Middle-Eastern Slow-Cooked Za’atar & Honey Lamb with Homemade Flatbread, Red Cabbage Pickle, Mint Yoghurt & Pomegranate
Cooking up an ‘Ottolenghi-style’ Middle Eastern feast is one of my favourite ways include a wide variety of colourful fruit, veg, herbs & spices and is a perfect choice if you’re looking to host a lunch or dinner party! These dishes are great for vegetarians/vegans as well as meat-eaters with organic cuts of meat, slow-cooked for extra flavour and tenderness. Lamb goes amazingly and is a popular choice around Easter. If you have time, I recommend marinating in the fridge overnight.
6 Time: 30 minutes (prep) + 5 hours (cooking)
Ingredients
Lamb:
6 garlic cloves, grated
2 tbsp za’atar
1 tbsp sweet paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
small handful mint leaves, roughly torn
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp runny honey
salt & pepper
1.5 – 2kg shoulder of lamb (bone-in)
Flatbread:
200g oats, ground into a flour
250g greek yoghurt
4 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt & pepper
Red cabbage pickle:
250g red cabbage, shredded
1 lime
1 tsp salt
To serve:
mint yoghurt
spinach
pomegranate seeds
pumpkin seeds
extra mint leaves
Method
1. Start by making the marinade. Add the garlic, spices, mint, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper to a small blender bowl and mix well to form a paste. If you don’t have a small blender, use a pestle and mortar to grind the spices and mint leaves and mix this by hand with the oil and honey in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Line a large roasting tin with foil, including enough at the sides to wrap around the whole lamb shoulder. Place the lamb in the middle of the tin and, using a knife, stab a few times all over to allow the marinade to soak into the lamb.
3. Generously rub the marinade over the lamb so it’s fully coated, then cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.
4. When ready to cook, bring the lamb to room temperature and preheat the oven to 180C fan. Wrap the foil round the sides and top of the lamb tightly to retain all of the marinade juices and roast for 1 hour, then reduce the heat to 160C fan and roast for another 4 hours, basting in the juices a few times. Remove the foil and cook for a final hour – 90 minutes until the meat is browned, tender, and can be easily pulled off the bone.
5. While the lamb is cooking, make the flatbreads. Mix the oats in a food processor to form a flour, then add this to a mixing bowl with the yoghurt, oregano, baking powder, salt and pepper.
6. Combine everything well using your hands, wrap this in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
7. Sprinkle a little oat flour on a clean surface. Split the dough into six equal parts and roll out each to form flatbread about 0.5cm thick.
8. Heat a little olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry each flatbread for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden but not burnt.
9. Shred the red cabbage using a mandolin or slice thinly using a knife, then massage in the lime juice and salt using your hands.
10. Serve the shredded lamb with the flatbreads, pickle, mint yoghurt, pomegranate seeds and some fresh spinach or mint leaves.
