North African lamb chops with salad of cucumber, pomegranate and radish
flavours all the time, especially in summer.
Lamb is obviously much more available than mutton these days, which is a shame, but if you do see mutton chops, use them. The flavour is much more robust and is well suited to the full on flavours of the marinade.
I’ll often put the chops in the fridge to marinade and forget about them for a couple of days, so that when I go to cook them they’ll be gloriously flavoured.
Preparation time: 25 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Serves: 4
❚ 1kg lamb shoulder chops
❚ 1 lemon
❚ olive oil
❚ 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
❚ 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
❚ teaspoon cinnamon
❚ sea salt and black pepper
❚ large handful of mint leaves
❚ 100g labneh or Greek yoghurt
❚ 1 lemon
❚ 1 telegraph cucumber
❚ 1 pomegranate
❚ 3 red radishes
❚ another lemon In a large bowl, combine the lamb with the zest and juice from the lemon, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, the paprika, cumin seeds, cinnamon and salt and pepper and mix everything together thoroughly with your hands. Leave to marinade while you work on everything else.
Finely chop the mint and combine with the labneh or yoghurt and the zest and juice from the lemon. Season well with salt and pepper and set aside.
Roughly chop the cucumber into 1-2cm pieces. Halve the pomegranate and, using a wooden spoon, gently whack the seeds into a bowl. Finely slice the radish and combine with the pomegranate seeds, chopped cucumber, the zest and juice from the third lemon, a tablespoon of olive oil and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Set aside.
Get the barbecue going over a high heat, or alternatively, a good solid pan with a bit of olive oil.
Quickly grill the lamb chops for a couple of minutes on both sides until they are well caramelised and cooked to your liking. Leave to rest for at least five minutes before serving alongside the salad, with dollops of minty labneh over the top.
I'll often put the chops in the fridge to marinade and forget about them for a couple of days, so that when I go to cook them they'll be gloriously flavoured.
Sam Mannering is a chef and regular contributor to Sunday Magazine.
❚