Smoked Lamb with smashed broadbean and spiced pumpkin salad
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| Photos by Steve Shanahan |
Apologies in advance are probably in order here, as I inflict the
well worn café and restaurant mantra of fresh, local, seasonal produce, on
you again to describe these dishes. This concept is not new or unique and
producers from the world over have been working with seasonally available
produce for ages, actually, forever.
In these recipes I also incorporate one of the most basics of
preservation techniques, smoking, used to preserve the spring produce through
leaner times. In this instance, this is not used to preserve, but to add
flavour. In making the most of the sweet
spring produce available at this time of year and the smoking for flavour, makes
for a light, spring lunch, evocative of the Mediterranean.
As in the Mediterranean, I was fortunate to produce my own backyard
crop for the choicest and sweetest peas, broadbeans, mint and citrus that were
ready to harvest, bang on time for a family birthday feast.
While preparing the vegetables, I am captivated by the soft, fluffy
green papoose of the broadbean pod that protects its offspring, keeping it in
perfect condition. And the verdant greens of the mint, coriander and peas have
not yet been yellowed off by the sun. This time of year really is the height of
food perfection.
For a low fuss feast, throw together these ingredients with some
smoked new season lamb, and few embellishments are needed for a gorgeous
Mediterranean inspired spring lunch.
To smoke the lamb and lemons I used a simple smoking technique using
a kettle barbeque with hot coals and hickory chips available at most hardware shops.
Smoked lamb with smashed broad
bean and spiced pumpkin salad
Serves 4
800g butternut pumpkin, deseeded, peeled and diced
¼ tspn ground allspice
salt and ground pepper
3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
500g broadbeans, unpodded. If fresh broadbeans are not available
use frozen.
12 lamb cutlets
100g marinated feta, crumbled
½ cup coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
Hickory wood chips
Olive oil spray
Paste
1 tbsp olive oil
1tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
½ tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
¼ cup chopped coriander
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line an oven tray with baking paper
and place chopped pumpkin on the tray drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled
with allspice, salt and pepper to taste.
Bake for thirty minutes and then scatter the pumpkin seeds over
the top and bake for another five minutes or so until the seeds are roasted.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
To make the paste, heat the oil in a small saucepan over a
medium to low heat. Add the cumin, ground coriander, paprika, turmeric and
garlic. Cook, stirring for one minute. Remove from the heat and add the lemon
juice, fresh, chopped coriander and parsley. Stir to combine. Smear half of the
paste onto the cutlets to marinate and set the remainder aside.
Prepare the broad beans by cooking in a medium saucepan of
boiling water for three minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water and drain and
cool. When cooled, peel off outer shell and reserve the inner beans. Gently smash
with a potato masher, still leaving a coarse texture.
Any smoker can be used to smoke the lamb cutlets. I use a simple
kettle barbeque using hot coals cooked down for a few hours with the kettle lid
placed on it. Spray the cutlets with a light spray of olive oil. Place the
cutlets on a greased wire rack that sits over a disposable foil tray with a
handful of hickory chips spread over the base. The foil tray should sit on the
kettle rack in the barbeque with the hot coals underneath it. Place the lid on
the preheated kettle barbeque and leave the vent slightly open. The cutlets
should take about thirty minutes to cook. They will turn a dark red on the
outside and just pink on the inside. For well done lamb return to the heat for about
another ten minutes or cooked inside when checked for doneness.
To assemble the dish, combine the pumpkin, broad beans, fetta
and coriander in a bowl with a dash of olive oil and the lemon juice. Divide
among serving plates and top with the lamb cutlets and dolloped with the
remaining paste.
Smoked Lemon, pea and broadbean on flatbread
Serves 4
4 Lebanese flatbreads
olive oil spray
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
2 garlic cloves, peeled
4 tbsp olive oil
800g broadbeans in shell, alternatively use frozen broadbeans
250g fresh peas in shell, alternatively use frozen peas
1/3 bunch fresh mint
2 lemons, halved
100g pecorino cheese, grated
salt and ground pepper
Smoked lemons
Preheat smoker or barbeque and place lemon halves over a grill
with a smoking wood below. I generally use hickory chips. Smoke for fifteen
minutes or until the lemons appear golden and caramelised. They should be
softened. If you are cooking this complete meal with the smoked lamb, you can
smoke the lemons at the same time as the lamb.
Broad bean and pea topping
Shell the broad beans from the outer pod and cook the beans in a
pot of boiling water for two minutes. Remove the beans with a slotted spoon and
reserve the water for the peas and set broad beans aside. Shell the peas and
cook for two minutes in the broad bean water. Drain the peas and set aside. Shell
the cooked broad beans.
In a food processor, pulse the broad beans, peas, mint half the
pecorino cheese, garlic, olive oil and juice from one smoked lemon in a food
processor for only a few seconds to achieve a slightly chunky mixture. Season
to taste with salt and pepper.
Flatbread
Preheat oven to 200C and spray the flatbreads lightly with olive
oil on both sides. Sprinkle with a little salt and the herbs. Cook in the oven
on a rack over an oven tray for about ten minutes or until golden and crisp but
not burnt.
To assemble, break the flatbreads into shards and pile on the
broad bean and pea topping, serving with extra grated pecorino, a further
drizzle of olive oil and the remaining smoked lemon cut into halves again.
