Tags
amateur foodies, aubergines, baba ganoush, blokes cooking, lamb, lamb kebabs, pitta bread, Spicy
It’s my mate Phil’s birthday next week, and he and his better half Lou are coming round to stay for the weekend. I said we’d have a grand nosh-up on Saturday, and invite some other people round as well on Sunday for, well… more of the same.
‘Great’, said Phil. ‘Let’s have a barbecue’. Now Phil is not going to let something as disruptive as the English weather in November dampen his enthusiasm for eating outside in the pouring rain and freezing cold. Rain won’t stop him (‘use an umbrella…’), nor a howling gale (‘just nail it all down…’) when it comes to firing up the barbie. In fact, the only reason he wouldn’t have a barbecue in November round your house is because you don’t own a barbecue set. Then he won’t come round at all.
So – what to do…?
Lamb kebabs. A winner every time, and very simple.
The best lamb is available in the UK from October until about February / March, so this is bizarrely the best time to barbecue it – apparently. You need about about three pounds of lamb meat – neck is great, leg is better (though more expensive).
For this spicy(ish) marinade, spoon in, in proportion 1 part ground cumin, 1 part ground coriander, 2 part paprika (spice of the Gods), 1/4 part cinnamon, some smashed garlic, a couple of chopped chillies, salt & pepper and a little olive oil. Mix and whizz all of these ingredients into a paste.
Cut your lamb into 3cm (just over 1in) cubes and toss into the marinade, making sure it gets everywhere all over the lamb, and leave for a couple of hours to soak in.
Once ready, cut up a couple of red onions into segments and place them on the skewer alternately with a chunk of the marinaded lamb. Repeat this process for as many pieces of onion and lamb as you have. Wind a twig of rosemary around the skewer if you can, planting the sharp end into one of the lamb chunks. If you’re using wooden skewers, soak them in water first to stop them catching over the coals.
Cook the lambs over coals until browned on all sides, and your olfactory senses start messing with your mind.
An excellent accompaniment to this is baba ganoush – basically hummous but made with aubergines instead of chick peas.
For this you need to roast a couple of aubergines in the oven for about 40 minutes until the skin has blistered. Upon removing them from the oven, wait a few minutes, and remove the skin and place the pulp in a bowl. Add a couple of tablespoons of tahini, four or five smashed garlic cloves, the juice of a lemon, a pinch of ground cumin, some chopped flat leaf parsley salt & pepper to taste (not always necessary), and some olive oil if it’s a bit dry. Mix all these together until they form a paste with ‘bits’ in. Better still, whizz them for a few seconds in a blender.
Serve with warmed pitta bread, or better still, a lightly warmed large flat bread (a local grocer ‘Taj’ does these – they’re excellent and cheap); some cold beer or wine. And wear a coat and scarf – it’s November in England, remember?
However, if you don’t have Phil’s scant disregard for our inclement weather around this time of year, and do actually wish to engage your brain in behaving more sensibly, your grill will cook your lamb nicely – though cooking lamb over smoking coals does in all honesty result in the most exquisite dish.
Cheers, Al