Food Riot

This was seriously good. As usual, I shot the pic in a mad, screaming rush because I wanted to get stuck in to it!

Today, I have some lamb neck fillet. What to do? What to do?

I’m thinking Mediterranean with perhaps a Middle Eastern or an Arabic twist. Well, that would indicate the possible use of couscous, but certain people in my household don’t dig it. So, with couscous ruled out, I’m going to opt for potatoes instead. We are at one with potatoes. They are our friends.

I want something that won’t be too heavy. So no rich sauces. I feel the need for a slightly astringent, vinegary taste, with a spicy counterpunch. I also don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. I want tonight’s dinner to take me no more than twenty minutes from prep to plate. So here’s the plan:

Ingredients

• Some lamb neck fillet, cut into small half-inch chunks
• Some small potatoes, sliced into 5mm discs and then halved
• A large onion, rough-chopped
• A green pepper, rough chopped
• A red pepper, rough chopped
• Some rosemary. Be bold!
• Some thyme
• Some lemon juice – a well squeezed, medium sized lemon worth
• Some lemon zest
• Some black olives, rough chopped (you can pick them out, love) These really bring the dish alive.
• A green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
• A sweet red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
• A big, finely chopped clove of garlic
• Some cumin seeds
• Some paprika – a teaspoon should do it
• A generous bunch of mint, shredded
• Some garam masala – a two tablespoons or so – be generous!
• Some white wine vinegar
• Some flour – about a tablespoon
• Salt
• Pepper
• Rasins
• A gerkhin, finely chopped (optional)

Method

• Throw your bits of potato into rapidly boiling, salted water. Give ‘em three of four minutes in there, no longer. They need to be firm to survive stage two of the cooking
• Drain and set aside
  

• Make a spicy flour mix with:
• The flour
• The garam masala
• The paprika
• Some cumin seeds (toast these in a hot dry pan for about two minutes to amplify their flavour)
• Toss the diced lamb in this mix until coated with flour
• The cooking (this should take no more than 10 minutes)
  
• In a very hot pan or wok, add a little vegetable oil
• When the oil is smoking, throw in the remainder of the cumin seed and garam masala and stir like a crazy fool for a few seconds
• Add the lumps of floury, spicy lamb and brown these. They will probably absorb all the oil. That’s okay, you can now add a little olive oil to the pan
• Add the onions and the peppers
• Add the rosemary and thyme
• Throw in the raisins – just a small handful
• Add the lemon zest
• Add the potatoes and the chilli
• Slosh a little white wine vinegar over everything
• Cook for five minutes or until the lamb is still a bit pink inside
• Toss in your shredded mint and chopped olives
• Squeeze the lemon juice over the whole lot
• Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper
• Serve on a plate with a nice, fresh salad with a white wine, honey, lemon and mint vinegarette
• Drizzle with a little good quality extra virgin olive oil
• Sprinkle finely chopped gerkhin over the top