Hi, this recipe is from the Guardian's 'Feast' Magazine, issue 188, Sat 21st August 2021, page 4, also access online here. This meal was really nice and I loved the variety of flavours it gave. The ezme was a super refreshing salsa with a good kick of heat, the mint in it made it feel summery as well, so I really enjoyed that. As well as this, the lamb chops were flavoured really nicely and went very well with the ezme and yogurt, I hope to make this dish again as we all ate it. My sister, not a big fan of spice, didn't have the ezme or cumin salt, but she still ate the lamb so that was great. If you aren't so keen on spice also, then leave the chillies out of the ezme and you will have an amazing non-hot ezme to try, let me know how it goes. Also, I don't think that the cumin salt was necessary, so if you want to save a few ingredients then don't bother with it, it didn't add much flavour for me and there was enough other spices there without it. However, this is just a matter of opinion so do as you wish. Luckily, this wasn't a difficult dish to make, it was quick and fun, the longest time is the marinating which can be done in advance and the grilling time is super quick. It was relaxing to make with not much going on, if you have a busy schedule then I would definitely suggest you try this out. Any leftover ezme and meat can be frozen too, we've frozen a few leftover chops, so you can enjoy a portion or two again without having to recook the entire recipe. Enjoy!
Hazel x
TIP: If you don't have a griddle pan, use a grill turned up to its highest settings {see my adaptations for how it worked for me}.
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Serve the sides on the table so people can choose how much to have. I had multiple servings of the ezme, it was super tasty.
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Dietary Info:
-Unsuitable for Vegans/Vegetarians
{In place of the lamb chops, use sliced tofu roughly 2 blocks for 4, or marinate veggie 'sausages' in the marinade. See below for dairy-suggestions (vegan).}
-Contains Dairy
{In place of the Greek yogurt, use a plain soya yogurt or another preferred non-dairy substitute if you like. For example, e.g Alpro Soya Plain, Alpro Soya Greek-Style Plain or Alpro Greek-Style Oat. }
-Gluten-Free
{Serve with rice not couscous}
-Contains Nuts
{For the walnuts, leave them out and if you want a crunch in the ezme, and are able to tolerate, use some seeds maybe pumpkin or poppy.}
-Main Meal
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| Tasty selection of sides (ezme, cous cous and cumin salt) + Greek yogurt (not pictured) |
-Prep: 15 min
-Marinate: 3 hr+
-Cook: 35 min
-Serves: 6
Ingredients:
For the lamb:
-2tbsp olive oil {I used extra virgin but any neutral oil will work fine.}
-5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
-2 lemons, 1 juiced, to get 1½ tbsp, the other cut into quarters {You only really need one lemon for the juice as the 2nd one for serving is not necessary, mine was fine without it. Also, you can use lemon juice from a bottle if that is easier for you.}
-Salt
-1kg lamb chops {I had 1.1kg of lamb chops and I froze about half of them for another meal. (2-3 chops per person)}
For the cumin salt:
-1+1/2tbsp cumin seeds, toasted {I only had ground cumin so I used that.}
-1/2tsp flaked sea salt
-1tsp sumac {I didn't want to buy any of this so I omitted it from the recipe. Sumac is a middle-eastern spice.}
For the ezme:
-2 banana shallots, peeled and cut in half lengthways (100g net) {I used 'normal' shallot.s}
-6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
-5 red chillies (110g) {I used 4 to get 110g.}
-6 plum tomatoes (600g) {There were no plum tomatoes at the shop we went to so I used 6 large tomatoes instead.}
-60ml olive oil {I used extra virgin, any will be fine though.}
-1tbsp tomato paste {puree.}
-2+1/2tbsp pomegranate molasses {I didn't want to buy a new jar of a syrup-like thing, instead I used a maple and sugar syrup blend I already had in the cupboard. If you have honey, maple, golden syrup, black treacle or similar they should all be fine here as well.}
-20g walnuts, toasted and finely chopped {no walnuts, but I had 20g of pistachios leftover from a previous recipe which I toasted and chopped, they were absolutely fine in place of walnuts.}
-25g mint leaves, finely chopped {I only had 6g left of a packet, but it was actually sufficiently mint-y with only that amount.}
-20g parsley leaves, finely chopped {I used 5g of fresh coriander leftover from a previous recipe, it added a very nice flavour.}
-200g Greek-style yoghurt {I just had a large 500g tub on the table for people to serve themselves as you will need more/less yogurt depending on how much spice you can handle.}
Method:
1: First, marinate the lamb. In a large bowl, mix the oil, garlic, a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice and three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt. Add the lamb, toss to coat, then cover, refrigerate and leave to marinate for at least three hours. {I did this around 8:00am for cooking later at 6pm, so they had a good few hours in the fridge.}
2: For the cumin salt, roughly crush the cumin in a mortar, {unless already ground.} then stir in the flaked salt and sumac {if using.}. Very lightly crush the mix again, then transfer to a small bowl.
3: Place a griddle pan on a high heat. {Or preheat your grill to its highest setting, mine was 240℃.} While it’s warming up, prepare the vegetables for the ezme. In a large bowl, mix the shallots, garlic, chilli, tomatoes and a tablespoon of the oil. {I forgot to rub them with oil so any adaptation to the cooking time, take this into account.} Once the griddle is hot, grill the vegetables in two {I did garlic, chillies and shallots as one batch, then the tomatoes as another (under the grill.)} or more batches, using tongs to turn them as necessary: give the shallots about two minutes {under the grill mine needed 3-4mine per side.} on each side, until softened and charred; grill the chilli and garlic for about five minutes, {My chilli and garlic took 7mins.} turning often, until the skins are blistered and blackened all over; and grill the tomatoes for about 10 minutes, until softened and blistered. Once cooked, lift the vegetables on to a board and leave to cool.
4: Once the grilled vegetables are cool, peel off and discard the chilli, garlic and tomato skins, {I only discarded the garlic skins, I kept the chilli ones in for the charred flavour and the tomato for texture changes, it was fine.} then finely chop all the vegetables and put in a medium bowl. Stir in a half-teaspoon of salt and all the remaining ingredients for the ezme bar the yoghurt, then set aside. {This doesn't need to be warm to serve, so you could make this in advance and keep in the fridge if you like. Mine was warm but not hot, when served.}
5: Return the griddle pan to a high heat and, once hot, grill the lamb chops for three or four minutes on each side, until they’re cooked through and have nice char marks on both sides (this will cook the chops to medium, so give them more or less time on the griddle, depending on how you like your lamb). {I did 5mins per side, to get them well-done i.e. browned all the way through.}
6:To serve, spoon half the yoghurt over a large platter, spread it out evenly with the back of the spoon, then make a well in the centre. Spoon half the ezme into the well, arrange the chops neatly on top, then sprinkle over half the cumin salt. Serve hot with the remaining yoghurt, ezme and cumin salt in separate bowls alongside. {I put the ezme, yogurt and cumin salt in bowls on the dinner table for everyone to serve themselves what they fancied and I also served with sweetcorn and cous cous.}
This recipe : While you're here, I have a Pinterest for all my recipes where you can save them to boards for the future and categorise them into different types of recipe e.g Sunday Dinners, picnic ideas etc. My account is @hazellikestocook, or find the link below. Also, I have a whole blog post explaining this in more detail here and https://hazelscookingandbakingblog.blogspot.com/2021/02/pinterest.html.
https://pin.it/5xDvARk - my profile
This recipe :
https://pin.it/6k9VGEV
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