to the favour by using the same pan.
On a medium heat gently let them brown in the saucepan, turning occasionally. Thinly chop halved courgettes, add them to the lamb once the lamb is browned, watch them take on a deep colour from the meat but don't burn them. Drain the rice when it's al dente and soak with lemon juice and season with Maldon Sea Salt and black pepper, move all the rice in to a foil parcel, add the courgettes that are only just on their way to being cooked. You need to do up the foil parcel tightly, leaving room to transfer the lamb (outside parcel) in to the same dish, I'm trying to be economical with space here.
Rice is a funny thing and over the years I've come to realise that finishing rice in the oven, even if it's for minutes makes it. No need for a rice maker – there's no room for that in the galley anyway!
I finely chopped my mint sprigs, mixed this with crushed garlic the yogurt, lemon juice, Maldon Sea Salt and Pepper which makes the yogurt. On the side I also chopped tomatoes and cucumber into squares. Seared about four cherry tomatoes in the frying pan and later adding – toasting pine nuts.
Layer this up as you please; rice, courgettes, lamb, salad. It's also not essential to eat this piping hot.
Reference Kofta b'siniyach which is similarly cooked but served with tahini sauce. Heaven!