Spiced lamb on spring greens

Photo - Steve Brown Photography/Gettyimages.com

Juicy lamb backstraps, rolled in fragrant cumin, barbecued, and sliced over fresh salad. It’s a celebration of spring!

The number one requirement of dinner is that it taste good, but oh! isn’t it better when it looks good too!  

Incredibly, simply slicing meat and piling it on top of fresh greens looks much more delicious that serving a hunk of meat on a plate with a bowl of salad alongside. This salad lends itself to plenty of variations. Try adding cubes of roasted pumpkin or halves of sweet cherry tomatoes; or swapping pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of smoky baba ganoush for the olives; or a herbed yoghurt for the fetta; nutty chick peas for the almonds; or asparagus spears for the beans. It’s all as fresh as spring.

What you need:

2 lamb backstraps

1 tbs ground cumin

2 tspns salt flakes

olive oil

4 handfuls mixed leaves from the garden, such as watercress, baby spinach, rocket, beet, mustard, oakleaf

a handful of green beans, cut in thirds

12 black olives, sliced, stones removed

handful of almonds, toasted

120g fetta cheese

What to do:

1.Mix the cumin and salt and roll the backstraps in the spice. Drizzle with a little olive oil and rub the muddy mix into the meat, then barbecue to your liking.

2.While the lamb is cooking, blanch the beans in a small amount of boiling water, then drain and dress with a few drops of olive oil.

3.While the lamb is resting, dress the greens with a little olive oil and red wine vinegar. Mound the dressed greens on four separate plates. Scatter over beans, almonds and olives. Break the fetta into chunks and share it among the plates.

4.Cut the lamb across the grain into thick slices and arrange on the salad. Drizzle any resting juices over the meat and salad.

Serves 4

Text: Robin Powell